Focus Point – Economic Myths

I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. There's a wonderful little book out from the Media Research Center edited by Stephen Moore and Richard Noyes. I hope you'll read it, but mainly I hope the real audience it's meant for will get a copy.

It's called "Dollars And Nonsense," but the subtitle tells all: "Correcting the News Media's Top Economic Myths."

Lawrence Kudlow explains why economic growth doesn't cause inflation. Milton Friedman explodes the cherished liberal belief that government spending and deficits stimulate the economy. Subscribe to the silly notion that trade deficits hurt our economy? You won't after Brian Wesbury gets done with you.

The dallas fed's Michael Cox proves the middle class isn't shrinking, and Robert Crandall shows conclusively that deregulation doesn't hurt consumers. Moore and Arthur Laffer dispatch the particularly pernicious notion that tax cuts always cause a loss of revenue.

So as much as I want you to read this, I want economic journalists and journalists in general to read it more. They're the ones who enshrine nonsense as truth, and they're the ones who need an education.

Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you next time.