Bob uses the illustrious Milton Friedman to demonstrate a depressing tendency among economists to overreact in their zeal to defend trade deficits, where they end up arguing that it's necessarily beneficial to live beyond one's means. Although this could be true in certain cases, it's not true in general. Bob then explains that the original mercantilists weren't as dumb as modern economists claim.

Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:

• Twitter thread with Friedman clip (and some of Bob's response).
• Bob responding to a similar mistake by the WSJ editors.
• Bob Murphy Show episode on reparations and AI.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.