Popular Economics : What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You About Economics

Tamny Uses ... Stories From Sports, Movies, Popular Culture, And Famous Businesses To Explain The Basic Principles Of Economics. [with A Conservative Bent, He Examines] How Money Really Works--a Lesson Politicians Try (and Fail) To Grasp Every Day -- Taxes. Taxes Are Nothing More Than A Price Placed On Work ; When We Tax Companied, We Rob Them Of Their Future ; Government Spending Did Not Create The Internet, And Has Never Created A Job ; It's The Spending, Stupid : Budget Deficits Really Don't Matter ; Capital Gains Are The Elusive Jackpot That Drive Innovation ; The Best Way To Spread The Wealth Around Is To Abolish The Estate Tax ; Wealth Inequality Is Beautiful ; Savers Are An Economy's Most Valuable Benefactors ; Job Creation Requires Perpetual Job Destruction ; Bulldoze The Y.s. Tax Code -- Regulation. Appalachian State Almost Never Beats Michigan, And Government Regulation Almost Never Works ; Antitrust Laws : The Neutering Of The Near-term Excellent ; Don't Dismiss College Dropouts Delivering Alternative Weeklies -- Trade. Trade Deficits Are Our Rewards For Going To Work Each Day ; Comparative Advantage : Could Lebron James Play In The Nfl? ; Outsourcing Is Great For Workers, And As Old As The Pencil ; Energy Independence Would Be Economically Crippling, Global Warming Is A Crippling Theory ; Free Trade Is The Path To Knowledge, Liberty, World Peace, And Big Raises -- Money. A Floating Foot, Minute, And Second Would Give You Ugly Houses, Burnt Wings, And Slow Nfl Draft Picks ; Do Not Be Fooled By Rising And Falling Computer, Flat Screen, And Vhs Prices : They Are Not An Inflation Or Deflation Signal ; True Inflation Is Currency Devaluation, And It Is A Cruel Blast To The Past ; If They Tell You They Predicted The Financial Crisis, They're Lying ; Do-nothing Politicians Deserve A Special Place In Heaven. John Tamny ; Foreword By Steve Forbes. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 251-267) And Index. “John Tamny is a one-man antidote to economic obfuscation and mystification.” —George Will, Nationally Syndicated Columnist “In spirit, Tamny does for economics what the Gutenberg printing press did for the Bible, making a previously inaccessible subject open to all. Equally important, he does to economists what Toto did to the Wizard of Oz: pulling aside the curtain to expose the fraud that has become modern economics.” —Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Forbes Media “Ignore John Tamny’s easy to read Popular Economics at your own moral peril. It’s as close to spiritual as you get in this realm—a better tutorial than any econ text.” - Ken Fisher, Founder & CEO, Fisher Investments “John’s book is many things. It’s a great way to learn economics, it’s a very strong case for economic liberty, and it is an epic myth-buster. I will be giving it out to friends, of all viewpoints, for a long, long time.” - Cliff Asness, Managing Principal, AQR Capital ECONOMICS 101 In Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You About Economics (Regnery Publishing; April 13, 2015; $27.99) Tamny translates the so-called difficult and intimidating subject of economics into plain language, revealing that there is nothing mysterious about finance, commerce, and budgets. In fact, we are all microeconomists in our daily lives. “Economics is easy, and its lessons are all around us,” says Tamny. “But Americans have allowed the so-called ‘experts’ to convince them they can’t understand, much less grow the economy. Happily, economic growth is simple, too. If you can understand the four basic elements of economic growth—taxes, regulation, trade, and money— prosperity will explode.” Much like Freakonomics, Tamny uses pop culture and engaging stories to illustrate how understanding our economy is common sense—just look no further than the movies we enjoy, the sports we watch, and what we do every day. In Popular Economics, you’ll discover: How Paris Hilton and the Dallas Cowboys help illustrate good and bad tax policy How Facebook and Monday Night Football demonstrate the debilitating effect of antitrust regulation How the simple act of cooking chicken wings reveals why the “floating dollar” is a recipe for disaster Why Downton Abbey and ESPN are evidence that the U.S. should bulldoze its tax code Part I: Taxes Taxes are nothing more than a price placed on work When we tax corporations, we rob them of their future Government spending did not create the Internet, and has never created a job It's the spending, stupid : budget deficits really don't matter Capital gains are the elusive jackpot that drive innovation The best way to spread the wealth around is to abolish the estate tax Wealth inequality is beautiful Savers are an economy's most valuable benefactors Job creation requires perpetual job destruction Conclusion: Bulldoze the U.S. Tax Code Part II: Regulation Appalachian State almost never beats Michigan, and government regulation almost never works Antitrust laws : the neutering of the near-term excellent Conclusion: Don't dismiss college dropouts delivering alternative weeklies Part III: Trade "Trade deficits" are our rewards for going to work each day Comparative advantage : could LeBron James play in the NFL? "Outsourcing" is great for workers, and as old as the pencil "Energy independence" would be economically crippling, "global warming" is a crippling theory Conclusion: Free trade is the path to knowledge, liberty, world peace, and big raises Part IV: Money A floating foot, minute, and second would give you ugly houses, burnt wings, and slow NFL draft picks Do not be fooled by rising and falling computer, flat screen, and VHS prices : they are not an inflation or deflation signal True inflation is currency devaluation, and it is a cruel blast to the past If they tell you they predicted the "financial crisis," they're lying Conclusion: "Do-nothing" politicians deserve a special place in heaven. "John Tamny uses entertaining stories from sports, movies, popular culture, and famous businesses to explain the basic principles of economics. His Dollars and Sense is an everyman's guide to how money really works-a lesson politicians try (and fail) to grasp every day. "-- Provided by publisher John Tamny use sports, movies, popular books, and well-known businesses to explain the basic principles of economics. He also shows that economic growth is a function of the political class getting taxes, regulation, trade, and monetary policy correct.