Jonathan Hoenig: Capitalist Pig?

Jonathan Hoenig -- known as the "Capitalist Pig" (and proud of it) and a regular contributor to Fox News and Fox Business -- was a guest today on the Houston Business Show. I have great guests all the time and Jonathan is one of my favorites.

I like Jonathan because he's not ashamed about his passion about free markets. He doesn't merely discuss economic efficiency, but economic morality, a greatly missed theme in discussions today. What do I mean by "economic morality"? There is a morality to everything, including political economy. When government gives something to one group "for free," they do it at the expense of others. This redistribution of wealth is immoral.

While others decry the fact that governments efforts in philanthropy (aka, "welfare") because they do an inefficient job, Hoenig argues that it is wrong. Period. It's fine to decry the terrible job the government does in redistributing wealth. But if government some how became efficient at it, would it some how make such actions "good"? I don't think so and neither does Jonathan Hoenig and his arguments are a refreshing edition to the political and economic debate.