No Free Lunch: Veronique de Rugy on Debt, Freedom, and the Fight for Growth

On this episode of the Going Big! Podcast, host Kevin Gentry welcomes Veronique de Rugy, a nationally syndicated columnist and one of America’s most respected economists advocating for limited government and economic freedom. As the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Veronique has spent her career sounding the alarm on unsustainable debt, overregulation, and the quiet damage of bloated government.

In this powerful conversation, Veronique explains why massive government spending isn’t just a political issue—it’s a personal one. It affects your freedom, your future, and your ability to innovate, build, and thrive. She unpacks how unchecked debt drags down opportunity, how economic distortions are quietly paralyzing growth, and why we’re dangerously close to choosing stagnation over progress.

But this isn’t just about what’s wrong—it’s about what’s possible. Veronique shares her own journey from France to America, why she became a champion for free markets, and what she believes we must do now to reignite the spirit of prosperity and unleash a new era of abundance.

If you want a clearer picture of what’s holding America back—and how we break free—this is an episode you don’t want to miss.