AFP #9 - John Stossel

His comments:

- not the strongest defender of liberty on the major networks - I'm the only defender...

- financial crisis? crisis is the friend of the state. Media constantly talking about it...last crisis was global warming...before that killer bees ... y2k ... mad cow disease ... pesticides shrinking frog testicles... politicians and the press have a constant list of crises.

- is the economy destroyed? how do we measure it? unemployment? it's 6% now, it was 10%...

- This is not a crisis. Yes, the market is down and that's bad. What about the good news, in last 20 years, Dow went from 1,000 to 10,000. it's a cycle - and it will only be a crisis if we bring big government in to solve it.

- subsidized housing has existed for years. Fannie Freddie created to interfere with the housing market. Republicans didn't create it.

- they were not subject to various checks...reckless mortgage lending was created by perverse incentives.

- what if government had cut them and AIG loose? let them negotiate with lenders, revalue assets?

- is it true that banks wouldn't find people to loan to without government action? While watching news about crisis, there are commercials for Ditech offering lending at 6%...

- the taxpayers are on the hook. Crisis is the friend of the state and only government regulation is the solution.

- the markets are behind the understanding and reach of the bureaucrats.

- government can protect us??? Americans think that government can protect us from market drops - as things are complex, we turn to government.

- take cars - they're complicated, engineering, safety, etc... Compare the worst job in your state with the best a government can produce - the Trarant.

- the Trarant disappeared as soon as the Berlin Wall fell - government's best couldn't compete in a free market.

- we do need government - but limited government. government can protect our property and keep us safe from invaders. We do need it to preserve rule of law, but the question is how much? What percent is appropriate. Government has grown from 2% to 40% of GDP...Only since Lyndon Johnson and the birth of the Great Society has the spending per person skyrocketed.

- they're spending not like drunken sailors because drunken sailors spend their own money.

- they give rich people money - for doing stupid things like me - who built on the edge of an ocean and if my house washes away, they'll give me money due to my flood insurance, and will pay for my house. And my house did wash away...so thanks for the money I didn't ask for but that you provided.

- ask high school kids - why is American prosperous? kids say it's because we're a new country with natural resources and a democracy. "is America #1?"

- kids are challenged to think about other places like India and Hong Kong - with population density and no natural resources. Answer for their success is economic freedom.

- Free people, left alone, can prosper. He explains what people face when trying to open a business. Free people, left alone and allowed to TRY, will let people prosper.

- Economic Freedom Index - countries with the most economic freedom have the most prosperity.

- Goes to skating rink with a bullhorn and tries to direct people - it fails. liberals will say it's because you need someone smarter to direct people. But that fails too. He uses this as example of why central planning fails, because they cannot know the wishes of free people.

- the conceit of central planners who think they know best is a threat to America.

- Capitalism performs miracles all the time. Think about the use of a piece of plastic to get money or rent a car in a foreign nation and then to get a bill with all the accounting correct...do you trust the government to do that?

- thanks people for fighting for the liberty that makes government great.