Great job Mark. Interesting to hear her say the government needs to give people money to go shopping and buy new products. It’s the motivation to get new money that can deliver progress. the real boxing match is between creative destruction in one corner, and government spending in the opposite corner. Keep up the great work.

I noted several false assumptions in Erica’s view of the success of Keynesian Economic Theory. The stimulus after the Great Depression didn’t work. As soon as stimulus was withdrawn, the economy tanked again because no new wealth had been or was being created. WW2 spending was funded by government but it did create a sustainable recovery, because the money went into private businesses to create war materials. After the war ended that productive capacity was converted to production of consumer goods, resulting in long-term job creation and wealth.

When their big government spending programs don’t produce positive results, liberals usually try to cover their failure by complaining that their programs would have worked if only we had spent more money on them. This is simply a Catch 22 argument.

Erica is using the old liberal playbook of blaming legislative failures (in fact all their failures on any subject) on Republicans. By my last count, Dems still have majorities in both House and Senate. Why is it the Repubs fault that they can’t pass more unemployment (welfare) benefits? Because they can’t get enough Dems to vote for it! They won’t vote for it because their constituents don’t more government debts loaded on us and our posterity. If unemployment benefits really created jobs or wealth; we should all quit our jobs, get a government check and let somebody else in China do all the work.

This lady doesn’t have any problem with lying to you and the audience. Her objective is to convince the audience that her view is right no matter what the costs. Remember, to many of these Washington liberals, the truth is not an absolute it is relative.

I liked the way you presented the position for Free Markets and Small Business. I think your arguments will be even more persuasive if you rebut her, when she makes factually false statements. Liberals count on being able to use forums like this to mislead uninformed persons in the audience. I believe the old warrior’s advice not to ask or give quarter to your opponent would apply here.

None of these people are willing to admit that some short term “pain” of those who are unemployed is what will begin the entrepreneurial process and is inevitable. Phrases like “through no fault of their own” convey victim status on the unemployed and discourage them from taking risk. Keep up the fight, at least the panel is on your side.

Mark,

You got a Woo Hoo from me after watching this! You’ve got Erica’s agreement that the stimulus didn’t work, AND that small business needs to thrive. But as Bill noted, she thinks unemployment is actually going to be spent on non-essentials to spark the economy??? She’s been drinking from Pelosi’s water glass.

Mark, you said it right, you were articulate, and the cast of the show agreed with you.

I love it, I love it, I love it!

Maybe after congressional break, the numbers of jobs will have increased because people got off their butts and found some friggin work.

Hit it out again Mark….And I don’t like her glasses

Didn’t extend job benefits because an extra 20 billion dollars of additional spending that had nothing to do with unemployment benefits was added to the bill by the House, so the Senate said “no”. What ever happened to this new Washington we were supposed to get.

Great job Mark. I think you were too nice and need to call this persons and anybody else’s bs out. They make inaccurate, half truth statements and leave out the entire story. Unfortunately half of America believes it because they don’t look into any of the facts themselves.