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E D I T O R I A L S Economic Brainwashing
Date: 10/7/99

Generations of Americans have been conditioned to believe
in big government. The process begins in the public school
system. How? Economic textbooks tend to be grossly biased
toward government intrusion into the economy.

A study published this summer by the Mackinac Center for
Public Policy in Michigan found that 10 of the 16 economic
textbooks used in public and private schools across the
state lean to the left. The problem isn't limited to
Michigan. These are books used in schools across the country.

Some of the texts are far more biased to the left than
others. But overall, the study found that students are
exposed to books that are ''consistently critical of free
enterprise and private property, yet present government
intervention with little or no scrutiny.''

One text goes as far as to proclaim, ''As societies become
increasingly more complex, the need for government power
tends to increase.'' There's no sense of balance that would
have required the authors to include the views of a Leonard
Read, who founded the Foundation for Economic Education.
He pointed out how foolish it would be for an authority
to try to control ''the countless human energy exchanges
in a simple society, to say nothing of a complex one.''

Another of the books that's teaching tomorrow's leaders
says that even though some Americans fear government
intrusion into the economy, ''most governmental policies
have met with success.''

Haven't the authors noticed that welfare programs haven't
erased poverty; that public education has become more
dismal as government involvement has grown; that rising
health-care costs have been driven by bad laws; that
ever-higher taxes to fuel the government leviathan have
forced both parents into the workplace; that price
controls lead to shortages; that minimum-wage laws destroy
jobs?

Where does this bias come from? Many textbook authors
learned their economics at the altar of John Maynard
Keynes. They would naturally bias their works toward
Keynes' government solutions to economic questions.

Some authors, though, were directed by publishers to
leave out free-market ideas. One, whose text was given
a low grade by the Mackinac study, said publishers ''want
government intervention treated with favor.''

The publishers certainly know who buys their books. One
author complained that publishers want the texts to
please the teachers unions, groups that back active
government policies.

Another said he would never be able to sell a text if
it included evidence that the free market works.

Biased - and inadequate - texts have produced a public
that doesn't understand economics. A survey of high
school students in the late 1980s -meaning today's
entrepreneurs and tomorrow's CEOs - tells the story.

Nearly half thought high wages were created by minimum-wage
laws, some other government action or socially responsible
business leaders. And only 45% understood that government
deficits result when spending exceeds revenues.

A survey taken earlier this year by Louis Harris & Associates
of adults and high school students was similarly revealing:
Only a third knew that profits were revenues minus costs.

No wonder the public believes the big-government crowd when
it proclaims tax cuts hurt the economy or economic growth
comes from government programs. Too many Americans believe
the government should provide health care and farm subsidies,
control prices and set a wage floor.

Without knowledge of economics, the public too easily falls
for these myths of benign government. A public well-schooled
in economics would see government action in the marketplace
for what it is: a prescription for inefficiency.

Even more important is that Americans wise to economics
would see that the costs of bigger government include a
loss of freedom.

As British economist John Jewkes said: ''Economic ignorance
is the breeding ground of totalitarianism.'' Indeed.
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