The GOP's debt disease: Q&A with David Stockman

Reagan's former budget director, David Stockman, says pro-inflation policies destroyed prosperity-and that the only solution is a new, anti-statist political party.
reason.com/vid...
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Stockman made enemies among Democrats by pushing hard for cuts to welfare programs-and he ultimately made enemies among his fellow Republicans by pushing equally hard to slash defense spending. His memoir of the era, The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed, is a legendary account of how libertarian principles got sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.
Stockman's new book is Trump's War on Capitalism, and it takes a blowtorch to the former president's time in office. "When it comes to what the GOP's core mission should be…standing up for the free markets, fiscal rectitude, sound money, personal liberty, and small government at home and non-intervention abroad," he writes, "Donald Trump has overwhelmingly come down on the wrong side of the issues."
At a Reason Speakeasy event in New York City, Reason's Nick Gillespie talked with Stockman about his political journey from being a member of Students for a Democratic Society who protested the Vietnam War to being one of Reagan's main advisers to his denunciation of Donald Trump and his hope that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s candidacy helps throw the 2024 election into the House of Representatives.
Stockman also explains how Trump led the charge on Covid lockdowns, got rolled by Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, and why his nativist views on immigration are inimical both to freedom and economic growth.

[@donfleming3534]

God bless David Stockman. Most important book written about economic activity , deficits and the Fed Central bank. Ignored this whole time, but still speaking truth, he will have his say in the end. Most important is his explaination of how the worlds currency rates of exchange are manipulated by the federal reserve requirement . This clears up the reason for apparent stability in an inflationary cycle, all of it being a fallacy created by central bank complicity in supporting the dollar. History will prevail and favor the ones who spoke the truth.

[@mustang607]

It's other people's money therefore not a problem. - collectivist thought about money

[@abramgaller2037]

Ideally, the government would be disintermediated from trade and finance.

[@markheffernan7016]

There has been a centuries long misunderstanding of what money is and what it does and how it would operate if done By The People and not by government. When we talk about money why is it that we do not see the money system as a public function? In the false presentation of history of The Commons - The "Community wide" establishment of what is money - has Never Really Happened. The very question of 'legal tender' should be off-putting to anyone that has the capacity to rationally evaluate the history and consequences of that notion and the insanity that some "on high" entity has the power to create the unit of acCount as an item of value - Poof! But this "establishment" has only ever been on the basis of aristocratic government imposition. Is that a logical and reasonable way to understand the role of government in a society that claims the independence of the individual and the populace as a whole? The role of governance with regard to money, if the governance is truly Of and By and For The People, is to simply establish the specification of the acCounting unit and to then keep an eye on the uniformity and righteousness of the use of this standard through the office of Weights and Measures! Unfortunately, almost everyone thinks that there is something legitimate about a government issuing and then determining the access to the unit. THAT is not a legitimate function of self governance in a free society. Del Mar clearly points out what needs to happen and then what the proper role of government is with regard to money in a free society of self governing people: "When money shall be recognized in the law, when it is defined, when its volume, magnitude, dimensions, limits are set forth as precisely, fixed as unchangeably, and protected as securely from alteration, as are now the dimensions of the yard-stick, the pint-pot, and the pound-weight, then, and then only, will money perfectly resemble other measures; for then only will it become a concrete thing of known dimensions. When this comes to pass, Aristotle's definition of its function will resume its original correctness, and money will be as fit in fact, as it is now only in theory, to measure the relation called value." Alexander del Mar, The Science of Money (1885) Most will misunderstand and misrepresent the Aristotelian assertion that "Money does not exist by nature, but by law." And they will miss the most basic point about independence and sovereignty when they abandon a genuine process of community wide governance by defining and specifying what money shall be, and instead repeat the same imperialist process of "on high" creation of the monetary unit and imposing it on the populace through this very imperialist notion of 'legal tender.' One can find this imposition throughout history, as has been documented by Graeber and others. And the initial process of "creating the coinage" and then restricting and directing the activity that a populace may engage by holding that illiterate 'creation' power to "the government" is the means by which the imperialists have held sway all these many centuries. I am not a student of the history of Aristotle, but I am speculating that the assertion he was making about "law" may have been in response to a populace that had been using other means to do their own acCounting. His was a time (like now) wherein the populace was NOT included in establishing these laws....so I find it suspicious that all this time later too many monetary reformists are still referring to a time and place where 'governance' was just as aristocratic as it appears to be today and getting the Aristotle part wrong. It is really important to ask 'What was delMar advocating and challenging?' I'm thinking that most who read that quote are not seeing that the quote refers to (at the beginning of the quote) a 2 step process (1. defining and 2. establishing specifications) of establishing a Unit Of Measure.....that (in the last part of the quote) "will be as fit in fact, as it is now only in theory, to measure the relation called value." The delMar focus is on the steps that government take to establish the specifications of a unit of measure such that it be able to perform a function - "to measure the relation called value." Those steps have still not been taken. These words are very clearly NOT advocating that government go about establishing an item OF value as the money! The misunderstanding of delMar's admonitions and the confusion about an item of value attempting to function as a tool for measurement remain as serious stumbling blocks for genuinely motivated monetary reformists. Here we are asserting that Community Wide determination as to what shall be money: www.moneytransparency.com/msta-resolutions

