The Shrewd Players Know Libertarianism is a Growth Industry

There's an important article today (ViaLRC) at NYT that informs on the growth industry that libertarianism is. In part it says:

It is the latest product of the News Corporation, led by Rupert Murdoch, and being shown on the weekends on the Fox Business Network, which is searching for higher ratings by adding provocative commentators.

Fox News already dominates the market for conservative TV talk with hosts like Mr. Beck and Sean Hannity, and has generated billions in revenue to show for it. Now, the upstart Fox Business is making room for libertarian talk, too. An aggressive pro-civil liberties, anti-government streak is evident on both “Freedom Watch” and “Stossel,” a weekly Fox Business show hosted by the former ABC News anchor John Stossel that was added last fall.

As any libertarian will tell you, there are sharp differences in opinions between conservatives and libertarians, and now Fox has programs for both.

In a recent discussion about EPJ, former-Treasury Secretary and current chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Robert Rubin, told me he could see lots of opportunity for a libertarian site such as EPJ. I replied that I was noticing the start of a groundswell of interest in libertarian ideas in the country. He corrected me, "The groundswell is already here."

When you have operators like Rubin and Murdoch, who are super-skilled at recognizing trends in the country and profiting from them to the tune of billions,  both  notice libertarianism as an important trend, you know times are changing.