Jenny Beth Martin is co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. She hosts The Jenny Beth Show, which airs Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET. Lawrence W. Reed is president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, where he is still full time after twelve years as its president. He was previously president of think tanks in Michigan and Idaho, taught economics at the university level for seven years, and is the author of nine books, most recently Born of Ideas. He has been involved in economics and economics teaching since his twenties. This is the first of four episodes in the show's economics series with him. Key topics: What economics actually is: the study of human action in a world of limited resources and unlimited wants Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations in 1776, and why he wrote about the wealth of nations rather than the poverty of nations Mercantilism and the myth that the world's wealth is fixed and can only be divided up A national debt past 40 trillion dollars that is now bigger than everything America produces in a year Two trillion dollars more spent this year than taken in, and a trillion of the seven trillion dollar budget going to interest alone Productive debt against current consumption, and the balanced budget amendment nobody in Washington has thought to propose Gross domestic product explained in plain language The invisible hand of the marketplace against the iron fist of government The lockdowns as the clearest test of central planning most Americans have lived through Why all action is individual, and what happens when people argue from collective abstractions Trade-offs, subjective value, the mud pie and the apple pie, and why the labor theory of value fails Diminishing marginal utility, or why the sixth ice cream cone is worth less than the first Leonard Read's 1958 essay I, Pencil, and the claim that nobody on earth can make a pencil alone How prices carry information, and what happened when the Soviet Union abolished them Whale oil to crude oil, with no federal department directing the switch The dollar worth less than a nickel of what it was when the Federal Reserve began in 1913 Competition as the striving for excellence in the service of others for self benefit Monopoly as a government grant of exclusive privilege, and businesses that go to Washington to block competitors The proper role of government: night watchman, referee, courts and defense Free trade, the law of association, the division of labor, and opportunity cost Protectionism, the current tariffs, and why Reed says the jury is still out Frederic Bastiat's candlemakers petitioning the king to block out the sun Microeconomics and macroeconomics, and why you need both The Austrian School: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, and F. A. Hayek's 1974 Nobel Prize Timestamps: 00:00 — Cold open: forty trillion in debt, and an economics course in four weeks 00:44 — Lawrence Reed joins, and the four-part plan 02:26 — Three think tanks and seven years teaching economics 03:13 — A definition: human action, limited resources, unlimited wants 06:41 — Adam Smith, 1776, and the first comprehensive economics book 09:22 — Mercantilism and the myth that wealth is fixed 10:53 — Forty trillion in debt, and bigger than what America produces 15:53 — Productive debt, and a balanced budget amendment nobody has proposed 18:18 — Gross domestic product, explained 21:01 — The invisible hand of the market against the iron fist of the king 23:17 — The lockdowns as a live experiment in central planning 29:11 — All action is individual, and society never ate breakfast 34:03 — Government grocery stores in New York 36:31 — Trade-offs, subjective value, and the mud pie 39:45 — Diminishing marginal utility, or the sixth ice cream cone 40:04 — I, Pencil: nobody on earth can make one alone 43:12 — Prices carry information, and the Soviets threw it away 46:14 — Supply, demand, and the most remarkable force in your life 47:56 — High prices are their own cure 50:27 — The dollar is worth less than a nickel was in 1913 52:46 — Medicaid, work requirements, and Nick Shirley on fraud 55:50 — It is not only the politicians 58:37 — Competition is the striving for excellence 01:02:57 — The proper role of government: night watchman and referee 01:05:19 — Free trade, the division of labor, and opportunity cost 01:10:12 — Protectionism, tariffs, and a jury still out 01:16:55 — Bastiat's candlemakers petition the king to block out the sun 01:18:30 — Microeconomics and macroeconomics 01:20:35 — The Austrian School: Menger, Mises and Hayek 01:25:01 — What comes next in the series Links: jennybethshow.com, teapartypatriots.org, fee.org