Peter van Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State Department, spent a year in Iraq as Team Leader for two Provincial Reconstruction Teams. When you hear what the U.S. government — which had destroyed much of the country and completely undermined its civil society —… Read More
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Ep. 966 Left-Libertarians and Their Endless Moral Outrage
Mises Institute president Jeff Deist, who was Ron Paul’s last chief of staff, delivered an excellent and well-received talk at the Corax libertarian conference in Malta last week. As usual, though, emotional hypochondria got the better of a small group of left- and establishment libertarians, who are… Read More
Ep. 965 Take Off That Che Guevara Shirt (Plus: Venezuela)
It somehow became fashionable among young people to wear shirts depicting a murderer. One supposes the same indulgence would not be extended to shirts depicting non-leftist murderers (if such shirts existed, which they don’t). Federico Fernandez is behind an effort to take down the statue… Read More
Ep. 964 Austrian Economics vs. Conventional Wisdom
Whether it’s “monopoly,” child labor, the Depression of 1920-21, the New Deal, or World War II’s impact on the economy, our views and interpretations run counter to the conventional wisdom. Here’s a defense of our position. I delivered these remarks at the 2017 Mises University… Read More
Ep. 963 Good and Bad Ways to Fix Our Monetary System
Lucas Engelhardt, associate professor of economics at Kent State University, joins me to discuss bad ways to reform the monetary system, as well as good ones. (Bad ones include the Taylor rule, inflation targeting, NGDP targeting, and Milton Friedman’s approach.) Sponsor Bombfell is an easier… Read More
Ep. 962 Austrian Economics: The Basics You Secretly Crave
The Austrian School of economics, the school of thought that includes Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard — and which influenced Ron Paul, of course — is the subject of the Mises Institute’s week-long Mises University summer program, which I’m attending right now.… Read More
Ep. 961 How I Increased My Audience by 1000 Times, Plus a Big Failure
This episode is drawn from the Society and the State podcast, on which I was the guest for the very first episode. We discuss how I went from teaching a handful of college students to reaching many, many more via my online work — and supported a family to… Read More
Ep. 960 Just Try to Stump Us — Tough Questions for Tom & Bob
Today I’m sharing what’s normally a members-only Q&A I did with Bob Murphy at LibertyClassroom.com. It’s a smorgasbord of Austrian economics, economic theory, and history — with all the fun and banter you’ve come to love with Bob and me. Enjoy! Join Liberty Classroom! Join… Read More
Ep. 959 What I Learned from Murray Rothbard (opening lecture at Mises U 2017)
One of my most significant intellectual influences was the extraordinarily productive polymath Murray N. Rothbard. In this kickoff talk at Mises University 2017, I discuss what he taught me, what it was like to meet and interact with him, why he’s worthy of study, admiration,… Read More
BONUS Ep. 958 The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Progressive Rock
David Weigel, national political correspondent for the Washington Post, released a book this year on the history of progressive rock — which is a glorious and wonderful excuse for a podcast-length discussion of the subject. What’s great about this kind of music, what happened to it,… Read More
