Justin talks about what he thinks is the major problem in the United States today. We are losing more and more freedom and not enough people are awake to realize it. When we face major economic events like the housing crisis in 2008, it’s the free market and Capitalism that take the blame. We need to stop this madness! Read more for the full transcript.
Podcast #1
Intro – What’s the problem in the world today?
This is Justin Mohr, thank you for being with me for my very first podcast. Now on this podcast I’m just going to kind of layout what I really see as the problem in United States. When we look at the United States, what do you see? Well from my perspective, I see we’re losing freedom more and more every day, every year. Look at the incompetents in Washington DC. How do we get such incompetent politicians in Washington DC that are there to “represent us.” Well unfortunately we’re voting these guys in. And from my point of view it’s because most people do not have an understanding of economics. The voting base in this country does not understand economics. So it’s no surprise that the voting base is voting in a bunch of politicians who are, guess what? Economic illiterates. These politicians are the guys who create the messes in the first place and they’re the ones that put on their “capes” and act like they’re superheroes here to save the day when a crisis hits. But they are ones who created the problems in the first place.
And I’m getting sick and tired of what I see in the mainstream media, attacking Capitalism and the free market. Whenever we have a crisis it’s Capitalism to blame. It’s the greedy people, greedy businessmen out there making a buck off the backs of the poor. It’s all wrong. None of this is true. When the rich get richer it does not make the poor poorer. The economy grows. The economy grows because of increase in productivity and technology because we can get more things done in a day. Let’s just look at Capitalism; if you were to really simplify it, Capitalism is a voluntary exchange between two or more people. You’re exchanging value for value and that sort of relationship is a win-win. That’s why Capitalism is so great. There is no force there. Both people perceive that they’re getting a good deal or else they would not make the deal in the first place. No one is getting screwed. But whenever we hear the mainstream media or the politicians who hate Capitalism and free market, they always want to point out that one of them is always the victim. Well if it is voluntary, then there are no victims. Both people are benefiting. But whenever the government gets involved, that’s when there is corruption. The government is force. The government has a monopoly on force. We have no choice when they step in to take our place.
Currently we have a bias in society today that whenever there is a crisis that happens, like what happened in 2008 with the banking system in the housing crisis, that people’s first response and solution is, “Well obviously it’s because there were not enough regulations. There were not enough government laws protecting us. That is why the problem happened.” This is exactly opposite of the truth. It was the government involvement in the first place that created the problems. Government regulations create unintended consequences; they pervert incentives for people in small businesses. They need to get out of our way.
When you assume that the government needs to pass a new law or regulation to make things better, then what you’re saying is that the government and these politicians have perfect knowledge and that they will always do the right thing. Politicians never do the right thing. Politicians are the most short-term minded people in the economy today. They only think out as far as their next election. They have political interest. The private sector, the entrepreneur, and the small business man; they are the most long-term minded people in the economy. They have to think about the needs and wants of their customers. They have to think way in the future so that they can achieve and meet those needs and wants of the customer because yes, there’s money to be made; there is a profit, there is an incentive. Next, they have to compete against other people trying to do the same thing and so they have to do it as efficiently and as cheaply as possible. So in the end, you have the consumer getting the best product possible at the cheapest price. That is Capitalism. With government, the exact opposite happens. Look at the post office; they want to get rid of Saturday delivery so we will only get our mail 5 days a week but the cost of stamps keeps going up. Whenever there’s government, they don’t have a profit motive and therefore they have no incentive to improve their services. When looking at the post office, you get worse service at higher prices. You get the worst of both worlds.
The government is never the answer and that’s why we must defend the free market and Capitalism. When we discuss the free market and Capitalism, we must use logic and reason to get our point across. That is how we can convince people. A solid understanding of economics gives us this logic and reasoning. This can actually be a great way to influence someone but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen. Whenever we talk about the free market with someone, we should never expect to convince them on the spot. We should always have the mindset that we just want them to question what they believe. That is the first step, that’s the key. If you can get someone to question what they believe, then they will start using logic and reason and they will find out for themselves the truth and that’s when it is the most powerful. Whenever a person finds something out for them self, will then go on a fact finding mission to find the truth. They might come back to you and try to get more answers and try to understand more. And that’s how we can show people the greatness of the free market and Capitalism.
That’s why I firmly believe we need to focus on economics in a free market and Capitalism. We can win these people over to show them the benefits of liberty and freedom. As I started out the podcast, we’re losing more and more of our freedom. There are still way too many people asleep. We need to wake them up. We need to talk to our family members, our friends or if you’re in a classroom setting like a college campus, our college professors. Challenge them. Don’t let them get away with their biased liberal agenda. Question what they believe because you’re not trying to win them over, but you want the other people in the classroom to realize that there is another point of view. There’s not just one way to look at it.
It’s like with these colleges; they really are an incubator for liberalism. I went to college and they teach you what to think not how to think. And so if we can challenge them, this can go long way in our mission of bringing more people to understand the benefits of liberty and freedom. I don’t need people to think like me and agree with me on every issue. No, that’s not what I want. I just want more people to have a clear understanding and to actually know why they have the opinions that they do instead of just a bumper sticker sort of basic talking points to every position without any really deep thought going into it. So in the market of ideas, we need to stand up and we need to fight for the free market and Capitalism because Capitalism and the free market really are the best way. It makes us all better off. It gives us more liberty and freedom and it gives less power to the politicians out there who want to control our lives.
I hope you stick with me and my podcast as I lay out all these issues. The issues we hear debated on the political stage; I will get into them and I will present them using economic analysis in defending all of my positions. I really thank you for listening to my very first podcast and I hope you subscribe and stay tuned. This is going to be a fun journey together and I hope you are there with me. This is Justin Mohr, signing off.