What this Libertarian Partier of America learned from 'Economics for Dummies'

Now, let me be honest about something. Just because I have an IQ that's ≥125 and graduated high school with Honor Roll in all 4 parts of Senior Year... does not make me someone who knows every fact about every topic. Instead, I am someone whose hunger for knowledge is insatiable. And what a perfect mindset I have there, for this book 'Economics for Dummies' has filled my head with some knowledge I think every Libertarian Partier in America should have! And in fact, I believe all Americans should have the knowledge I am about to drop in this blog post!

Lesson One: Economists Largely Prefer Competitive Free Markets

Reportedly, nearly all economists Love free markets because, if they are working correctly, then they make sure resources are dispensed favorably. Specifically, free markets ensure the only output resources produce is an output where benefits are more prevalent than costs.

Sadly, I could not get page 129 in the preview I read of this book on Amazon, so I can only quote the first two criteria of a truly free market, but I am sure page 129 in this book lays out more:

1. Buyers and Sellers all have equal access to the same full and complete information about the item or service in question

2. Property Rights are set up so the only way buyers can get the item or service in question is by paying the seller

Lesson Two: Taxes Limit Growth and Growth Comes From Production

So, taxes evidently cause items and services to get less of themselves produced. What does that even mean? Frankly, it means I have to give you my own real-world example, rather than using the beef pounds example found in the book.

Let's hypothetically say it is 2022 when I am 28 and have had my 2 Associate Degrees (1 in Computer Hardware and 1 in Computer Networking), and the Software Developer job they earned me, for 2 years. For the year of 2022, I am asked by my boss to sell 500,000 copies of a zBrush alternative that I programmed during months January to June, so a 6-month window. If I sell my zBrush alternative at $75 per copy, half the actual cost of actual zBrush, then I just sold $37.5 million worth of software!

Now, let's consider the CT state government wanting to impose a $5 per copy tax on the software I devised. Then, I end up selling for $70 per copy, because of the tax, and also because of it I lose $2.5 million in sales of copies of the zBrush alternative I devised in 2022! Keep in mind, I cannot see that far into my own future, this is just a real-world example I am basing loosely on my plans for my future. Economists call losses like the $2.5 million loss in my hypothetical a "Deadweight Loss".

And this to me is why I want taxes to be as low as possible, in order for workers to keep the fruits of their labors. And that's why plain and simple Tax Cuts that are permanent for everyone, including the poor and the middle class, are the easiest way ever to grow the economy. So if the $5 per copy tax got a 40% Cut for months July to December, then the tax goes down to $3 per copy and the next 500,000 copies I sell gains me $1 million more revenue for the 2nd half of 2022 than I got for the 1st half of the year!

So the argument to make against taxing income and payrolls is not that taxation is theft, but rather we must argue that taxes distort the costs and the benefits of production. Many people seem to think consumption, aka spending, is what grows the economy, but actually, it is production, aka working, that grows the economy. So if you tax production aka income and payrolls and self-employment, then you are distorting real economic growth.

Lesson Three: Free Markets Require Very Light regulation

Now, this one is going to be sort of an easy one to explain, because, to me, a government's role in an economy is as limited as its role in society. In the economy, the government should not have the power to subsidize or criminalize, it should only have the power to protect markets and people from monopolies, from collusion, and from asymmetric information. Allow me to explain the third one. Asymmetric information is when either the seller or the buyer knows facts about the item or service that the opposite side of an economic transaction does Not know.

For example, if I am trying to buy a box of Easterling Kataphrakt miniatures from Games Workshop for their Lord of the Rings game, they will tell me that for $37.25 I get 70 pieces and 6 circle bases that each have a 40mm diameter, that they require manual painting and assembly, and that Citadel glues and paints work best with these miniatures. That's Games Workshop allowing Symmetric Info.

Meanwhile, Asymmetric Info would be if they told me only the price and the bases' size, but not the bases' shape and not any of the other info above despite them knowing all of the above info about their product. But they are not vague for any of their products, at all, so there is No Asymmetric info at GW, only Symmetric Info.

In short, the limited role of government in the economy is this: The government should protect market competition from monopolies and collusion, it should make and enforce laws against fraud and coercion, and it should economically incentivize sellers and buyers to be as transparent about every item and service as can be. And only one more thing... provide military, police, courts, firefighters, and ambulance as public services.

All of these other elements the US government currently acts on like marriage definition, drug use, food trucks, convenience stores, healthcare plans, liquor stores, school criteria, currency choice, and clothing options; to me; are not for the government to decide upon. Instead, these elements should be determined by free individuals making physically peaceful choices in the economy.

Lesson Four: Economic Growth Comes From Creativity

As I have already said, the best way for the government to grow the economy is to cut taxes at least once every year and make these cuts permanent for all. But what about private citizens? Well, the best way for private citizens to grow the economy is to keep on inventing more efficient technologies that allow each other to produce more out of the same scarce materials.

Copyright laws and Market competition are mutually beneficial, including doctrines like Fair Use to only allow the use of other people's copyrighted content for education, review, satire and parody purposes. This is also why the Copyright Clause exists in the US Constitution and is an Enumerated Power for Congress, in order to promote creativity.

Lesson Five: Moral Freedom and Economic Liberty make people richer

Let me define these terms. Moral freedom means the ability to live any life you want to, without damaging this ability for others. Economic liberty means the ability to buy and sell as you wish and to work where you want. Additionally, there are two arguments to make for these two in conjunction with each other. First, the moral argument, which is that moral freedom and economic liberty lead to peace, civility, and mutual empathy. Meanwhile, social tyranny and planned economy lead to war, barbarity, and mutual belligerence.

Now, the economic argument. The economic argument goes like this: when moral freedom and economic liberty are the norms, they promote the open development and exchange of ideas because free societies have more innovation and therefore faster economic growth. And it is easier for free societies to attract foreign investment. Which leads to my next lesson for you the blog reader.

Lesson Six: Global Trade and Very Lightly restrained Travel are Heroic Elements

Opening America to global trade means opening America to new ideas and innovations. But it is not just America, this is any country opening itself to global trade. This level of competition makes local businesses innovate to match or beat the best offers by foreign businesses.

Historically, the most open societies to global trade have been the most dynamic societies. Even today, nearly all economists favor allowing sellers and workers to compete across international borders to provide humans, soldier and civilian alike, with the best items and labor for the lowest prices. Almost all economists oppose tariffs, subsidies, and regulations on trade, as these three are tools that rig the trade game in one country's favor.

As for the travel, there are two kinds of travel to account for. Tourism and Migration are their names, and both should be subject only to very light regulation, why? Because a free market in travel has the same prerequisites and the same outcomes as a free market in retail.

The big difference, at least for me, is there is a historic example of a proper travel regulation standard: The 1890s to 1960s Ellis Island model. Back then, there were only two barriers to tourism: mandatory disease check and mandatory security check. As for migration, there was these two and a third barrier: mandatory civics class. More about that on History.com, frankly.

Conclusion: Figure out the other lessons yourselves...

...By actually buying a copy of the book, please. Remorsefully I cannot do that Yet as I am almost finished with John David Lewis's Nothing Less Than Victory, but once I am done with that I will be ready and able to read the Economics for Dummies book I am quoting from. Then, I will give Henry Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson a read, followed by Elan Journo's Winning the Unwinnable War. Boy, I do have a lot of nonfiction reading to do, on top of reading my favorite fiction books Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion again! Thanks for reading this, people!

~Kyle S. Perkins

~PS the picture is a World Map of Economic Liberty by Fraser Institute~