[@jimmyrichards5595]

Very strange that he calls Milton Friedman a hero… after having told us that he’s(David Stockman) a gold standard man, and that Milton Friedman convinced Nixon to remove gold from the monetary system(remove the gold standard). To me, that’s quite strange. The moment Milton Friedman was doing anything, anything at all, to oust Gold from the system, David should have looked at that as Milton showing his “true colors” as a statist.

[@authenticallysuperficial9874]

It was a fake gold standard anyways, it was always a lie, no good reason to just prop up the lie.

[@jimmyrichards5595]

@@authenticallysuperficial9874 I can’t say you’re wrong about that. I would have to say that you are correct. The Gold Standard consisted of, I believe, the “Dollar” being backed by 45% in Gold. That’s like someone saying that they want to get 45% pregnant. In other words, they are going to pretend, with a fake pregnancy. If the Dollar was supposed to be, “As good as gold!”, then the backing has to be 100%. And people should be able to use an actual gold coin/bar/etc as readily as a paper bill if they choose to. Gold itself would need to be as much of a legal tender as paper bills. Article 1, Section 10: “No State shall…. use any Thing other than Gold and Silver coin in payment of debt.” The Coinage Act of 1792 by Congress, gave an exact and precise definition to the dollar: 371.25 grains of Silver. The amount of Silver that’s in the old “Silver Dollars. Which are real, actual dollars. Not printed up fake counterfeits. EDIT: There should be an audit of the Federal Reserve, and an audit of the Gold in Fort Knox by a private company. Not just the U.S. Treasurer going in there and saying, “I looked, and the Gold’s all there.”

[@jimmyrichards5595]

I made a reply just a bit ago, but it’s not here. ?? I will write the reply, again, after I get home from work.

[@jimmyrichards5595]

@@authenticallysuperficial9874 I can’t say you’re wrong about that. I would say that you’re correct. It was, I believe, said to be a 45% backing of the dollar with gold. That’s like someone saying that they want to get 45% pregnant. It’s a pretend/fake pregnancy. The Gold Standard has to be a 100% gold backing in order for the “dollar” to be considered as good as gold. And gold coin/bar/etc should be as readily useable as paper bills for payment. Article 1, Section 10: “No State shall… make any Thing but Gold and Silver Coin a tender in payment of Debt.” The Coinage Act of 1796 by Congress gave an exact and precise definition to the dollar, which was that it had to contain 371.25 grains of Silver. That is the amount of Silver in an old Silver Dollar. There should be an Audit of the Federal Reserve, and an Audit of the Gold in Fort Knox by a private company. Not just the U.S. Treasurer saying they went in there and looked, and it’s all good because all the gold is there. “I hereby order Secretary Connally to temporarily stop the convertibility of the dollar into gold.” -President Richard M. Nixon August 15, 1971 TEMPORARILY…. In 1971

[@jimmyrichards5595]

Someone really doesn’t like the comment that I posted, twice. It has been removed… twice. Without any notice or reason being given. Someone does not like facts being stated about our monetary system, and what our “government” has done to it. I’m thinking that it’s someone working for, or in charge of, KZbin.

[@TugHillGuy]

In "Man, Economy and State" by Murray Rothbard he says that economists are often most renowned in the areas of economics they were weakest on and Milton Friedman was weakest on money according to Rothbard.

[@MikeBrady68]

Well, that's like saying that Schwarzenegger's weakest parts were maybe his forearms.

[@orangeofmars2835]

I am young enough to clearly remember the Reagan Administration. I would sometime like to do a critique of the Reagan Administration Economic Policies in particular to the unfunded Defense Buildup which along with massive tax reduction caused a basis for all Republicans since to run every 2 years on cutting taxes to the point that even in 2023 Donald Trump is promising another major cut on top of the major cut in taxes in 2017. So now we have a massive $34 Trillion National Debt. along with the coming of over $1 Trillion a year in interest on the debt spending. Unsustainable but a build up since 1981 of Constant Revenue well below spending and an unfunded Defense Budget. To start we need a Defense Tax to cover specifically the massive Defense Spending.

