Leaving Liberty?: Essays on Politics and Free-Market Thinking

By Martin Mazorra

Politics can impact the marketplace in a big way.

In Leaving Liberty?, author Martin Mazorra presents a collection of essays that explores the important relationship between politics and economics.

Delivered in a daily devotional format of thirty-one essays, Leaving Liberty? provides insight into the long-term effects of a growing government and answers a host of related questions:

Will extending unemployment benefits inspire longer terms of unemployment?

Is raising the minimum wage ultimately good for young and unskilled workers?

How can governments spend beyond their means and rack up debt, while a company or a household doing the same would have gone bankrupt long ago?

Is bailing out failed institutions truly in our best interest?

Why do seemingly bright people in high positions continue to make egregious mistakes?

Clear and concise, this collection touts the benefits of a free-market economy while offering a fundamental understanding of the global economy and the integral economic role that politics plays throughout the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475970456

Martin Mazorra

Martin Mazorra, a certified financial planner and chartered financial consultant, cofounded Private Wealth Advisors in Fresno, California. He is the author of Making Lemonade: A Bright View on Investing, on Financial Markets, and on the Economy. He and his wife, Judy, have five children. Visit him online at www.betweenthelines.us.

Book preview

DAY 1:

The Good Old Days

When I look to the future I get very nervous,

but when I look to the past I feel pretty good.

—James Buchanan (Buchanan)

I’m generally not one for reminiscing, but the other day I found myself in the throes of a sentimental moment. A friend forwarded me an e-mail titled To Those of Us Born 1925–1970, and man did it ever take me back. Back to my childhood, to a simpler time, to a time when kids could entertain themselves for hours on end—without the luxuries of video games or cable television. I literally got goose bumps as I was reminded of how my pals and I would pile into the backs of our parents’ pickups after Little League games. But now that I think about it, I’m not entirely sure whether my goose bumps were inspired by nostalgia or by my memories of how friggin’ cold it was riding in the back of a