favorite people is leading in new hampshire. >> the donald continues to roll along, and we'll see if he can take his candidacy to the next level. remains to seen. lou: the next stop will be iowa tomorrow. david brucker, jillian melchior, thank you, good night. [ applause ] >> i'm here at freedomfest, the world's biggest gathering of people who obsess about liberty. tonight's topic, the american dream. still achievable? our guests are some people who have achieved it. the founder of whole foods. the head of the restaurant chain carl's jr. the person the "boston globe" calls the most powerful man in america. and first the man who helped build modern las vegas and made a billion dollars doing it. our topic -- what's happened to the american dream? that's our show tonight. [ applause ] rjfofox x bubusisinj

. john: thank you. the phrase, the american dream came from a book written in the midst of the depression. the author wrote america is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone. and for many people the dream has come true, now i'm told something's wrong. the dream is no longer accessible, this summer a poll asked people is the american dream suffering or alive and well? and 75% said suffering. is that true? i mean, what do you think, audience? how many of you think the american dream is still as achievable pretty much as it was before. [ applause ] >> how many of you feel not so

much? it's changed. [ applause ] >> pretty pessimistic. one man who people say has lived the american dream and created it for many others is the man who's been called the most powerful man in las vegas, and that's steve wynn, the founder of wynn resorts. [ applause ] . john: they like you in this town. >> let's take a poll. [ laughter ] >> so you have made your -- you're a self-made multibillionaire. how did you do that? i'm told the town was seedy, you built hotels that were more appealing to people, but i would think a lot of people had that idea. >> ideas are easy, saying it is easy, doing it is difficult. john: so what was difficult? what did you do that i couldn't do? i'm not a billionaire? >> first of all, had the benefit of a fine high school

prep education, and then i got to go college. when my father died, we were broke, but -- >> you were in debt $350,000 in the hole. >> correct. but i had everything they needed to go forward and find a better life for myself i wasn't burdened by twitter and facebook, i preferred to make real life for myself instead of a virtual one. but i got down to business. [ applause ] >> i only cared about getting on with it. getting on with it. hustling. sooner or later, if you work hard enough, you'll get a break. i was interested in getting dug in, to getting started. john: but you started at the slots manager of a hotel there? >> before i ran the bingo when i was the the university of pennsylvania and maryland -- >> which doesn't look like a route to the top.

>> it does not look like a route to the to. i ran it. i had 60 employees when i was 16 years old. when my dad died that was all that was left, i didn't worry about anything except making the bingo and the people that came to it had a better experience next week and the week after. john: six years after you were slots manager, you were chairman of golden nugget hotel? >> i got lucky again, got in a real estate deal with howard hughes. it had two bars, a coffee shop, black jack tables and a gift shop and parking lot and all of a sudden i was dealing with the chief engineers and the slot manager and learned how it was put together and worked. john: you decided that las vegas was not in the gambling business? >> no. john: sure looks like it to me. [ laughter ]

>> all slot machines are the same anywhere in the world. i learned one thing about a casino. if people move through it, they keep going and money stays behind. [ laughter ] >> so i came to two conclusions simultaneously. get the people to go through it, but what brings people to a casino? people come to las vegas and it's the same in china or new jersey or mississippi, to live life a little bigger than they do at home, and they come for the noncasino things, for the environment, which hopefully is clean and well done, it's tasteful. the lighting, and to be served. john: the lighting? >> lighting is very important wherever you go, you are emotionally affected by lighting and the sound of the place. the sound track is very important. so anyway, environment is everything. john: could you build it today

the way you did? >> short answer, yes. we can make an argument that overregulation, americans don't get a good deal with the government, the hr in the government is not as good as it should be. there's overregulation. but the person that's got that gene, that go get 'em, it's happening right now, john. there are thousands of americans every day finding their groove and making it. the thing that gets you that is inside you on day one, and you're not entitled to it. you got to go get it. and there are people in america getting it now. what is going on in silicon valley? john: i would agree, and that includes things like facebook and twitter, which crotchety old men like bill o'reilly and you are trashing here, but for this show. >> we are.

john: i asked people who follow me on twitter is the american dream still alive? joe sanders said -- it would be tougher for you today, i assume. >> a lot of things have changed. >> i'm saying beside facebook and twitter which are so highly publicized. one thing about social media, it's allowed everybody to talk too much. [ laughter ] >> but people should talk to each other. >> it's good to talk to each other, but not at the expense of wasting half of your life exchanging inanity. [ cheers and applause ] >> i'm friendly with rupert murdoch and we're associated in real estate. john: my boss. >> rupert, one day, the facebook guy stayed with me, the guy that started the company and saw the office at wynn, the twitter guys, you got

to have a twitter account, steve. i said why do i want a twitter account? i have absolutely no interest in sharing what i do every day with a group of strangers. no, no, steve, you could have a platform. rupert murdoch does it. i said he does not! they're sitting in the office, the two owners of twitter. i picked up my cell phone, hit the speed dial and got up. i say rupert, two guys here from twitter, they tell me you got a twitter account. he said i do, steve. [ laughter ] >> you do? yes, and i have 247,000 followers. he didn't say 250 approximately. he said 247. i was speechless. the two guys on the couch are going -- [ laughter ] >> i said why do you do that? he said every once in a while when i'm not doing anything, i tweet something out. well, i was checkmated.

he said you should try it. see you later -- [ laughter ] >> and it shows you that i don't really know what i'm talking about. john: thank you, steve wynn. next another man who worked his way to the top, helped make a company extra successful. the man responsible for these weird and lurid, sexual ads. >> what's more american than a cheeseburger? this cheeseburger loaded with a hot dog and potato chips in the hands of all american model samantha hoots in a hot tub, in a pickup truck, driven by an american bull rider, on an aircraft carrier, under the gaze of lady liberty as she admires the most american thick burger. john: the man in charge of carl's jr. is andy pufter, he

took over the company was in debt, they were making hundreds of millions of dollars, now you employ 70,000 americans. what did you do that your predecessor didn't? >> hardy's was in trouble. the food wasn't good, the service was bad and the restaurants were dirty. john: were they stupid? lazy? what was going on? >> entrenched. my second memo as ceo was the next person that answers a question with something to the effect of because we've always done it that way, will be fired. just to let you know bad things my first memo is no more people behind the counter unless they have all their teeth. [ laughter ] >> it was a situation that needed to be addressed. once we changed we had a problem which was only elderly people felt comfortable at hardy's. people didn't feel it was a restaurant for them. we needed change and did that with an advertising campaign. we wanted to appeal to young people so targeted young hungry guys.

if you've seen our ads you know we target young hungry guys, that worked well. john: you don't worry that someone from the government's anti-discrimination task force is going to say you have to hire a certain number of people with no teeth? [ laughter ]. >> well, actually it's funny, being a lawyer myself i knew enough not to ask the legal department if i could send that memo out, because they would have told me no. we settled on it and worked just fine. john: you started in the business scooping ice cream at baskin-robbins. >> i, did minimum wage, dollar an hour, never thought i could support fame leaf four on that wage -- [ applause ] and i learned a lot, i learned about customer service, i learned about inventory. that was a good background, a good start, a good step on the ladder. john: you painted houses, cut lawns, now there are new rules about the age when people can work and the minimum wage, of course.

people view this as, this is just fair for people. you can't pay them so little. >> i tell you, i have a 16-year-old son, and i really love him. there's no way in the world i'd pay that kid $12 an hour to do something. we're losing a generation of people because we've eliminated the jobs that those people normally filled. how do you pay somebody $15 an hour to scoop ice cream? how good could you be? it's not a job where can you compensate somebody like that. john: in a few cities that's about to be the minimum. >> how do you lift everybody in this country to $15 an hour and not have areas where there are economic problems. people need jobs, they need the opportunity that comes with work, the dignity of work, that's what i experience, that's what steve wynn experienced. if you miss, that you lose something, when the government tries to control these things, we lose jobs. [ applause ]

. >> the only way that you can reduce poverty and increase opportunity is economic growth. that's it. the government can't do it. you need economic growth. there's one system in the history of the world that produces enough economic growth to meaningfully reduce poverty and that's free market capitalism. [ applause ] >> which is under attack by well-intended regulation. hour long does it take you to get permission to open a restaurant. >> we have restaurants in 33 countries and 45 states. in texas it's 60 days. john: which is a success but two months. >> shanghai, china, 63. in russia we opened a restaurant on karl marx prospects in siberia in 125 days. in l.a. it takes 280. [ laughter ]

>> i can open a restaurant faster in siberia than i can in california. so -- and this is -- [ applause ] . john: what are the rules? what do they want to know or demand? >> the permitting is ridiculous, stop lights and curb cuts and plant trees two blocks away, everybody on the planet wants input. you got to get approvals from the city, the county, the state, you have to satisfy federal regulatory requirements. we have a single spaced list of federal and local requirements we hand out for every restaurant in california that's 14 or 16 single spaced pages. you can't build the new walmart or grocery store or office building if you can't get through the regulatory process. john: thank you for fighting that, andy puzder. [ applause ] >> my pleasure.

john: next, some people say, hey, it's easy for us to say, the american dream is achievable because we're white. we're white men. it's different for women and blacks. is it? that's next. rkrkp@p@ at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping.

so you're a small business expert from at&t? yeah, give me a problem and i've got the solution. well, we have 30 years of customer records. our cloud can keep them safe and accessible anywhere. my drivers don't have time to fill out forms. tablets. keep them all digital. we're looking to double our deliveries. our fleet apps will find the fastest route. oh, and your boysenberyy apple scones smell about done. ahh, you're good. i like to bake. with at&t get up to $400 dollars in total savings on tools to manage your business.

. john: we're back at freedomfest. it's easy for me to say the american dream is alive because i'm a white guy. my parents came to america dead broke and worked hard and made it, again, they were white. it's much easier for white people, i'm told. if you're black you face discrimination, racism. it's harder to achieve that american dream. i hear this all the time from activists, politicians, star parker once believed it. now she runs the center for urban renewal and education. and you believed it, and you were on welfare and said i'm helpless, give me stuff. >> yeah, i bought the lie of the left. everything they say today, poor people are poor because the wealthy are wealthy. my problems are somebody else's fault.

america is so racist, i got lost, reckless, criminal activity, drug activity, sexual activity, ended up six years in and out of welfare. john: you were collecting? >> a lot. i was on a long waiting list waiting for section 8 watching my life spiral down a hole. i bought the idea of freedom and opportunity. went to school. john: liberty changed you. not going to a libertarian concept. >> i have to tell you i found out how libertarian i was when i started a business. christianity changed my world moral in life. but once i went into business and started finding out how heavy handed the government was against business owners i began to trend very, very right. [ applause ] >> and obviously government makes it harder. we'll get to that, but tough because you're black? >> interesting the narrative of the left.

john: before you answer that, let me ask the audience here. is it tougher for someone to achieve the american dream because they're not white? how many say yes, it's harder. [ applause ] >> how many of you say it's not harder? [ applause ] . john: the majority here. >> freedom lovers understand american exceptionalism, they understand what we were founded on the principles of traditional living, of free markets, limited roles of government. once you grab ahold of, that you can be whatever you want in america. what has happened over the last 50 years -- [ applause ] >> is a narrative of seeped in they are born poor, they are going to die poor in america and that poverty is somebody else's fault. they keep the narrative of racism alive and don't think they can mainstream. i spent a lot of time --

>> i have a facebook response -- >> we keep hearing this, and the reality is just not true. when people look at what's happened and the dynamics with racial division, if you will, it's because of the welfare state to concentrate in poverty in underserved communities. john: the american dream ended when the war on poverty began, do you believe that? >> the american dream did end when the war on poverty began, and in particular hit our poorest, our weakest which hits black people, when you buy the lie that government will take care of you, you're not going to move into self-sufficiency and you get trapped. when government rewards you for ill behaviors, you are stuck, it's hard to get out of welfare. i was in there. it is difficult, once you get in, you find out about all the other services available. you're committing social

suicide to try to escape. plus you're also committing a little economic discomfort because once you leave, your life can become a little bit harder. john: you are also discouraged from being married from 1890 to 1940, the black marriage rate was slightly higher than that of whites? >> you're white. out-of-wedlock birth rates, the ideas of progressism are equal opportunity destroyers, it affected them, too. this is not about ethnicity. they moved from 3% out-of-wedlock birth rates to 32% today. john: thank you, star parker. [ applause ] coming up, another enemy of the american dream, evil monopolists who prevent

entrepreneurs from achieving the dream, and one of the evil monopolists, according to the government, joins us next. rj this allergy season,

will you be a sound sleeper, or a mouth breather. well, put on a breathe right strip and instantly open your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicines alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right.

. john: the founder of one business achieved his american drm byreatg a gely suessf supmark cha that focuses on what they call healthier and more natural food. and that founder is john mackey who began whole foods. i've annoyed him for years by arguing that most of the health claims made by the organic people and it's natural, is just nonsense, let me poll you. john says natural and organic foods lead to healthier and longer lives. do you agree? . john: how many agree with me

who think that the natural and organic claims are just a conjunct? [ cheers and applause ] . john: boy, i'm disappointed, i think you won that one. >> put it to the empirical test. john: we're both alive. >> i will be. [ laughter ] >> we'll see how the audience does over time. and if you're against natural foods, you're saying you're for artificial foods, then? john: all chemical, botulism is natural. but, look, we're not going to debate healthy food today, instead we focus on something that the government says gets in the way of people achieving their american dream, monopolies. you know the free business buys up competitors or ruthlessly undercuts them and gets so big, it can charge whatever it wants and nobody can compete with them. that's why we need anti-monopoly laws. the federal trade commission,

and they sued you for being a monopoly. >> i know, it's unbelievable. they said we were a monopoly of premium and natural organic food markets, which, we invented it. [ laughter ] >> our argument was that safeway, kroger, walmart, costco, sprouts, trader joe's, all these guys sell products similar to ours. there is no barriers to entry. it's a very competitive market. john: but you lost, you had to sell 32 stores. >> well, i mean we spent over 30 million dollars in legal expenses. we won in the courts. but the federal trade commission has their own courts, and they told us after we won in the federal courts that they were going to take us to their courts, and i asked the attorneys, what's that going to cost? they said, well, to get that

all the way to prove your innocence, probably cost you another $100 million. so we did the math and we compromised. john: is there every a time when there should be prosecution of a monopoly? >> absolutely. take the public school system, for example -- [ cheers and applause ] . john: your point is, then, that you can only be a monopoly when there is government force involved? >> sure. capitalism is so dynamic and so competitive that you can get temporary competitive advantages, but people come along and imitate that, they innovate, they leapfrog beyond you and you don't need the government to protect people from monopolies because the market protects people from monopolies. john: not long ago the government said general motors was a monopoly.

nobody could compete with them. >> they were always talking about breaking up general motors and last time i checked, they actually went bankrupt. i don't know how a monopoly can go bankrupt. john: now they say google is the monopoly. >> always the bogeyman somebody that has the competitive advantage. take microsoft, we'll never know for sure unless bill gates writes his memoirs, it was soon after his antitrust case with the d.o.j., he decided i'm the richest man in the world, i can be hated and have my name dragged in the mud and stay as ceo of microsoft or i can become a philanthropist, and everybody will love me. certainly the gates foundation has done good in the world. john: you would say they made more money. >> what has microsoft done since bill gates retired? john: now you can get sued for being a monopoly if prices are

too low, that's predatory pricing, or if they're too high, which is monopolistic pricing, or if they're the same as competitors and that's collusion. [ laughter ] . >> or all of the above. and i think that's how they want it. if all businesses are guilty of some kind of anti-competitive practices, then you can persecute business any time you want to, and that's i think the way the government likes it. john: thank you, john mackey, a rare businessman who defends free markets. and next, the biggest threat to the american dream. [ applause ] ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio.

♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? it's a calling. a love affair. a quest. the next horizon. everyone loves the chase.

technology empowers us it pushes us to go further. special olympics has almost five million athletes in 170 countries. the microsoft cloud allows us to immediately be able to access information, wherever we are. information for an athlete's medical care, or information to track their personal best. with microsoft cloud, we save millions of man hours, and that's time that we can invest in our athletes and changing the world.

. john: back with more from freedomfest, tonight's guests

have been skeptical of some so-called obstacles to the american dream. but there's one thing that really does get in the way of the dream, and that's government, when government grows, freedom to try things shrinks, and big government just kills many an american dream, that's why the cato institute's chris edwards and dan mitchell give a talking about downsizing government. this has been the theme for a long time. it gets in the way of human progress? >> absolutely. the federal government, $4 trillion in spending, 200,000 subsidy programs. >> that create human progress. >> no, no, no, all the subsidy programs damage and harm the economy, make people dependent, they reduce our freedom. and i'll give you one example. farmers are happy to get 20 billion dollars a year from the government but it reduces their freedom, with spending comes

the regulations on what farmers can farm and how many acres and all this stuff. federal spending reduces our freedom in addition to all the damage that the taxes do. john: people don't get that spending is spending for job training, for food stamps that help people, help people achieve the dream. >> you have to looked at difference between intentions and results. every dollar the government spends, they have to get it from some place, tax it out of the private economy, borrow it or debase the existing currency. as government gets big in terms of consuming more and more of economic output, the growth rate falls. there's a reason france and italy grow slower than us but a reason hong kong and singapore grow faster. human progress i.e., economic growth and the side of government. john: america grew the fastest when we had a little government.

>> that's right, government spending was the under 4% all the way through calvin coolidge in the 20s. it was the 1930s that made the difference. invention of so-called entitlement programs. john: we grew faster than before? >> absolutely we did. john: we had the depression. >> we had recessions but the government stayed out of it and we recovered quickly, like a big recession in the early 20s. harding and coolidge didn't do anything about it and the economy recovered quickly and started growing. john: people say without big government, we destroy the planet. >> no, in fact, a lot of federal spending damages the environment. california had the terrible drought. it is partly the responsibility of the federal government subsidizing water for a century caused overconsumption, farmers are farming things they shouldn't be farming, overconsuming water. that is one of the roots of the problem here that subsidies

cause extortion and political damage. some of the biggest offenders are political agencies. john: some say we have to balance the budget. dan, you say that's not politically realistic and we don't have to balance the budget. >> you say balance the budget. average politician says sure i'll raise your taxes. what we need to focus on is simply having government grow slower than the private sector over time. countries that have done that have been very, very successful. a big long list of them. if you say to the leftist friends, show us your list of countries success with raising taxes? they don't have anything, they have greece, and france and italy. john: you're saying don't shrink government, it will continue to grow, just more slowly than the economy. >> at the cato institute, we want government to shrink dramatically. here's all we need to do to grow progress. have it go 2% a year if the private sector is growing 3 or 4% a year. you maintain that for a significant period of time and the burden of government will

shrink as a share of gdp. john: amazingly every year since the 30s, government has grown more than inflation and population growth. >> you know our debt now is far higher than it's been in peacetime history. thomas jefferson and james madison thought it's immoral, bad for the economy and corrupting, and we ought to end it. john: thanks to chris edwards and dan mitchell. [ applause ] . next, someone much more optimistic about the american dream than i am. so good for him. rj

usaa makes me feel like i'm a car buying expert in no time at all. there was no stress. it was in and out. if i buy a car through usaa, i know i'm getting a fair price. we realized, okay, this not only could be convenient, we could save a lot of money. i was like, wow, if i could save this much, then i could actually maybe upgrade a little bit. and it was just easy. usaa, they just really make sure that you're well taken care of. usaa car buying service. powered by truecar. online and on the usaa app.

yup, we're constantly making thinkorswim better. here at td ameritrade, they're always working. like a custom screener on your desktop, that updates to all your devices. and you can share it with one click.

wow. how do you find the time to do all this? easy. we combined every birthday and holiday into one celebration. (different holidays being shouted) back to work, guys! i love this times of year. for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. . john: we're back at freedomfest talking about the american dream. we heard just now how government often kills it. and it does. and government keeps growing. this depresses me, but grover norquist keeps smiling, the president for americans for tax reform fought for lower taxes, tax simplification for 30 years, and you fail. >> it's less simple than it ever was.

john: taxes are often higher, why are you so cheerful all the time? >> majority members of the house made a written commitment to the american people they'll never vote for a tax increase. we haven't had a tax increase as long as the republicans controlled the house of representatives. we stopped the bleeding on tax increases as long as they can go head-to-head with the government. obama wanted 2 1/2 trillion dollars, and republicans said no tax increase period, 2 1/2 trillion in spending, we won that fight. spending went from 23% of gdp to 20, and we've held. that's the federal government. we stop the bleeding. takes new leadership. john: which is sequester law that a lot of politicians say we have to get rid of that. >> good news is they're not going to get rid of it. it's the one big victory that the american people have against this rush of tarp and stimulus and obamacare early on in the obama administration.

you want to see where we're winning? look to the states. you want to see freedom flourish? home-schooling was illegal 30 years ago, today two million americans are home-schooled. ten million have been. that's breaking into the government monopoly. [ applause ] >> 30 years ago, no states had where the government had to give you a permit to carry concealed if you were 21 and honest. today 21 states have shal issue, conceal and carry permits 1. 2 million americans have a conceal carry permit. john: to me the clearest outrage is the complexity, how long it takes just to understand your taxes. that's getting worse. >> we have nine states with no income tax. states like kansas and north carolina which are on a path to get rid of their state income taxes. the states competing with each

other, people leave, california and new york and move to texas and florida. people are moving to low tax states which ought to give us a hint where they want to go but it empowers the low tax limited government, better governed states. how else are we changing the country? 401(k)s, iras, half the country has defined contribution pensions, 401(k)s, iras. owning shares of stock. john: but even the breaks make things more complex. one in three small businesses says they spend more than 80 hours per year just on federal taxes. >> i'm not arguing things are good. things are very bad. we started in 1774 as colonists. we're paying 1-2% of income in taxes. the british were thinking of going to three and we brought the guns out. okay? we're now at about 30% being taken federal, state and local,

there's backsliding. but i would argue what we've done at the state level is build the case, and look at school choice, okay? we now have education savings accounts which are dynamic form of vouchers. we just passed this in nevada. john: the biggest voucher program in the country. it's huge. >> the government monopoly in this state is fading as a monopoly because arizona, indiana, louisiana, nevada, florida, wisconsin, a number of states have robust school choice efforts and the other team's argument is if you don't run everything inside the public school monopoly they'll be wiccen schools and organ donor experiments in the schools. people realize that's nonsense. the movement towards liberty at the state level, i think it's

tough to stop. here's the advantage we have over states. truly stupid things can only be done out of washington, d.c. you can't do obamacare in vermont alone. bad ideas truly bad ideas only can be put in obamacare at the national level, because we have divided -- john: where there's no competition. >> no competition and if everybody suffering, it's not clear what did it. who knows what it was. maybe it's the weather. >> technology is make things better. >> uber, for instance, who thought we could take on the taxi commissions which require $100,000 medallions to drive a taxi which restrict. that self-employed people beating the taxicab commissions. airbnb, people can decide i think i'll be a small business person all by myself. the post office, how you deal with it? e-mail. and the size and power of the post office shrinks as people use e-mail. online sales have broken down

and allowed for more competition. john: thank you, grover norquist. we're all better off because of americans for tax reform. [ applause ] >> thank you. john: and coming up, maybe we should be optimistic about the american dream because throughout history, the pessimists like me have repeatedly been proven wrong. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda.

. john: is the american dream still alive? it's hard to be optimistic about our financial future walking around this conference because so many people here are promoting buying gold, and say things like sleep at night, knowing your assets are safe. and, hey, they have a point. because our politicians keep promising people more free stuff, so much more than taxpayers could ever fund, that i assume that these paper dollars that i have here mean, these will someday be worth pennies. people forget that since the fed was created 100 years ago, the dollar's lost 96% of its value. so i bought some gold and silver. i know gold and silver will hold their value more than the pieces of paper the government

calls dollar bills. except, so far, i've lost money on my gold and silver investments. how many of you have invested in gold? [ applause ] . >> unless you bought it way back, you haven't done so well. when will inflation explode? it's still low. who knows? these predictions are risky. i assume it has to explode sometime because there's not enough money for what they said they'll give to people, but this pessimism about america's future has been a bad bet. in school today still, students study paul samuelson's textbooks to learn economics. in the 80s samuelson taught although the american economy approaches soviet growth the planned soviet economy has outpaced major economists. what?

this is utterly wrong, and yet samuelson is still the text that students are forced to buy. it's good to be skeptical that samuelson and other experts predict america's future, and when pessimists like me say it's the regulation now, more all the time. that's killing the american dream, be skeptical, and facebook, matthew keller posted -- taking risks. that's a good point. this is a country that evolved differently from europe. for some reason america became a place where if you try something and fail, it's okay. people will even lend you money so you can try again. in europe and asia people often say, you failed, go work for someone.

you had your chance. but america's more tolerant of trial and error. we know about thomas edison's success with the lightbulb, but few people know that edison failed hundreds of times. he was fired by the telegraph office. he lost money on a cement company and an iron business. henry ford's first company failed completely. dr. seuss' first book was rejected by 27 publishers. oprah was fired from her first job as a reporter, a tv station called her unfit for tv. [ laughter ] >> they all failed and tried again. america's a place whereas the sousa puts it, you can write the script of your own life. [ applause ] >> so when pessimists like me say idiot burdensome government regulation and high taxes have killed opportunity, i hope you

will ignore me and prove me wrong. that's our show from tonight from las vegas and freedomfest. go live the american dream. [ applause ] h@h@rj >> thanks for being with us tonight. good night from new york. a hundred thousand creepy crawlers. fighters that will cover your whole face. >> all collected from the far reaches of the world. >> is it alive? >> talk about a bug's life. >> walt disney went into the museum and wanted to buy the collection. >> is there a bigger story behind this request. >> that was an interesting and eye opening experience all its own. ♪ i'm jamie