[@eikoGoldstein]

You can read Stockman's The Great Deformation. The author will address all your questions as well as the predicates for the situation we find ourselves in.

[@jimbrownfield8239]

If productivity increases match the monetary increases, the prices might remain stable, but it's still a transfer of wealth to the people with first access to the newly-printed money (the government, and wealthy entities in general). So, even a 2% target for inflation is still a transfer of wealth. I suppose you could make an argument that the government and the wealthy "deserve" that bonus (I don't agree with that), but the natural order with no inflation would cause slight deflation of prices, and ordinary persons' savings would increase in value over time.

[@Xamufam]

The problem with the focus on immigration as a solution is not a sustainable when the whole world's birth rate is falling it might buy a decade or three but it's just a bandage

[@janettemasiello5560]

The United States population is being replaced by Mass immigration. And our own tax dollars are funding it.

[@erniegutierrez410]

Those Trump tariffs asking my financial advisor told me I have to cut my spending by 35%

[@clarkrocks13]

19:20 the way I’ve heard/seen it is, they come get government assistance while working for cash under the table. Working for less drives down wages for all labor, while they’re supported by tax dollars. As a CPA, I’ve told many employers they need to get a W-9 from people before they pay them. If the person doesn’t have a taxpayer ID number, they need to withhold a portion and pay it to the IRS. I also routinely see notices from the IRS stating the name and taxpayer ID number don’t match when we file 1099s.

[@Anderson33333]

Althou i can see his point on borrowing. The demographic problems he skirted over simply attributing to unrelated culture. Are in fact economically related to the inflation, immigration, and trade problems. The only people who can have kids are going to be young people who are necessarily going to be predominantly unskilled or low skilled at first. Since the 1970s inflation, trade, and immigration have all dramatically lowered their market bargaining power while raising their cost of living. In other words young people literally can't afford many children anymore combine this with birth control and you have a strong case for demographic collapse. Given how Northern European cultures historically tended to respond to economic hardship by collectively pulling back. (Probably an environmental response that was evolved due to Northern instability)

[@FreebornJohnLillburne]

RFK can win because: 1. Independents are the largest voting bloc now 2. Majority of Americans think we need a third option. 3. In the most recent Harvard poll, 2/3 said they wanted a third option, and over 50% said they’d vote for RFK. RFK beat everyone in favorability ratings, and that happened the last 2 times a Harvard has done this poll 4. There have been many similar polls, including several by the Economist 5. RFK is leading both Trump and Biden among people under 40 6. RFK is on average only about 10 points behind Trump in most of the battleground states. He only needs 4.5% from both Trump and Biden to get 270 electoral votes 7. If RFK can take 2-3 states, he can deny either candidate 270 electoral votes. If that happens, it goes to the House of Representatives under the 12th Amendment, where they vote by STATE, not by party. The contested states have split delegations, and neither partisan delegation will vote for Biden or Trump or vice versa. RFK is the natural compromise candidate because he has overlap with both, and lots to like for both Democrats and Republicans. 8. RFK has double the number of campaign volunteers of any of the other candidates 9. The past is not a good prediction of whether a 3rd party can win because we’ve never had an election denier running against a taxidermied corpse 10. Ask yourself: is it really that much better to have herpes than it is to have HIV?

[@authenticallysuperficial9874]

10) Or is it better to have polio because you're afraid of vaccines 😢

[@FreebornJohnLillburne]

