The Story of Broke Response

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Prof. Art Carden responds to "The Story of Broke" (http://bit.ly/LLStoryOfBroke), a recent video by the creators of "The Story of Stuff." In "The Story of Broke," Annie Leonard claims that the government isn't actually broke. Rather, the government just wastes resources on the wrong things like subsidies to the dinosaur economy and war. She claims that the government should change its ways, and instead, subsidize firms that will bring us the future we really want.

Art Carden agrees with Leonard that war and subsidies are wasteful, but is skeptical of notion that there is one unified vision for the future. To Carden, everyone has a different vision for the future. Our path to the future, he argues, is determined by the interactions of billions of unique individuals pursuing their own objectives.

Additionally, Carden questions Leonard's distinction between bad subsidies and good subsidies. Every subsidy, deemed good or bad, must be allocated through the political process. Lobbyists and special interests exert a large degree of influence on political decisions, and they use this power to direct subsidies in their own favor at everyone else's expense.

Carden concludes that government spending won't buy a brighter future. A brighter future will emerge when people are allowed to spend money on things they care about. Put another way, positive change will come from billions of people cooperating freely and voluntarily with one another, not from pushing trillions of dollars through a broken political process.

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Category:

Education

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• story of broke
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• subsidies
• annie leonard
• taxes
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• economy
• economics
• video
• special interest
• crony capitalism
• libertarian
• learn liberty
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• educational

[olhsaoagpaigfbp]

@Kritiker9 Feudalism,really? A system in which king owns all the land,gives portions to his friends which than make people work for him or kills them.Are you sure you know what are you talking about.You compare that to free market in which you can get hired by a boss if you chose so or hire people on your own if you choose so.Are you sure that you know what are you talking about.

[KittenKoder]

The ethanol fiasco ... the perfect example of how government interference in the market just messes things up.

[pat02537]

What about public transit subsidies?

[Dutchguy74]

" a better future comes from letting people choose on how to spend their money themselves on on things they care about"

Uhm yeah right, like cigarettes, booze, drugs, fast food, guns and plastic surgery, we all know that is what makes life better

[WhisperShoes]

tis in our nature if we wander off such a path we are met with pain. We must migrate to a new future instead of staying in our decaying comfort spot that is what we r missing though it's like herding cats it can be done in using tools we have but nvr thought in using and may sound crazy. Though we're too deep in our own fesses to get out we must continue with a failed plan and still make it win it's not that they fight but rather run from their mistakes early on.

[SoleilCollective]

@kuhioffxi Okay. Can we not all agree on common sense? No book needs a label if you are respectful to all information provided to you for study. You shouldn't believe a certain political view or religion without STUDYING first. Otherwise it's indoctrination. Our education is government-run, so responsibility lies within it to create an open-minded generation. And NOT to put warning labels on textbooks. End of story. 

[halloranedward]

all subsidies and market orders create a government monopoly and eliminate the free market that existed before the monopoly existed. If no one is willing to admit that we have a fascist country, and have had since 1970 , we do not have any chance of avoiding being a communist slave state.we need a commercial rights amendment, a flat tax, we need to close the fed/state bureaucracy government and sell it's assets in a zero minimum/closed bid auction immediately.

[kuhioffxi]

@SoleilCollective And here we still are; you continuing to “nuh uh” and I’m still thinking you sound like a “government knows best unless it’s controlled by people I don’t like” Liberal. The reason I think you’re full of crap is because you don’t directly address any of his points and go directly to discrediting the messenger. The simplicity of his message is not the problem. Your inability to understand the message is.

[SoleilCollective]

@kuhioffxi I'm not a liberal. I'm not a conservative. I just think for myself. Unlike you, who watches one sly "info" video put out by a certain group with an agenda and then thinks they agree with it because it's in a formula a 5 year old would understand. Ever hear of there being another half of the story? Btw, thanks again for labeling me, as most conservatives tend to do.

[kuhioffxi]

@SoleilCollective So your rebuttal is “nuh uh”?... Sounds like the Liberal redirect we have come to love and adore.

[MrPatrickHenryCheryl]

Can't subsidies be a good thing in the case of positive externalities?