Why Liberty matters to your economic well-being

For all those among us who are down on America and capitalism and our rigged system, it would be a good idea to keep the big picture in mind. 

Never in the history of the world have more people in a society benefited from its growing economy than in the US. And, as the article notes, the reason can be summed up in one word, Liberty. 

It seems a lot of people forget that these days and are willing to turn running their lives over to others. 

From the Motley Fool

Why did this (economic growth) all change?

Of course, as you can see from recent history, something has radically changed.

Something previously unseen across history has been unleashed, and the course of humanity has been altered.

Zooming in on the history of the United States, we see this radical shift in full display. Generation after generation of stagnant living standards has been replaced by almost non-stop rapid growth.

Source: Data from Economic History. Chart from blog “Captain Capitalism.”

Why is that?

Last week a wonderful Wall Street Journal op-ed by Deirdre McCloskey looked at the unparalleled enrichment across this time and asked a simple question:

Why now? Why today but not ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, or China?

The answer she arrives at – and I agree wholeheartedly with – is a single word: “liberty.”