Free to Choose
Free to Choose#
- free to make your own decisions
- live your own life
- without the government breathing down your neck
The more the government intervened the worse it did.
society putting equality before freedom ends up with neither.
human freedom cannot exist without economic freedom
The Power of the Market#
Places have better opportunity.
Free to work the hours you want
If they fail they bear the cost - if they win they get the benefit
Not achieved by telling people what to do - achieved by allowing the market to work.
the market tells producers what to produce and how to produce it - with the prices they can charge and the prices of labour and materials
voluntary transaction - both parties must expect to benefit or it will not take place
Adam Smith - university of glasgow
by buying something - you trade a few minuets of your time to the seconds of time from thousands and millions of others
the magic of prices competition for their labour and skills
Hong Kong - too reliant on foreign trade that it put tarrifs on imports. Absense of tariffs is the main reason Hong Kong has increased standard of life. Laws and contracts are enforced.
voluntary co-operation
language - was not designed by government
there is no such thing as a well-regulated economy
constitutional democracy is the least bad
government roles:
- Protect citizens from physical violence and coersion
- Defining rules (private property)
- Adjudicating disputes
The Tyranny of control#
There is no unfair competition. There is only quality and price.
Complaining about unfair competition is really a cry for special privileges
Central control, protection of local industries and subsidies is really a burden and a tax that all citizens of a country pay.