Economic Freedom

Leonard Read asked how we preserve liberty in a culture that doesn't appreciate it. Liberty cannot come through force and organization. It comes from within oneself.

During a debate on capitalism with James Otteson, Michael Anton opined that free markets are harmful to a nation's economy. Perhaps he needs to learn economics.

Even though Barbados and Jamaica had more similarities than differences when they became independent of Great Britain, Barbados developed its economy much more quickly.

The current regime wants to use taxation not simply as a means to collect revenue for the government, but as a weapon against economic prosperity itself.

Individualism, while condemned in some cultures, has helped make this country economically successful. Will the influx of immigrants from cultures that devalue individualism reverse that success?

While rain at an outdoor concert is a nuisance for most attendees, a few entrepreneurs saw not "pennies from heaven," but dollars.

American law protects what is called the "right to strike." However, Leonard Read found no moral code that permits such action.

What many people call government generosity Leonard Read called avarice.

While the US ratchets up efforts to isolate its many enemies, the Chinese, the Saudis, the Arab League, and OPEC all shrug and look to increasing international communication and trade.

More than forty years ago, Leonard Read urged graduates of Hillsdale College to find a premise, a belief in a universal idea of liberty.