Money first
In his book “Capitalism and Freedom”, Milton Friedman argues that economic freedom is not just important in itself, but is also the foundation of all other freedoms. According to our survey data, 47% of Americans agree.
There also exist substantial generational differences regarding this issue. First Globals™ are the less likely than other generations to agree that “economic freedom is the foundation of all other freedoms” and most likely to agree that “cultural and social freedom is more important than economic freedom.” In a November 2008 Zogby survey, 34% of First Globals™ agreed with the former, and 52% agreed with the latter. The next oldest generation – those between ages of 30 and 40 – endorsed the former by 48% and the latter by 38%.
Do First Globals™ put more weight on social and cultural freedom because of their stronger connection to to global culture? Or are they relatively less interested in economic freedom because they earn less money? How important is economic freedom to you?
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I think it’s because they haven’t accumulated enough material wealth to understand it how it enables many other things.
Economic freedom is very important. If a person is not free to fail, neither is that person free to succeed. First Globals merely reflect the education they have recieved and the entertainment they have watched. They generally have not had enough time life to learn to suspect what they have been told. I know because I was there once, too.
I’m a “social contract” person. The concept of “freedom” baffles me except as equal standing before the law and the right to leave one’s country, tribe, whatever, with one’s portable assets to find a more agreeable social contract. People who claim that government is bad but condo rules are good baffle me.
Economic freedom for whom? For all, or just for the favored few?
There is no freedom without democracy, and vice-versa. Our civilization lasts as long as the social contract balances the freedom of the individual with the rights of the community.
Can one have economic freedom without economic democracy? Can we have political liberty and democracy after hours and be slaves at work?
Shall we mice allow the elephants to get so big and clumsy that they stumble and step on us? Shall we allow their flatulence to foul the forest and wreck the climate?
Shall we allow them to get “too big to fail,” and risk getting squashed when they fall?
Better to regulate their behavior – and their diet, rather than outlaw elephants altogether.
Economic freedom affirms a man’s power to pursue his own self interest without restraint. This is the definition of liberty. Without liberty no kind of freedom is possible either social or cultural. First globals have been misguided and deceived by a corrupt set of values imposed on them by ‘progressive’ professors.
“There is no freedom without democracy, and vice-versa.”
not true. freedom refers to the extent of the power of the collective to control individual behavior – not in how collective decisions are formed. if you have a government that decides on minutes of individual behavior (e.g. what you are allowed to eat etc) then you have little freedom, regardless of how democratic the government is.
“Can one have economic freedom without economic democracy? Can we have political liberty and democracy after hours and be slaves at work?”
Well, I don’t know many slaves, not in this country, anyway. I don’t know what economic democracy is, but economic freedom means I have the ability to work at what I desire, selling my goods and services to the highest bidder. If I don’t like where I work, I’m free to look elsewhere. If my career isn’t going so great, I’m free to change the direction of my career. Anyone who doesn’t recognize these facts is falling into a mental state of victimhood.
This country is one of the few places in the world where you can rise above the status of your birth, above the economic position of your parents and ancestors, and define your own path. That economic freedom has driven the greatest, most innovative system in the world, where anyone and everyone can redefine themselves as often as they desire until they achieve success.
And thanks to that freedom, I’ve been able to aggregate enough so that I can buy what I want, when I want, and enjoy to the fullest the satisfaction of the cultural and social freedoms that seem to be prioritized by some.
I’m tired of being led to believe I have to choose between capitalism and freedom. The problem with BOTH is corruption and apathy, IMO. I have nothing new or fresh to say. It’s all been said before. Here are just a couple examples.
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.” — Thomas Jefferson
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and
inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness.” — Thomas Jefferson
And another of my favorites,
“I am not among those who fear the people.
They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.
And to preserve their independence,
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
We must make our election between economy and liberty
or profusion and servitude.
If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and
in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and
our amusements, for our calling and our creeds
as the people of England are, our people, like them,
must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four,
give the earnings of fifteen of these
to the government for their debts and daily expenses;
and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread,
we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes;
have no time to think,
no means of calling our miss-managers to account
but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves
to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.
Our land-holders, too, like theirs,
retaining indeed the title and stewardship of estates called theirs
but held really in trust for the treasury,
must wander, like theirs, in foreign countries,
and be contented with penury, obscurity, exile,
and the glory of the nation.
This example reads to us the salutary lesson,
that private fortunes are destroyed by public
as well as by private extravagances.
And this is the tendency of all human governments.
A departure from principle in one instance
becomes a precedent for the second;
that second for a third; and so on,
till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery,
to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering.
Then begins, indeed, the bellum omnium in omnia,
which some philosophers observing to be so general in this world,
have mistaken for the natural, instead of the abusive state of man.
And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt.
Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.” — Thomas Jefferson
Economic freedom (i.e., respect for private property) and freedom of association are the fundamental elements of all freedom. Without these things, one is not free. Does anyone really believe that Americans are really free today?
First globals have been coddled in materialism, entitlement and self centerness by their parents. They have no clue.
Milton Friedman that economic genius who theories brought the Earth’s inhabitants this latest round of economic distress was champion of the Earth as an infinite source of natural resources. His most ignorant statement was to the effect that if the price of oil were to rise significantly enough economic forces would lead to discovering ever increasing supplies. I am amused by the commentators who view their economic success as a result of their and only their hard work and diligence, completely ignoring the significance of luck. Luck of the station in life one is born to, luck of all happen chance decisions one makes in life, luck of timing, ……… Of course these folks will never admit that the Government which they are so disdainful of if it helps the less fortunate provides far more gain to them through corporate welfare than it does to welfare of the disadvantaged. How many $ trillions have the Fed and the Treasury poured into the coffers of well heeled Bankers and Insurers; oh but that is different we must do that else the economy will crash, right? Any chance that the greedy SOBs who run these operations were taking far far far more than their fair share out of the economic system? No it was not them it was the the greedy little people buying all of those houses they could not afford, was it not? Seems like the only ones loosing their worldly possessions are the little people because the well off are sniveling to the Government to make them whole again. Any of you ever been in a War? Ask someone who has come home, scathed or unscathed, what it was like and 9 out of 10, or more, will tell you it is about the luck of the draw. The luck of being splattered by the blood of the person you are talking to rather than providing the splattering blood, the luck of being wounded rather than killed. As a retired widower I am disgusted by the loads of sanctimonious BS put out by the haves.
The first globals were born into a world of plenty and can’t even imagine the world of the Depression, or of world war, or the flu pandemic of 1918 (when young healthy people dropped dead after only hours of illness). The luck of birth determines much of people’s world view and ethical stance. That said, I wouldn’t wish a worse birth on anyone. But trying to understand the perspective of those with different birth luck is critical to maintaining peace between generation–and nations. I recommend reading Gina Kolata’s “Flu” and William Strauss’s “The Fourth Turning” to start getting in touch with other viewpoints…