Category Archives: Links

Mainly just a link or links with minimal comment.

Podcast Roundup – November 19

Here are this week’s episodes from the Objectivism related podcasts I try to listen to.  They are all great sources of information and insight on applying objectivist principles to everyday life.

Philosophy in Action with Dr. Diana Hsieh

  • Free will and moral responsibility
  • Values destroyed by statism
  • Leaving an inmate boyfriend
  • Privacy in marriage
  • Rapid fire questions

Yaron Brook on Leonard Peikoff’s Podcast – Episode 296

  • Do you think that freedom of speech already has been lost such that revolution is necessary?
  • What should the government’s role be regarding pollution?
  • Should one accept unearned guilt?
  • Are naked credit default swaps ethical?
  • Is it immoral to work for organizations that advocate for statist ideas?

There are tons of great lectures and presentations available from the Ayn Rand estore.  This week I have been listening to:

read more

The Rich Were Not Always Seen as Evil – Quotation of the Day

While listening to a lecture by Eric Daniels, The History of America – Part 4: The Industrial Republic, 1877-1920, I was intrigued by a topic he mentioned so I looked up the speech he was referring to.

The speech Acres of Diamonds by Christian minister Russell H. Conwell is concerned with, essentially, encouraging people to become successful by their own efforts, wherever they happen to be.  While I don’t agree with all that is in the speech, the view of wealth and the wealthy it expresses read more

Remember When Foreign Policy Was Principled? – Quotation of the Day

I have been listening to a great series of courses on American History by Eric Daniels. Currently I am in the 4th of the series, The History of America – Part 4: The Industrial Republic, 1877-1920, which is discussing a pivotal period in history when we really started to move towards becoming a mixed economy, welfare state.

During one of the lectures in this course he quotes Daniel Webster, who served two times as Secretary of State and twice declined the offer to be Vice President saying, read more

The “Luxury” of Government Regulation – Quote of the Day

I have just added Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America by Timothy Sandefur to my current reading rotation and even though I am just getting started I can tell this is going to a #facepalm sort of book.  The early part of the book takes a quick survey of some of the more outrageous property rights cases, such as the case where a Toyota dealership was condemned so the property could be taken via eminent domain…to give to the BMW dealership next door.

The first case read more

Yaron Brook: Capitalism — the System of Innovation

This video is of a talk Yaron Brook gave just recently in Israel.  I get a lot out of all of Yaron’s talks but I especially enjoyed this one as he spends a fair amount of time going over the basics of Ayn Rand’s philosophy in ways I had not heard him use before.

He starts with the fact that reality is what it is and not what we “wish” it would be (metaphysics) then moves on to the fact that reason is our way to understand the world and to survive in it (epistemology) which read more

Podcast Roundup – October 21

Here are this week’s episodes from the Objectivism related podcasts I try to listen to.  They are all great sources of information and insight on applying objectivist principles to everyday life.

Philosophy in Action with Dr. Diana Hsieh

  • Social effect of income inequality
  • Favoritism among the genetically engineered
  • The value of the ten commandments as guidance to an atheist
  • Rapid fire questions

Yaron Brook on Leonard Peikoff’s Podcast – Episode 292 – More Foreign Policy Questions

  • Difference between Israel reaching a peace accord with Egypt and being unable to do so with the Palestinians.
  • What was the motivation for the 9/11 attacks? 

I have also been listening to recorded lectures available from the Ayn Rand estore.  This week I have been listening to:

read more

Effect of “A Bit Less Profit” – Quote of the Day

While I do not agree 100% with what Andrew Mellon talks about in his 1924 book, Taxation: The People’s Business, I do wish more of today’s politicians would read it before they advocate for some of the economic measures they champion, such as higher corporate taxes, higher taxes on the “rich”, sales tax on medical devices, and higher minimum wages to name a few.

This quote of just one sentence comes in the context of a discussion on the effect of the high tax rates at the read more