CLARKONOMICS: Clark took a challenge from a caller named Jack who said the radio host does not focus enough on what makes an economy grow or shrink. Though we sounded the Clarkonomics intro for this segment, it might be more aptly titled Jackonomics!

The one fundamental that will determine if an economy is a winner or a loser is productivity. You have to create an environment where people can use their brains to grow the economy. So our country's long-term goal in creating wealth should be to make an environment where entrepreneurs can thrive. Clark often thinks of Ireland as exemplary in this respect. The Northern European nation lost many of its citizens in the 1840s when they fled to escape the potato famine. Citizens were, in fact, the greatest export of Ireland, and the country had been an economic basket case ever since. Finally, Ireland decided it no longer wanted to be the 98-pound weakling of Europe. So the country took an economic cue from the likes of Singapore and Hong Kong and morphed into a Celtic tiger. Instead of exporting citizens, Ireland now imports 100,000s of workers from all over Europe.

What did Ireland do to become an economic powerhouse? First, the country established predictable and reasonable tax rates. We are so far away from this in U.S. with our cryptic tax code that it's not even funny. Second, the country controlled government spending. We would do well to follow Colorado's TABOR (Taxpayers' Bill of Rights) example to do the same. Unlike the Singapore model, however, Clark does believe that government should oversee health, safety and environmental issues. Capitalists need to be kept in check too.

When Clark was done speaking, Jack said he could agree with everything the radio host had just said. Jack went on to stress the importance of property rights in growing an economy. However, he and Clark agreed to disagree on the issue of collective bargaining in this respect.