This book introduces what might be called Lewis’s Law:
An economy prospers to the degree that a government does not interfere with, manipulate, or control prices.
Corollary:
The test that distinguishes good from bad government law and regulation of the economy is that bad government law and regulation interferes with, manipulates, or controls prices.
Brief explanation:
An economy is a trust system. It requires a modicum of honesty to survive and a great deal of honesty to thrive.
The Soviet Union fell because it would not allow prices to tell the truth about the economy. Why are we repeating the same mistake? Why won’t the US Federal Reserve allow truthful prices? Dishonest prices both impede recovery and feed economic and political corruption.
Hunter Lewis not only tells us what is wrong with our economy. He tells us what to do about it.
Free Prices Now! begins by asking why the human race is still so poor. How can it be that billions still lack even enough to eat? It then provides the answer. A prosperous society is a cooperative society. Cooperation in turn depends on trust. And trust requires honesty.
The most reliable barometer of economic honesty is to be found in prices. Honest prices, neither manipulated nor controlled, provide both investors and consumers with reliable economic signals. They are the foundation for a successful economy.
A corrupt economic system does not want honest prices, honest information, or honest results. The truth may be unprofitable for powerful government leaders, private interests allied with them, or economic “experts” whose careers have been devoted to price manipulations and controls.
The US Federal Reserve and other central banks have created a system of “liar loans” and false prices. Other parts of government have contributed as well. In effect, the regulators on whom we depend have become dis-regulators.
Can it really be this simple, that economic prosperity and job growth depend on allowing economic prices to tell the truth, free from the self-dealing and self-interested theories of powerful special interests?
Yes.
Although Lewis takes us inside the complexities of the national economy and the Federal Reserve, his lively and transparently clear writing style makes it easy for anyone to follow him.
About the Author
Hunter Lewis, co-founder of the global investment firm Cambridge Associates, LLC, has written eight books on economics and related subjects, including the widely acclaimed Are the Rich Necessary? (“Highly provocative and highly pleasurable.”—New York Times) and Where Keynes Went Wrong. He has contributed to the New York Times, the Times of London>, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic Monthly, as well as numerous websites such as Forbes.com. He has served on boards and committees of fifteen leading not-for-profit organizations, including environmental, teaching, research, and cultural organizations, as well as the World Bank.