There's a smokestack on the back of every government program.

It is most attractive about the US to people and countries with wealth is that it can provide security, insurance really, against political instability. Nobody is afraid that the money they place in the US is at risk of expropriation or of in some other way being taken away. For this safety, the wealth holders of the world are willing to accept a lower rate of return.

I cannot disagree with you that having something like 500 economists is extremely unhealthy. As you say, it is not conducive to independent, objective research. You and I know there has been censorship of the material published. Equally important, the location of the economists in the Federal Reserve has had a significant influence on the kind of research they do, biasing that research toward noncontroversial technical papers on method as opposed to substantive papers on policy and results

The argument for collectivism is simple; free market is not.

My interest in political philosophy was rather casual until I met Hayek.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.