What the Rolling Stones, LeBron James, and Downton Abbey Teach Us About Economics

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What the Rolling Stones, LeBron James, and Downton Abbey Teach Us About Economics

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"In [1970s'] Great Britain, the top tax rate was 83 percent on income. If you made made an investment and you had any returns, it was going to be at 98 percent," says John Tamny of RealClearMarketsand Forbes. "As Keith Richards points out in his autobiography, that was the equivalent of being told to leave the country. Well guess what? The Rolling Stones left the country." 

In his new book, Popular Economics, Tamny explains how perverse economic policies pushed Richards, Mick Jagger and the rest of The Rolling Stones into tax exile. While millionaire rock stars will do well wherever they go, Tamny stresses that the middle-class sound engineers and studio hands who worked with the Stones and other bands were left behind and thus were the real victims of the soak-the-rich tax policy.

Popular Economics uses everyday examples from pop culture to explain economic principles and argue for policies that will create more growth, opportunity, and innovation. When basketball great LeBron James departed Cleveland for Miami, says Tamny, he illustrated important lessons about free trade. James' decision to play for the NBA's Heat—an organization determined to win an NBA championship—demonstrates the upside of open borders and labor mobility. When people are free to travel, workers end up where their talent is most valued.

The popular TV show Downton Abbey, says Tamny, dramatizes how many resources are spent fending off stupid and invasive government regulation and controls on businesses. All that time, money, and energy spent complying with top-down edicts is time, money, and energy not spent increasing your business or creating the next great breakthrough product.

Nick Gillespie talks with Tamny about Popular Economics and what it will take to create an America that is always getting richer and freer.

About 9.00 minutes long.

Produced by Todd Krainin. Cameras by Meredith Bragg and Krainin.

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Comments

[MC Guru]

Downton Abbey taught me that we need to clone Maggie Smith before its too late

[Paul.]

I would not accept a clone of Maggie Smith, only the genuine article.

And if it took Downton Abbey to bring you to that conclusion, you've missed a huge body of her excellent work.

[Paul.]

If I may suggest My House in Umbria as an excellent Maggie Smith movie.

Also, for something a little off the beaten path, Capturing Mary is an excellent movie. The kind of movie you can't help but think about for hours after you've watched it.

[Redmanfms]

I like her too.

Her's is the only character I can truck with.

The show also demonstrates that British women being well below average (at least compared to 'Murica) isn't just a stereotype. One hot British chick (who, I have to say, really is legitimately hot, not just hot when grading on a British curve) who they killed off. The fact that a 50+ year old American women is now the prettiest on the show is just,, just, fucking sad.

And fuck Lady Mary. She is the least charismatic or sympathetic character on the show.

I second Paul, look into Smith's filmography. She's probably one of the greatest living actresses. Quartet was really good and recent, but I'm a Connolly fan and generally like movies about fading old farts.

[MC Guru]

I have seen the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the various Harry Potter movies.

[Ed Ucation]

Maggie Smith - hubba, hubba. Who wouldn't pop a boner for the Dowager Countess.

[John]

Lets not forget that for Americans tax exile is not an option. The US is one of the few countries with the barbaric idea that they own their citizens' income no matter where it is made.

[Spiny Norman]

Nick: Does the Ex/Im Bank subsidize Vandelay Industries?

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Wow, calling the Stones still touring a market success, well, that's where you lose me. Paying $200 to watch a bunch of geriatrics on a giant video screen with lousy stadium sound. Just because people are willing to pay for something doesn't mean I can't still point out that the invisible hand has poked through the toilet paper.

Fun quote from... Rolling Stone, 1969:
"Paying five, six and seven dollars for a Stones concert at the Oakland Coliseum for, say, an hour of the Stones seen a quarter of a mile away because the artists demand such outrageous fees that they can only be obtained under these circumstances, says a very bad thing to me about the artists' attitude towards the public. It says they despise their own audience."

Same article, Mick Jagger doesn't sound too into econ here:

"We were offered a lot of money to do some very good dates ? money in front in Europe, before we left, really a lot of bread. We didn't accept because we thought they'd be too expensive on the basis of the money we'd get. We didn't say that unless we walk out of America with X dollars, we ain't gonna come. We're really not into that sort of economic scene. Either you're gonna sing and all that crap, or you're gonna be a fucking economist. I really don't know whether this is more expensive than recent tours by local bands. I don't know how much people can afford. I've no idea. Is that a lot? You'll have to tell me."

[Scarecrow Repair]

Your taste does not govern market success. That attitude puts you on the road to serfdom.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Your taste does not govern market success.

Only because my diabolical plan has yet to come to fruition. When it does, the only music allowed will be prog rock, the constant playing of which will usher in a new age of Libertopia. It's like the end times of Christianity. You have to go through a period of suffering before you get to the good stuff.

[Harold Falcon]

RUSH FTW!!!

[BigT]

Like Apple and BMW, people really like consistent greatness.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Did you really just use "Apple" and "Greatness" together? My last two OS updates would beg to differ.

[gaoxiaen]

Saw the Stones in Cleveland , early seventies, from twenty feet away. Great show, cheap price. Saw them in Pittsburgh, late eighties, more than two hundred yards away. Waste of time and money. Best concert ever, Led Zeppelin at Three Rivers Stadium, mid seventies.

[JeremyR]

Saw the Stones in Miami in '89 or '90.

Really, really sucked.

OTOH, Living Colour opened for them and were really, really good.

[JeremyR]

Sat next to a couple of ex-hippies (one of whom was British) and the woman had an acid flashback. Lovely.

[mtrueman]

"Tamny explains how perverse economic policies pushed Richards, Mick Jagger and the rest of The Rolling Stones into tax exile."

What kind of perverse economic policy accounts for the fact that the Stones chose to surround themselves with unscrupulous parasites and hangers-on?

[jschizz]

i keep hearing about free trade agreements. when employers in other countries pay slave wages to the poor and are therefore able to price their products or services at more competitive rates than those of us who have to pay a much higher cost of living, how could that be a good thing? it's a serious question because maybe i just don't understand how it works

[siboyobi]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.netjob80.com

[siboyobi]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.netjob80.com

[MoreFreedom]

I'd rather listen to many of the local blues bands in my area than pay for a ticket to the Strolling Bones. The music is better for one, you can see the band for two, and the price is much, much better. Still, I admire the ability of these guys to get thousands of people to pay huge amounts for tickets to see them. The focus on all of this, misses Gillespie's point which is far more important than the popularity of this band, as it affects all of us.

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