Private Property Rights...Topic of Todays AP Microeconomics Class...

As discussed today in AP Microeconomics, this short editorial (worth a read) re-inforces my point that private property rights are the fuel that makes our economic engine run...

This month's horrendous earthquake in Haiti brings to mind the economic question of greatest importance to Adam Smith: What causes wealth? What conditions best encourage economic growth and widespread prosperity? Why are the Haitians and North Koreans so poor while Americans and South Koreans are so rich?
The general answer is easy: private property rights and freedom of contract. When everyone enjoys the right to acquire, own, use and exchange property rights voluntarily, free markets result. And free markets, in turn, promote an ever-finer specialization of labor and increasingly complex commercial and industrial arrangements. The consequence is widespread and growing prosperity.