Sep 04, 2026

Economics 101 starts here. This is the first of four episodes with economist Lawrence Reed that build the subject from the ground up, an economics course in four weeks, so that the argument about the national debt, inflation and affordability can be had by people who actually know how an economy works. Reed opens with a definition: economics is the study of human action in a world of limited resources and unlimited wants. From there he walks Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations in 1776, and the mercantilist myth Smith destroyed, that the world's wealth is a fixed pie to be fought over rather than something you can bake more of. Jenny Beth Martin takes that straight to the present. The national debt has passed 40 trillion dollars and is now larger than everything America produces in a year. Washington is spending two trillion dollars more this year than it takes in, and roughly a trillion of the seven trillion dollar federal budget goes to nothing but interest on the debt. The hour covers the invisible hand against the iron fist, the lockdowns as a live experiment in central planning, why value is subjective, Leonard Read's 1958 essay I, Pencil, what happened when the Soviet Union abolished prices, competition against monopoly, the proper role of government, free trade and tariffs, and the Austrian School. Lawrence W. Reed is president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education. He led the organization for twelve years, ran think tanks in Michigan and Idaho, taught economics at the university level for seven years, and is the author of nine books. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.

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