Tuesday, April 24, 2007
John Stossel at the Univ. of MN, Mpls. Campus
John Stossel of ABC's 20/20 was in MN for a two-day college tour. King wrote about his talk at St. Johns, in Collegeville, MN on Monday, April 23. Tonight, Stossel spoke at Northrup Auditorium in Mpls.
The title of his talk: "Freedom and Its Enemies"
One can summarize his views as follows:
The touted belief/myth that the free market economy is so cruel and unfair that government must take over is simply wrong. Frauds avoid the rules and regulations. But, once it's apparent the fraud will lose, they move on to something else. In the meantime, creative people learn and comply with all the rules. This is creative time wasted; they get stifled by government regs. Companies in business for the long haul pay for all the regulations as do the consumers. Good companies that serve customers well, grow; those that don't, die.
Ralph Nader originated the idea that commercial TV would not do consumer programs because TV would lose advertisers. What happened? Consumer programs thrive on commercial TV and are non-existent on public TV because the PBS regulating boards are too scared to try anything.
People have been told by government and tort lawyers that business is a zero sum gain. In reality, business is a win/win. You buy a cup of coffee, you hand the server your money. You get your coffee, the server gets their money. "Thank you" and both of you are happy.
Free enterprise has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system.
Fearful and bad reporting encourage people to be fearful.
In summary, in addition to our military heroes, America's other heroes are free people, the inventors, entrepreneurs, the creative geniuses who design, develop and deliver innovation after innovation after innovation - not the government regulators.
The title of his talk: "Freedom and Its Enemies"
One can summarize his views as follows:
The touted belief/myth that the free market economy is so cruel and unfair that government must take over is simply wrong. Frauds avoid the rules and regulations. But, once it's apparent the fraud will lose, they move on to something else. In the meantime, creative people learn and comply with all the rules. This is creative time wasted; they get stifled by government regs. Companies in business for the long haul pay for all the regulations as do the consumers. Good companies that serve customers well, grow; those that don't, die.
Ralph Nader originated the idea that commercial TV would not do consumer programs because TV would lose advertisers. What happened? Consumer programs thrive on commercial TV and are non-existent on public TV because the PBS regulating boards are too scared to try anything.
People have been told by government and tort lawyers that business is a zero sum gain. In reality, business is a win/win. You buy a cup of coffee, you hand the server your money. You get your coffee, the server gets their money. "Thank you" and both of you are happy.
Free enterprise has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system.
Fearful and bad reporting encourage people to be fearful.
In summary, in addition to our military heroes, America's other heroes are free people, the inventors, entrepreneurs, the creative geniuses who design, develop and deliver innovation after innovation after innovation - not the government regulators.
Labels: higher education
