Reason.tv Replay: Be Happy! Why this is the best holiday season ever.

We're going through some tough economic times right now, but this holiday season, take a moment to appreciate how good we really have it.

Need proof? Just think about how much Christmas presents sucked in the 1970s compared to today.

Thanks to our market-based system, we're wealthier, we have more choices, and we enjoy more leisure time than ever before.

From all of us at Reason.tv, happy holidays!

Produced by Paul Feine and Hawk Jensen. Hosted by Nick Gillespie.

Approximately 1.45 minutes.

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Comments

[Johnny Longtorso]

Jesus-Shooting-Santa Display Riles Neighbors

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/22005291/detail.html

A Christmas display featuring Jesus shooting Santa Claus and a run-over Rudolph is riling some residents of a California neighborhood, KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, Calif., reported....

[nebby]

More leisure time? The ransacking of the middle class by the wealthy over the last thirty years has moved us from a situation where one parent supporting a household was typical to one where both parents working was the norm.

[The Wealthy]

I've ransacked nebby's wife many times.

[dfd]

ransacking of the middle class by the wealthy,

Utter and complete bullshit. Amazing that anyone with the metal capacity required for respiration can believe something like that.

[Hyperion]

nebby meant to say "ransacking of the middle class by elitist politicians"

[Jeffersonian]

Two words: Goldman Sachs.

[Lester Hunt]

Merry Christmas to you to Nick, buy ...

As we move further into a command economy, further away from freedom, and further into suffocating debt, I find it hard to give thanks for the gizmos and doo-dads we cam buy.

[R C Dean]

The ransacking of the middle class by the wealthy

No wealthy people are taking money out of my pocket (unless you count the elderly, of course, who are all taking government welfare checks).

By far, the biggest expense I have is taxes, so if anyone's ransacking me, its the Total State.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, is true we can get better toys these days, by far, but I somehow just do not feel as hopeful about things as I did then. Don't get me wrong, I am every bit as materialistic as most Libertarians, but I like a little bit of freedom to go along with all my cool stuff.

[?]

if anyone's ransacking me, its the Total State.

Of, by, and for broke guys.

[Steven Horwitz]

Excellent job guys. There's plenty of more data to back this up here and here.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Threadjack, but hey, no open thread today:

Ezra Klein is mildly critical of Obama for Public Option Lie

Break out the smelling salts!

[Jeffersonian]

It's just a cream puff lobbed at Obama so he can pretend later that he's something other than a prostrate tout. He isn't.

[jake]

But pong rocks!

[Retief]

Can Hit and Run give us a simple Holiday greeting without lying about leisure time?

[Citizen Nothing]

Wait. How can everyone have less free time when everyone is out of a job? Something seems screwy with Retief's chart.

[Retief]

Gee willikers, I guess maybe there were employment issues in the seventies too. Who'd a thunk it?

[Citizen Nothing]

Oh, I see in the fine print - folks aren't counting the time spent goofing off with their iPhones and Blackberries as leisure time. Probably not counting the time masturbating, either. That can be hard work.

[Zeb]

All that survey shows is that people think that they have leisure time. I am sure that most people, if they really examined what it is that they really need to do would find that they have a whole lot more than 16 hours per week that they could spend on optional activities.

[Zeb]

less leisure time

[Steven Horwitz]

If you trust a Harris poll more than the time diaries in the peer-reviewed work of John Robinson and co-authors that goes back decades (and summarized here), then I suggest you take another stab at understanding what good evidence is. I also suggest you read the article you linked closely, especially at the end.

[Citizen Nothing]

That's quite a succinct summary there, Horwitz.

[Steven Horwitz]

Yeah, very succinct! Let's try that again: http://www.amazon.com/Time-Lif.....0271016523

Why it wants to garble my links, I cannot say.

[Retief]

Doesn't that guy's data start in 1965? And doesn't most of the change in leisure he reports come between 65 and 75?

[Citizen Nothing]

Really - I don't know about you guys, but I've got more freedom, more stuff, more free time, than my parents could have ever dreamed of.
Hell, I can retreat to my compound at the end of the day, shoot guns, get blitzed, chase forest animals naked or, more likely, read some Christmas books to my four-year-olds without fear (or with very little fear) of the federales busting in.
It's the folks at the margins, I'm afraid, who really suffer from the misguided policies of our masters in Washington.

And my four-year-olds. I worry for them. I worry about what will be left 20 years hence.

But for me? I got no complaints. I'm a rich, rich man, figuratively speaking, living in what remains, for the time being, the freest country on earth.

Merry Christmas, ya'll.

[Zeb]

Man, I need a compound. I doubt my neighbors would be thrilled with a late night Christmas eve shoot.

[Citizen Nothing]

I highly recommend the compound lifestyle. There's still plenty of cheap, accessible land to be had in the Midwest. You can even grow shit on it, if you're into that.

[Retief]

Worrying about people at the margins?!? Better watch it; they'll revoke your libertarian card for that.

[Citizen Nothing]

Guilt, as charged. Except for you, Retief. I don't worry about you a bit.

[dfd]

Oooh, the old 'revoke your libertarian card' bit - pretty funny and original there Retief. Of course it is just as inaccurate as all the other thoughtless snark you liberals throw around here while thinking you're oh so clever. All it does, however, is betray a total lack of understanding of those you presume to criticize.

[Retief]

I object. You don't have to be that clever to see the contradiction in libertarianism.