Moving into a heated election year, one of the biggest issues facing the U.S. is economic reform, whether it be job creation or stabilizing the dollar. Jeffrey Tucker, the newly-appointed executive editor of Laissez-Faire Books and author of It’s A Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes, has been one of the most outspoken voices in favor of a free market, which he states could solve many of our nations fundamental problems. Before the close of 2011, Capital Account’s Lauren Lyster invited Tucker to the program to explain why.
“The market isn’t a machine,” Tucker said. “It’s flesh and blood, it’s people doing wonderful things for each other. That’s the essence of a free market.”
He added: “Government is not based on collaboration but on coercion. It’s based on aggression, the taking of property rights, and telling people what to do. That’s the opposite of creativity, the opposite of collaboration, and the opposite of human progress.”
“It’s a huge contest between these two forces. Human creativity and collaboration on one hand; on the other hand coercion and government power-mongering. We’re now seeing this American economy – a great struggle between these forces.”
Human creativity, innovation, freedom to learn and build, is the solution that Tucker has in mind. He argues that the areas in which the government steps aside see exponentially better growth than those areas in which there is heavy regulation.
“It’s because of a free market in the digital world that we’re seeing such astounding innovation,” he stated. “If we applied the same model to the physical world, we’d see the same growth in education, and health care, and any other sector of life that the government rule with an iron hand. This is why we look forward every six months to the roll-out of the next new smart phone, and every day there is innovations in our favorite technologies. It would be this way in other sectors too, but we’ve gotten used to this sloggy-boggy world that the government runs.”
The popular RT program typically has a “hot topics” section at the end of their show, in which they banter about recent headlines and interesting economic stories. Jeffrey Tucker made such a strong impression on the producers that they decided to cancel their regularly scheduled programming to keep him on for the full half-hour show. And he didn’t disappoint, arguing that the negative connotations that politicians put on a free market model can actually generate a prosperous economy.
“What did the wild west lead to?” He said. “It led to the Gilded Age, which was the period of history that had the largest economic growth in the world, by far. Lifespan increased, income increased, population exploded, the middle class emerged and became enormously wealthy. Growth rates were 10-15%.”
“We are dealing with a world where the government has destroyed the quality of money. So if you deregulate in that environment and you have the printing presses running at the Federal Reserve and regulatory agencies not doing their job, then of course you’re going to have bubbles and booms and busts. It can only be cured through reform for sound money. If you had a free market, you’d have sound money.”
Read more about Tucker’s role at Laissez-Faire Books.
Watch the full video below, or click here to watch it on Capital Account’s YouTube channel.
