Recent Podcast Episodes
Martin van Buren: What Greatness Really Means
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (29:19)
The President as Social Engineer
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (44:14)
Bolshevism and Democratic Socialism
The 1917 Revolution gave birth to both the reality and the myth of the Bolsheviks and the democratic left. The social democrats rejected the violence which was part of the communist party. They claimed to follow a democratic path to socialism. They turned Marx into a wise man that should not be taken too literally.
Time and Money
Professor Roger Garrison discusses Time and Money at the 2002 Austrian Scholars Conference.
Great Society and the Republican Welfare State
Thomas Sowell’s book, Civil Rights, lays bare many of the myths of the Great Society. What did ordinary people do before an advanced welfare state? Anti-poverty programs like the 1965 Job Corps did not turn out well. There was less poverty before the programs. Federal aid to education, like Head Start, did not stop any cycle of poverty. There was no difference in performance.
Demand and Supply, Consumer Goods, Prices and Exchange
Microeconomics starts with the basic fact that each person has short term and long term goals, like buying a ham sandwich and graduating from college. People act in the world to accomplish something. Human action is purposive. You employ different means to achieve certain goals.
The Rise of the American Empire
One of the problems of the American Empire is that there is a lot of empire denial going around. You cannot want to rule the world and yet say that what you value is laissez-faire economics (like National Review does).
The US Constitution
This is a federal constitution. Federalism is the most important idea for liberty. You must maximize your choices and you need meaningful choices, made against a cultural background. Federalism requires such moral correctness that it makes it the most difficult system to maintain. Federalism always fights consolidation.
Rothbard on Socialism in the U.S. and in the Soviet Union
Better J. Boettke talks about Rothbard on Socialism in the U.S. and in the Soviet Union at the 2003 Austrian Scholars Conference.
Historians, the State, and Liberty
Robert Higgs critically examines how academic historians have shaped—and often distorted—our understanding of the relationship between the state and individual liberty.
The Supreme Court as Accomplice: Judicial Backing for Executive Power
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (28:27)
Labor and Unions
Rothbard covers the principles of demand and supply curves. Prices are at the seat of the whole system. Use the logic of reality. The most mobile labor force is teenagers. Over time, capital equipment per laborer increases. Real wage rates increase. Consumer prices decrease.
The Myth of US Government Benevolence
Recorded at the 2003 Supporters Summit: Prosperty, War, and Depression.
(28:35)