The United States is poised for an economic boon but it needs a pro-business leader, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial board member Stephen Moore told college students attending the First Principles of Freedom summer school at Samford University this week. 

About 50 students from universities across the country are attending the week-long program, which is sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute of Wilmington, Del., and the Alabama Policy Institute.

The students are taking classes in which they read and discuss the works of economists F. A. Hayek and Adam Smith, historian Alexis de Tocqueville, political theorist Russell Kirk and the Federalists and anti-Federalists.

The November presidential election "is most important," said Moore, a WSJ senior economics writer who splits his time between Washington and New York, focusing on such economic issues as the budget, tax and monetary policy.  He spoke at a banquet session of the workshop.

He called for an end to the "avalanche" of government spending that the election of a pro-business president would help accomplish. He cited the energy crunch as an example of what can be done by "human ingenuity" rather than the government.

"There is an economic boon going on in North Dakota," he said. Claiming the region had more jobs than people, he cited "hydraulic fracturing" to reach an oil reserve greater than Saudi Arabia as the cause.  He predicted the U.S. could become an oil exporter "in 10 - 15 years," using the technology in which he said the U.S. is a worldwide leader.

The current administration is "in favor of wind and solar power," Moore said.

Moore said he opposes the current health care plan and "free" government programs such as food stamps.  "Nothing is free," he said, noting that Americans are becoming more dependent on government programs.