United Liberty

On June 16, 1723, Adam Smith, whose book, The Wealth of Nations, became the foundation for capitalism, was born in Scotland. Smith’s book and philosophy brought us the basics for the free market and free trade and also laid the first moral case for these ideas.

Via a couple of videos from Learn Liberty, Prof. James Otteson briefly explains what Smith believed and how he viewed his economic theories as the best way to help lift the poor out of poverty:

And a brief explanation of the “invisible hand”:

Over the course of the presidential campaign, we’re going to hear a lot about how taxes need to be increased to help close the deficit rather than cutting spending. President Barack Obama has said many times that cutting spending would hurt the economy; however, new research shows otherwise.

In a new video from Learn Liberty, Professor Antony Davies explains that our fiscal problems are because of lack of tax revenues, it’s because Washington spends too much money:

In a great new video from Learn Liberty, Professor Antony Davies explains that, while minimum wage laws are passed with the best intentions, it generally hurts those that it’s intended to help because it forces employers to either cut hours or staff, leaving only the more productive workers with a job:

In the latest video from Learn Liberty, Prof. Antony Davies explains that the federal government spendings about $434 million an hour, over $10 billion a day. Davies notes that, at the current rate of spending, the federal government runs out of money on July 31st; meaning that in order to balance the budget, Congress would need to cut five months of spending:

We are often told about the size of the national debt, currently over $15 trillion. The problem is that many cannot fathom the numbers. However, the latest video from Learn Liberty, narrated by Antony Davies, frames the issue of the national debt in a way that most Americans can understand…by using it in terms of a family budget:

In a new video from Learn Liberty, Professor Aeon Skoble explains why smoking bans violate the private property rights of business owners. He notes that if someone that doesn’t want to eat at an establishment that allows smoking, the market allows them to find another restaurant that is more suitable to them:

While liberals traditionally are more concerned with civil liberties and Republicans with economic liberty, Aeon Skoble, Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University, explains in this video from Learn Liberty (it’s a couple months old) that civil and economic liberties are equally important and inseparable: