Brooks Says Extending Benefits Hinders Unemployment Rate
Commonwealth Club - The Commonwealth Club of California
Arthur Brooks outlines a new culture war -– not the old struggle over guns or abortion or religion, but over two competing visions of America. In one, America continues as a unique and exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise. In the other, the U.S. moves toward a European-style social democracy characterized by increasing bureaucracies, income redistribution and government control of corporations. Brooks argues that free enterprise is not merely an economic system but an expression of American values and American culture, and he makes the case that free enterprise is the system that delivers the greatest levels of prosperity to the greatest numbers of people.