Books: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy

Robert Murphy is an Austrian Economist and host of the Bob Murphy Show. From Wikipedia: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism argues against criticisms of capitalism, amongst which are: “It causes ecological destruction. It causes vast income inequality, as well as racism. It causes an unpredictable boom and bust cycle.” Instead, Murphy argues that they result from government efforts to regulate the free market that have the effect of distorting laissez-faire supply and demand that would encourage the most rational allocation of resources possible, as well as their conservation for future generations.

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Description

Most commonly accepted economic “facts” are wrong Here’s the unvarnished, politically incorrect truth. The liberal media and propagandists masquerading as educators have filled the world–and deformed public policy–with politically correct errors about capitalism and economics in general. In The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Capitalism, myth-busting professor Robert P. Murphy, a scholar and frequent speaker at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, cuts through all their nonsense, shattering liberal myths and fashionable socialist cliches to set the record straight. Murphy starts with a basic explanation of what capitalism really is, and then dives fearlessly into hot topics like:

  • Outsourcing (why it’s good for Americans) and zoning restrictions (why they’re not)
  • Why central planning has never worked and never will
  • How prices operate in a free market (and why socialist schemes like rent control always backfire)
  • How labor unions actually hurt workers more than they help them
  • Why increasing the minimum wage is always a bad idea
  • Why the free market is the best guard against racism
  • How capitalism will save the environment–and why Communist countries were the most polluted on earth
  • Raising taxes: why it is never “responsible”
  • Why no genuine advocate for the downtrodden could endorse the dehumanizing Welfare State
  • The single biggest myth underlying the public’s support for government regulation of business
  • Antitrust suits: usually filed by firms that lose in free competition
  • How tariffs and other restrictions “protect” privileged workers but make other Americans poorer
  • The IMF and World Bank: why they don’t help poor countries
  • Plus: Are you a capitalist pig? Take the quiz and find out! Breezy, witty, but always clear, precise, and elegantly reasoned, The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Capitalism is a solid and entertaining guide to free market economics. With his twelve-step plan for understanding the free market, Murphy shows why conservatives should resist attempts to socialize America and fight spiritedly for the free market.
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Chris Spangle is the publisher and editor of We Are Libertarians, a news site and podcast that covers national and Indiana politics from the libertarian perspective. Spangle previously worked in marketing for the Englehart Group on behalf of the Advocates for Self-Government. He also served as the Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Indiana and producer of the Abdul in the Morning Show. He now works as the web director of a nationally syndicated morning show.

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