I’m not afraid of vaccines, and I’m more agnostic on the subject than he is. I got all 3. But I also have come to learn through experts like Harvard Med professor John Abramson and others that there is an incredible amount of corruption in Big Pharma. I’ve seen the talk about Fauci go from right wing nut job talk to empirical reality. First, even if you disagree with his positions on vaccines and see that as a demerit, you should ask yourself whether you think that particular issue is more important than getting Republicans on board with environmentalism, whether it is more important than restoring civility to our politics so that we aren’t at each others throats all the time, whether it’s more important than rooting out the corporate capture of our government (much like Bernie sanders advocated), and whether you think it’s more important than nuclear de-escalation. I’m not entirely convinced of his views on vaccines, but I don’t think that issue is more important than the things I just mentioned, all of which are central pillars of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign. Second, let’s say you are completely opposed to his position on vaccines. The ability to withstand challenges is the ultimate test of one’s positions. What kind of world would we live in if nobody challenged each other? Discourse on this subject has the potential to bolster your position. For examples of this, I would refer you to the debate between Mr. Kennedy and Alan Dershowitz, a former civil rights activist who was at MLK’s dream speech and who has advocated for civil rights for decades: a self-professed liberal Democrat who voted for Joe Biden. Where have we landed in this country if we are afraid to have conversations about controversial subjects? What are our chances of persuading more people to our positions if we are unwilling to have discourse, instead preferring to reflexively silence those we disagree with? Is that strategy likely to further one’s credibility with those who are willing to listen? Is that more like a post-Enlightenment tolerant liberal democratic society, or more like every theocratic autocracy that silenced dissent for the millennia preceding the modern era? Didn’t all of the major scientists in history have to defend their positions? Moreover, he’s not just some nut job peddling ideas with no basis. He has a team of over 350 PHD’s fact checking his arguments about vaccines etc. And there are always experts on both sides of the issue. As for fears about him blocking pubic health, that’s a red herring. We have federalism in this country, and states are free to go as far as they want on the subject. He also believes in medical autonomy, which means that he’s not going to block anyone who wants to take the shots from doing so. He’d just make sure that there are less malignant actors from Big Pharma at FDA etc, like he exposed with Monsanto. Ultimately you have to ask yourself this: do I think vaccines are a more pressing issue than stopping a nuclear war, securing the border, restoring civility to our politics, rooting out corruption, or saving the environment? I am pro-vax, but I think it’s a much less important issue than these others.

[@FreebornJohnLillburne]

@@authenticallysuperficial9874 Kennedy wouldn’t prevent you from getting vaccinated if you want to

[@pandafox12]

I work in restructuring investment banking and am seeing several companies be completely destroyed by the Trump tariffs

[@jsmdify]

I’m not sure about your point? Does that say something about the audience or those who are not sitting in the audience? Do you think people of color or females or non-binary invalids, were somehow barred at the door upon entrance?

[@alribisi]

Brilliant explanation of the effect of government borrowing at 10:00

[@njigyfd]

interesting perspectives

[@99guspuppet8]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ this affected my thought process a great deal

[@nezantra]

The interview was decent, mostly well presented information. Mr. Stockton lost some respect from me when he repeatedly said "Trumpified". It's like he's trying to coin (NFT?) the phrase, it's awkward, and rhetorically obnoxious. I would have appreciated a little more depth when they were talking about the DNC.

[@lizkeith1356]

RFK ALL THE WAY 2024

[@authenticallysuperficial9874]

20:08 I cannot make sense of his claim here. He says unit labor cost equals wage cost minus productivity? Wage cost minus productivity measures the loss on labor, and such losses usually just won't exist. Edit: Well since these are deltas, a relative loss on labor can exist.

[@authenticallysuperficial9874]

The analysis still seems quite off.

[@ricoz2016]

This guy WAS the Swamp. Another guy writing a book now.

[@Tyrant_13]

Does David Stockman believe in a country or only an economy?

[@erniegutierrez410]

No economy means no country

[@pandafox12]

You need to legalize discrimination if you're going to open the borders

[@erniegutierrez410]

The US labor force is shrinking in a fast rate. We can't be competitive with a shrinking labor force. Baby boomers are dying off (2.6 million a year & will go up to 3.4 million by 2027) by 2028 over 35% of Gen X will be retiring. We going to end up looking like those Eastern European countries with a stagnant economy

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

experience divine central authority unity through Christ divine nature spirit and words

[@brianmurphy5313]

