Phil Gramm and I are grateful for these reviews of our book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism:
Anne Bradley writing for the Acton Institute. A slice:
Among the good news found in Triumph of Economic Freedom is that even readers not well-versed in economics or steeped in stats will find this book accessible. It boasts a “just the facts” approach, taking us chapter by chapter through the myths we can’t seem to shake. Gramm and Boudreaux invoke the great Thomas Sowell on the very first page, who argues that political differences emerge from “people reasoning from fundamentally different premises … have different visions of how the world works.”
Sowell has written about the constrained and unconstrained vision of man. The realities of human nature bind man in the constrained vision; the unconstrained vision sees man as malleable, able to be shaped and formed, bent to the common good. The unconstrained vision is factually incorrect yet appealing to policymakers and anyone who desires government power. The constrained vision accurately captures man as he is, finite and fallible, operating out of self-interest rather than full-time benevolence. The American founders understood the concept of self-interest and, as such, recognized the need for limited government.
Thus, we almost always start on the wrong foot when it comes to understanding economic history, which hinders our ability to make better policy for the future. The authors point out that at the country’s founding, the government was limited in both size and scope. It took until 1918 for the federal government to spend its first trillion dollars, and up until 1900, government spending as a percentage of GDP was around 7%; today it is around 33%. Deficits have proliferated through the 20th and into the 21st century, with no end in sight.
This is an untenable path that will not end well. The authors are all too familiar with this. This book is unique in that it’s not a vitriolic rant against progressives and Democrats; there are many such books already, and they hardly change hearts and minds. Instead, this book presents a careful study of evidence that the authors argue has influenced public opinion over the past century, leading to a substantial expansion of government in both its size (what it spends) and scope (what it influences or controls).
John Goodman (part I and part II). Two slices:
As we approach our country’s 250th birthday, there is no better time to reflect on where we have been and how we got here. Yet Americans are surprisingly ignorant about our past.
As I noted in Part I, the book The Triumph of Economic Freedom by Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux is a useful remedy. Together the authors have combed through the scholarly literature and savagely dismantled myths about our economic history—myths that are routinely taught in high schools and colleges across the country.
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Far from protecting the public from the excesses of capitalism, the Progressive Era gave us government regulations designed to help producers, not consumers, in the marketplace.
