September 10, 2001

OUR MOVE TO FEE

Dear Friends and Subscribers,

As you probably know by now, our life has changed dramatically this summer. Shortly after returning from our round-the-world book tour, Mark learned that Don Boudreaux, who has served as the president of FEE (Foundation for Economic Education) for the past four years, would be leaving FEE to become chairman of the economics department at George Mason University. We were happy for Don and for GMU, where the economics department has become increasingly free market over the past 20 years. But we wondered who would take Don's place at FEE. Gary North was the first to suggest that Mark might be the right person to lead FEE in the 21st century, but Mark's immediate reaction was, "Are you kidding? Why would I give up the easy life in Florida for a full-time job in New York?"

But the more we thought about it, the clearer it became that expanding the cause of freedom would be more important than any amount of personal freedom could ever be, and that presiding over FEE was the right thing to do. I was particularly influenced by the book tour we had just completed. Everywhere we went, we met individuals hungry for ideas on liberty and eager to give their lives and livelihoods to bring free-market principles to their countries. We should be willing to do the same.

During that tour I reread Mark's The Making of Modern Economics, and was convinced that it holds the key to resolving many of the policy problems that plague the world's economies, if only more people could become aware of those truths. For centuries, nations saw wealth as a finite, fixed commodity. The mercantilists, for example, believed that the world's wealth lay entirely in its raw commodities--gold, silver, gems, etc.-- and that the only way for a nation to increase its wealth was to take wealth from someone else. In order for one person or country to gain, another had to lose. Oppressive imperialism and outright piracy was the result. At the other end of the spectrum, Karl Marx would later opine that a nation's wealth resides in its labor, throwing capital out of the equation, and oppressive centralism was the result.

But Adam Smith's definition of the true nature of wealth is completely liberating, eliminating the need for both piracy and centralism. Wealth is not a fixed and static commodity after all, to be stored in vaults and castles, but a growing and dynamic resource, increasing in value as labor and innovation are applied to natural resources. One does not need to take wealth from others to become wealthier; one merely needs to modify wealth into increasingly useful forms, and then exchange those new products for other goods, services, or money through a system of free exchange.

This fundamental understanding of wealth is rediscovered in Mark's book, with Adam Smith at the center of his discussion of the major modern economists. Too long the bad-guy in economic policy discussions, capitalism now turns out to be the hero, making it possible for labor and resources to come together in producing greater wealth worldwide.

As I saw the eagerness for these principles in the eyes of those who attended our foreign seminars, I realized how important it is for us to teach them at every level: in high schools, colleges, business communities, public policy groups, and in ordinary households as well. I realized that, although my life in Florida was full and satisfying, it was time to give that up and begin playing a larger role in the cause for freedom and free markets

So here we are in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, preparing to lead FEE into new spheres of influence. Mark and I will continue to study the financial picture, attend investment seminars, and write his newsletter, because the principles of economics have always been our main guide in understanding the markets. But we will be ever more active in economic education and publication, promoting the ideas of liberty to a wider audience than ever before. What a difference these simple ideas can make in the lives of people from Boston to Albuquerque as well as from Lima to New Delhi!

We hope that our friends will catch the vision of what we are trying to do and will also become actively involved in educating others. We'll keep you posted on how you can help!

-- Jo Ann Skousen

email: jaskousen@mskousen.com

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