Stossel - Season 4 Episode 35 PLEASE DELETE
From John Stossel's blog:
This week my show comes from Las Vegas, Nevada, amidst FreedomFest, "the world's largest gathering of free minds." Over a thousand libertarian-minded people debate the question: "Are We Rome?"
Matt Kibbe, Freedomworks CEO, says America is following in the footsteps of Rome. Carl Richard, University of Louisiana History Professor, cites America's blatant disregard for the Constitution. Steve Forbes, Forbes Media Editor-in-Chief, believes that Americans are now more aware and involved, and things like the tea party movement may prevent us from collapsing like Rome.
Welfare: Larry Reed, Foundation for Economic Education President, explains that Rome became a welfare state. Emperors tried bribe the angry masses by giving away free or subsidized grain, salt, pork and olive oil. Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute says why he wants to get rid of the entire Welfare bureaucracy.
Taxes: In Rome, taxes steadily rose. Citizens who did not pay might be sold into slavery. Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform President, says, "Property taxes were so rough that people were actually abandoning their property." Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal argues for a flat tax.
Inflation: Roman emperors devalued their currency by putting less silver in their coins. A bushel of wheat that once cost 8 Roman dollars cost 120,000 Roman dollars by the next century. Ben Powell, Independent Institute Senior Fellow and Jeffrey Tucker, Laissez Faire Books Executive Editor, make comparisons to the American dollar.
Spectacle: Rome's rulers also bribed the people with "bread and circuses." Kennesaw State University Economist, J.C. Bradbury, says that bribes continue in the form of subsidies for sports stadiums.
Is America Rome? I don't think so. Rome's rulers were even more arrogant than ours:
The emperor Elagabalus set up a brothel in the palace.
Tiberius established an office of imperial pleasures, which gathered "beautiful boys and girls from all corners of the world" so, as Tacitus put it, the emperor "could defile them".
Nero never wore the same clothes twice. And when he traveled, he traveled with 1,000 carriages.
Free and prosperous is not the natural state of things. In human history, it's rare. With our debt, rising taxes, regulation, foreign wars, welfare state, and politicians' arrogant expansion of power, we become more like Rome.
Year: 2013
Genre: Documentary, News, Talk
Country: United States of America
Studio:
Director:
Cast:
Crew:
First Air Date: Dec 10, 2009
Last Air date: Dec 26, 2013
Season: 4 Season
Episode: 187 Episode
Runtime: 60 minutes
IMDb: 3.00/10 by 2.00 users
Popularity: 1.7603
Language: English
Keyword :
Episode
Freedom 2.0
The Business of Bad News
Texas vs. California
Obama, Part II
Big Sports... Big Business
DUPE.
A Real State of the Union
Liberty 101
The Debt Bomb
The Education BLOB
ANOTHER DUPE PLEASE DELETE
Mr. Stossel Goes to College
Green Tyranny
The Chosen Ones
Death by Taxes
The Education BLOB Strikes Back
Free Market Medicine
Rumble in the States
Whatever happened to GRIT?
War Against the Little Guy
Gas Myths
The Fight Over 'Austerity'
War on...
The American Dream
Puritanical Government
Big Brother
DUPE.
Trouble with Lawyers
Are We Rome?
What's up with Detroit?
Summer Myths
Battle of the Sexes
The Police State
Myths, Lies, and Complete Stupidity
PLEASE DELETE
The World's Police?
Innovation Nation
Escaping the Education BLOB
Just Shut It!
Selling Victimhood
17,000,000,000,000 Problems
Fed Up?
ObamaScare
Privatize Everything!
The Rise of Libertarians?
Real Charity
The Tragedy of the Commons
I Play One On TV
Defending the Market
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
PLEASE DELETE (DUPE)
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