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Good Economics Is Important
Because We Are Seeing a Rise in Bad Economics
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Despite the corruption and backhanded actions of Hillary Clinton's 2016
campaign to win the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders experienced a meteoric
rise reminiscent to that of Ron Paul's, whose 2008 presidential campaign trained
his supporters' focus on economics.
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Paul championed policies in the spirit of economists that I personally
revere: Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Nobel Prize Laureate Friedrich
Hayek, among others.
Bernie Sanders's 2016 campaign had an equal but opposite effect. From
teenagers to senior citizens, many loved Sanders's critique of the broken system
that favors the wealthy and stifles the poor.
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His "solutions" are abysmal, yet despite the countless examples of
current (and more importantly, collapsed) socialist-Marxist/Leninist calamities, a
self-described socialist found a foothold in the United States.
The revolution inspired by Sanders is anti-intellectual. The "economics"
that stemmed out of the Sanders campaign was not economics at all. His school of
economics was built on people shouting about their feelings and promoting
egalitarianism for the sake of egalitarianism.
Good economics is grounded in axiomatic truths and empirical facts about
the world around us. Sound money keeps governments and central banks (called the
Federal Reserve in the US) from endless money printing and devastating inflation.
Yes, that means the government won't be able to provide every service that
one desires. That is a good thing. Government is the bastion of inefficiency and
the epitome of waste. Strictly from an economics standpoint, the market is far
better suited at providing products and services.
The espousal of socialist policies in economics is dangerous and
irresponsible. Fortunately, it doesn't take much intellectual firepower to write
off socialism as wildly inefficient. But it does take some. Socialism falls apart
quickly when one understands the economic calculation problem, which explains the
importance of prices based in subjective value in a free market system and
explains how centrally planned economies, devoid of market prices, are doomed to
suffer from inefficiencies in the form of widespread shortages and surpluses.
Without these rudimentary economic blocks, "free college, health care for
everyone, and massive taxation on the 1 percent to pay for these policies" sounds
desirable.
We must learn, though. We must strive for intellectual growth. We must
take the lessons we've learned from history and apply them to the word we live in
today: socialism does not work. Socialism kills. (Even Scandinavian
socialism isn't as great as socialists say it is).
Socialism
has been proven to be a terrible economic policy repeatedly. At some point,
the value of human lives outweighs the desire for a politician to conduct a social
experiment on how quickly he or she can rid their country of any and all valuable
resources. That point is now.
We must understand that socialism is an exercise in futility and
inefficiency. Understanding good economics kills off the allure of central
planning that continues to be peddled by politicians on the left. In fairness,
understanding good economics helps wade past the bad economics posited by the
right as well.
For a multitude of reasons, it's a good idea to take a politicians'
statements with grains of salt. As far as economics goes, economist Thomas Sowell
said it better than I ever could.
The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of
anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is
to disregard the first lesson of economics.
Sound economics based in sound money policies make it possible to eat
reasonably priced meals because inflation tends to be lower in countries that
practice these policies. Sound money policies make enacting socialist policies
difficult. Understanding fundamental economics is the lynchpin to cultivating an
environment conducive to having meaningful debate on other social issues. Which
brings us to the second reason why economics is crucial.
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Economics Is the Most
Important Social Issue of Our Time
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We should start by understanding that economics is a social issue. In
fact, economics is the social issue. No issue influences individuals (read:
all the individuals) within a society more than its economic practices.
Living in the United States in 2017 means exposure to all sorts of social
issues including – but not limited to – same sex marriage, police
brutality, safe spaces, drug legalization, and firearms ownership. To be sure,
these issues are important and should be examined with sober eyes. But the issue
of economics supersedes this list and every other list.
I believe consenting individuals should be allowed to do whatever their
hearts desire so long as they aren't violating the rights of another. I stand in
solidarity with those who favor legalized same-sex marriages. I stand with those
who want to see marijuana legalized nationwide and those who want to own automatic
weapons.
But herein lies the danger of ignoring economics at the expense of other
issues: Being "allowed" to smoke marijuana legally seems insignificant when a loaf
of bread costs a month's salary and your loved ones are dying of starvation,
doesn't it?
I concede the subjective nature of this evaluation, but if I had to choose
between the legality of same sex marriages and economic stability, I would choose
economic stability without pause. Not because I don't value personal freedom to do
as one wishes, but because I understand that with economic stability comes the
ability to fight another day for other issues.
Brazil, according
to Bloomberg, was the second-worst economic performer of 2016. The other side
of the coin is more uplifting: Brazil recognizes same-sex unions; allows same-sex
marriages; allows adoptions by same-sex couples; allows individuals who identify
as LGBT to serve in the military; and so on. Brazil's removal of the proverbial
shackles on homosexuals to live as they see fit is a big win for personal liberty,
undoubtedly.
But one can't help but wonder if the married same-sex couple in Brazil
suffering from the terrible economic policies enacted by their country thinks,
"13.2 percent of our entire country's population is unemployed. That's close to
what the US faced between 1930-1931 as the Great Depression destroyed their
economy. We can't afford to feed ourselves or our family and we're subjected to
danger and crime as others are desperate to obtain food and money. But hey, at
least the government recognizes our marriage!"
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Greece is another example of the result of poor economic policies.
Riots and crippling tax hikes to pay for irresponsible economic
policies are commonplace in Greece, but hey, at least small amounts of cannabis
have been decriminalized, right?
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I don't mean to belittle the importance of issues such as these. But as
millennials, as members of the citizenry, and as people with a stake in the
economic health of the nation we inhabit, our efforts are often misplaced. Sound
economic policies should be pursued with at least the same fervor as the myriad
issues that don't potentially end in economic collapse, death, crime, and general
hysteria.
America finds itself on the cusp of revolution, but not necessarily the
kind you might imagine. The revolution we are headed towards is an intellectual
one. Good economics lies at the heart of this revolution.
Without good economics, we are powerless against the abuses of the Federal
Reserve, the central bank that intentionally devalues the money in your bank
account while it finances foreign wars and domestic programs that the government
wouldn't have the means to pay for otherwise.
Without good economics, we are defenseless against the bad economic
policies that lead to extreme levels of pillaging that socialists lovingly refer
to as taxation. Without good economics, we subject ourselves to tangible,
real-life danger and lose the opportunity to bring about the changes we wish to
see.
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