Recently at Reason.tv: Just Say Non to Obama's French Toast; LEAPing Past The Drug War with Jerry Cameron; and Talk Show on Pirates and Jefferson's Moose

By all accounts (including his own), President Barack Obama had a great time during his recent trip to France. And elite opinion at places ranging from Newsweek to The Economist to the Brookings Institution is urging Obama to make America more like France and Europe.

Should the United States become the next France, a land of high taxes, regulation, and government spending? And, not uncoincidentally, comparatively low economic growth?

In "Obama's French Toast: Just Say Non," Sorbonne-trained economist Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University argues that embracing the French way would be nothing less than a train wreck, leaving Americans with fewer jobs and less disposable income.

"Obama's French Toast" is a co-production of Reason.tv and the Center for Freedom & Prosperity.

Written and produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie. Approximately three minutes long.

 

 

 

 

During Reason Weekend, the annual event held by the nonprofit that publishes this website, Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie caught up with Jerry Cameron of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group made up of police, judges, and other guardians of the law who are sick and tired of the massive costs of the drug war. LEAP's members have seen firsthand how the drug war perverts the justice system, corrupts cops, intensifies violent crime, and screws with foreign policy—all without having any real effect on whether people use drugs or not.

Cameron, a former police chief of two "small town departments," is a graduate of the 150th Session of the FBI National Academy, the DEA Basic Drug Enforcement Course, and two DEA Advanced Drug Enforcement Professional Institutes. Gillespie asked Cameron about how LEAP got started, whether it's achieving its aims, what his drug of choice is, and more.

Shot and edited by Roger Richards; approximately 6 minutes.

 

Reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan and Nick Gillespie sit down with Peter Leeson, author of The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, and David Post, author of In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace, to discuss social contracts amongst pirates, Internet piracy, and whether or not 17th century pirates actually said "shiver me timbers."

Approximately 25 minutes.

For an audio podcast version, go here . For an archive of all Reason.tv Talk Shows, go here. Watch Nick Gillespie's interview with Peter Leeson here, and his interview with David Post here .

Comments

[classwarrior]

Actually while it's common in Reason to disparage European countries for low growth due to high taxes, the truth of the matter is that most western European countries have exceeded US rates of GDP growth per person since the 80's. Check the OECD figures, for those who doubt me on this one.

[Marc]

most western European countries have exceeded US rates of GDP growth per person since the 80's

So what you're saying is that if we really want to keep up with Europe, we should eat the least-productive people in order to increase the GDP growth per person. Which kind of makes sense, since they should be the most succulent. Interesting proposal.

[Seward]

classwarrior,

I'm not the first to point this out, but that's because most European countries have stagnant or shrinking populations. The U.S. has had substantial net increases in population over the same time period. And of course in nations that aren't stagnant in their population growth - like France - I believe the U.S. outperforms those countries in per capita GDP. This isn't a knock against immigration.

[R C Dean]

Check the OECD figures, for those who doubt me on this one.

Help me out with a link, here, classwarrior. A comparison didn't jump out and bite me on the ass during a quick scan of the OECD website.

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[Everyone\'s Best Friend]

I don't want to be associated with the last link, but you know who this is. So, to find out one of those behind DeRugys Center, look up the comments on the last time Reason posted this (or maybe the time before that).

She also doesn't go in to non-fiscal matters, such as happiness and the like. It's also interesting that the economics of the FarLeftAgenda is almost an afterthought to the SocialSideOf their agenda. Yet, the only thing hacks like DeRugy are willing to fight them on is the part that has LessSalience.

[Xeones]

Shut the fuck up, LoneWacko.

[Warty]

Fuck the slut up, Lonewacko.

[Ben]

I can tell David Post why Jefferson was so obsessed with large American animals - he wanted to prove wrong the European belief that animals (and, by extension, people) degenerated in the 'continental airs' of the New World. Good scientist that he was, Jefferson was responding to stupid anti-Americanism with empirical proof that it was wrong (the moose that was bigger than any European deer species). This political goal also explains some of the "racial stuff" and why he praises the Native American race and essentially compares them to the European Warrior-Aristocrat class.

Hamilton had a purely political response to such slurs against Americans, which was essentially "screw you." (hey, he was a bastard, not a botanist)

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