I'm a supporter of RFK Jr. In quick, random order, here's some of my reasons for supporting RFK Jr... -genuinely wants to unite the country, and he has the ability to, being liked by many different 'types' of people from across the spectrum of issues and ideas, who are tired of the 2-party duopoly -calm, humble, has integrity, has courage, truth seeker in general, thinks for himself (not a DNC/RNC puppet) -not phony -incorruptible, cannot be bought -thoughtful and introspective -deeply considers problems and possible solutions -wants to get rid of 'Citizens United' and the power of the big private money controlling government -vocal about putting an end to corporate capture over government (pharma, banks, oil, military industrial complex) -wants to get us out of 'forever wars' and to pull back on and expose the corruption within the military industrial complex -wants to pull back NATO and resolve the Ukraine problem via negotiations -vocal about the dishonesty and agendas of commercial media -wants to abolish all pharmaceutical advertisements on television (this has major influence on the 'news' narratives) -wants to keep the pharmaceutical industry honest with safety testing, transparency, etc -wants to get rid of government assist crony capitalism and subsidies for big ag, oil, etc -advocate for civil liberties -vocally against censorship (will free Snowden and Assange on 'day 1') -against mandates and police state-like policies -classical liberal sensibilities with respect of others (without the 'woke' or fake identity politics) -vocal commitment to transparency regarding FBI, CIA, NSA over-stepping and out-stepping -passionate about environmental and ecological concerns -passionate about cleaning our food supply and exposing the unhealthy ingredients in processed 'foods' -wants to bring preventative health more into public discourse; nutrition, exercise, etc -will immediately close the border (this is not some republican scare issue, it is a very major issue - for many reasons) -has an excellent plan to make homes affordable for all, including a program that backs mortgages at 3% and a tax structure to keep Black Rock from continuing to buy everyone out (this also will bring rent cost down dramatically) -due to his family/background, he's well-learned from the inside of the various power structures -due to his decades as an attorney successfully taking on major corporations, as well as government regulatory corruption, he is exceptionally well-suited for taking on the myriad of corporate capture over our government (and the policies which ensue)

[@eleddi597]

I don’t understand why people say we need someone to unite the country, that will never happen the media will create hate and division

[@woodchuck003]

I have seen you spam this delusion on other videos. There is no evidence that RFK is a fiscal conservative and half of your bullet points RFK can't do without an act of Congress. Stockman's correct conclusion is that we need to take the black pill.

[@KeithOtisEdwards]

He lost me at RFK jr.

[@snuball65]

I dont like T but the more I see the L and R ganging up on him, the more likely I am to vote for him. If they all hate him he must be on to something.

[@brettmasonmedia]

That is some of the most ridiculous “logic” I’ve ever seen.

[@nedhill1242]

@@brettmasonmedia The establishment hates him, and it’s the establishment that has been screwing the country for decades. He’s a populist. And conservatives and libertarians when a fight for the soul of our country by way of a culture war and a surveillance state and he opposes that. You don’t have to like Trump the man to like what he’s trying to do to the establishment. That’s what people like you don’t understand. It’s not about liking Trump. It’s about hating the other guy because that’s how we got Here .

[@rfichokeofdestiny]

@@nedhill1242That’s all well and good but Trump hired people like Bolton and Pompeo, backed down from pardoning Assange or Snowden, and buckled anytime a guy in uniform frowned at him. He doesn’t actually _do_ anything. He just talks. We need more than that.

[@woodchuck003]

​@@brettmasonmediais it more ridiculous than thinking RFK will sin or that Biden will balance the budget?

[@PinkwithaP]

#RonaldReagan #Trump2024 ✊✊✊

[@Justin_Beaver564]

No, just no

[@donInKirkland]

You need to separate the COVID spending from the Trump spending. Also realize Trump walked into DC having never been there except for a hotel visit.

[@erniegutierrez410]

Don't forget the over bloated spending in the military, border & that 2017 tax cuts disaster which added over $850 billion in national debt...oh yeah! The idiotic low interest rate policy that encouraged mass borrowing for all sectors which in 2025 or 2026 that debt bubble is ready to explode

[@eleddi597]

Trump 2024 👍🏼

[@Justin_Beaver564]

Why are you here?

[@eleddi597]

@@Justin_Beaver564 explain?

[@Justin_Beaver564]

@@eleddi597 Libertarians have their own presidential candidate and it's not Trump, not in party or ideology.

[@RichardKing-sx6xc]

​@@eleddi597MIGA

[@Nemerson74]

​@@Justin_Beaver564what about the pragmatic "lesser of two evils" option? Isn't voting libertarian basically throwing away your vote in an morally masturbatory way?

[@Xamufam]

do anyone here think the reason fertility has declined is because they dropped the gold standard

[@Bullypulpit]

Hi, I'm David Stockman! I've only been wrong for 50 years running, so believe me when I say I know what I'm talking about!

[@ricoz2016]

He follows the axiom- "there's a sucker born every minute."

[@mikechristian-vn1le]

Audience all old (white) men.

[@rfichokeofdestiny]

Sorry. Didn’t know (white) men needed your permission to age.

[@nedhill1242]

Because an old white man is being interviewed. You’re not very bright are you?

[@mikechristian-vn1le]

@HarryF-tz5fo my point was that it's a bad sign for any political cause when only old men show up to talk about it. Now, reread your own comment and think about it.

[@rfichokeofdestiny]

@@mikechristian-vn1le Nope. Still not making any sense.

[@mikechristian-vn1le]

@@rfichokeofdestiny I don't waste my time with dumb strangers, I have enough in my life already.