Transcript - Izzit.org

The pie is constantly growing larger, as people and businesses become more productive.And the world is getting wealthier all the time. In the last one-hundred years withrelatively free markets, we have created more wealth than in the one-hundred-thousandyears before. And as a result, we have reduced extreme poverty around the world; morethan people ever dreamed was possible.Twenty-five years ago, you had to work for four-hundred-and-fifty-six hours to be able tobuy a cell phone. Today, after all the productivity increases that businesses andinnovators have introduced, you only have to work for four hours. And of course, it’s abetter deal today. This is not just a phone; it also doubles as a texting device, a calendar, acamera, almost everything.In these same twenty-five years, the cost of a personal computer has been reduced fromfour-hundred-and-thirty-five hours, to twenty-five hours. And you really couldn’tcompare it to those original PCs, that wouldn’t be able to run any of the software, or theoperating systems that we use today.People with a lot of money can afford to be early adopters, they can pay ridiculousamounts for the first versions of cell phones and personal computers, and that’s a goodthing for us. Because they create bigger markets, so the companies get revenue, so thatthey can streamline production and create lower-cost versions, so that all of us can buyone.And historically, this seems to be the case. Free markets regularly turn luxuries intoconsumer goods. This may seem hard to believe, but the average rate of ownershipfor refrigerators, air conditioners, and dishwashers are higher among poor Americanhouseholds today, than then they were for all American households in the early 1970s.FRIEDMAN: When people are free, they are able to use their own resources mosteffectively and you will have a great deal of productivity, a great deal of opportunity.The major beneficiaries are always the small man. The man who has power who is at thetop of society, he's going to do well whatever kind of society you have. It is the societywhich gives the small man the opportunity to go his way, which is going to benefit himthe most.For a list of additional resources to use with this video go towww.izzit.org/products and click on the Free Trade video.7