Recent Podcast Episodes
Stalinism, National Socialism, and Fascism
WWI was a kind of turning point. Bolshevism, National Socialism and fascism are related ideologies which surfaced after the war. Fascism was the wave of the future in 1920 with its notion of government central planning.
Reluctant Imperialism? William Howard Taft and the Colonial Empire
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (31:58)
Anatomy of a Market Meltdown
Recorded at the 2003 Supporters Summit: Prosperty, War, and Depression.
(38:26)
Historians and the Welfare-Warfare State
Murray Rothbard popularized the concept of the welfare-warfare state. He didn’t like either of them. He knew that if the state was doing anything there was plunder involved. Welfare was any handout from the government to anyone. One book that handled warfare and welfare systematically was Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs.
Austrian Economics and Literary Criticism
Paul Cantor discusses Austrian Economics and Literary Criticism at the 2002 Austrian Scholars Conference.
Southern Secession and Reconstruction
You can’t take Southern secession seriously because of slavery. Illinois is worth pondering because Lincoln supported the laws against blacks because he did not think that free blacks could ever mix with whites. A superior position was assigned to the white race. Lincoln meant every word. He voted against every suggested improvement for blacks. He saw universal emancipation as impossible.
Theory and History
Economic theory is essential for understanding history. It is difficult to interpret data without economic theory. Theory cannot come from data. All states are aggressive. All wars require economic resources. More liberal states will pursue more aggressive policies. The biggest bullies will get away with murder.
The New Deal
Certain themes that relate to the New Deal between 1933 and 1938 ended in 1938 when FDR moved on to repair all the problems of the world, not just the country. The Congress and the people were receptive to all proposals that they thought would benefit them directly. Agencies that were created in the first 100 days were from a mind-boggling assortment of enactments.
Despotism Loves Company: The Story of Roosevelt and Stalin
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (38:46)
Teddy Roosevelt and the Origins of the Modern Welfare-Warfare State
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (31:59)
Money and Prices
Many believe that if governments would just issue greater quantities of money then all problems would be solved. In truth that would create unsurmountable problems by lowering the purchasing power of each money unit. Money is the one good that is not made better by increasing its supply.
Conservation and Property Rights
Free markets shift resources from where they are less valued to where they are most valued, benefiting consumers. When private property and free markets are allowed to operate, a natural conservation of resources occurs. Nothing is a resource unless it is useful to man.
