Category Archives: Links

Mainly just a link or links with minimal comment.

Podcast Round Up – September 30

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.

The Objectivism Seminar

  • Free Market Revolution: The Regulatory State and Its Victims

Philosophy in Action with Dr. DIana Hsieh

  •  Keeping secrets
  • Choosing an ultimate end
  • Studying history
  • Moral blacks and whites
  • Rapid fire question on the government shutdown

Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s Podcast – Episode 289

  •  Giving an unearned passing grade because of pressure from university administration due to donations of the student’s parents
  • Why is Iago an excellent example of a nihilist instead of someone like a James Taggart in Atlas Shrugged?
  • Who is more despicable, criminals who initiate acts of aggression or the pacifists who condemn retaliatory violence?
  • Should the act of cutting off a man’s penis be a capital offense?
  • I am no longer in love with my wife and want to get a divorce but I am worried fear she will be become violent an harm herself or me if I do so.

If this is not enough for you to listen to, I’d also suggest checking out the Ayn Rand Institute eStore.  They have a pretty large selection of lectures available for purchase read more

Podcast Roundup – September 23

Here are this past week’s episodes of the podcasts I try to listen to in order further my understanding of the principles of Objectivism and how to apply them to everyday life.

Objectivism Seminar

  • Free Market Revolution: The Dynamism of the Market, Part 2

Philosophy in Action with Dr. Diana Hsieh

  • Fair use of intellectual property
  • Teaching children to share
  • Accepting risks in relationships

Yaron Brook on Leonard Peikoff’s Podcast – Episode 288

  • Does a manufacturer of weapons
read more

Quote of the Day – Hazards of Collectivist Living

capitalismsavedI am getting more into “How Capitalism Saved America.”  The topic in chapter 3 is the experience of the early settlers in what was to become the United States.  In both Jamestown and Plymouth a collectivist approach was initially used, where all the people in the colony worked “to support the colony and to generate profits” for the underwriters of the colony.

William Bradford, whose “ read more

Quote of the day – The effect of government spending

I’m currently reading “How Capitalism Saved America.”  I am still in the first chapter or so, and I came across an interesting quote about the effect of government spending on the economy.

Except for spending to protect property rights, enforce the law, and protect citizens from for an aggressor, all government spending crowds out private spending and weakens the vitality of capitalism.

Given this, it is easy to imagine what damage the government is actually doing to the economy, read more

Podcast Roundup for September 16

Here are links to this week’s podcasts that I find to be interesting and informative.

Philosophy in Action with Dr. Diana Hsieh

  • Identifying central purpose
  • Immanuel Kant on sex
  • Becoming an educated voter
  • Atheists patronizing religious businesses

The Objectivism Seminar

  • Continuing discussion on “Free Market Revolution”
read more

Quote of the Day

Now that I have finished reading “Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000 Mile Diet” I am back to “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” and quickly came across this quote. The essay was written nearly 50 years ago, but it is still valid today.

The next time you hear a discussion of Medicare, give some thought to the future-particularly to the future of your children, who will live at a time when the best brains available will no longer choose to go into medicine.

I have read more

Quote of the Day – Need For Economic Freedom

After a few days of actually not reading much of anything, except a bit of the news, I am back to reading “How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present” by Thomas DiLorenzo.

This quote is from the first chapter and I have heard similar quotes in talks by Yaron Brook.  It is definitely something to keep in mind whenever you hear government officials say they will make things better by increasing taxes and regulations.

Any discussion read more

James Madison on Property

I am currently listening to a great course by historian Eric Daniels titled “Property Rights in American History.”  I am just finishing the first part, out of three, and he mentions a short essay by James Madison on Property.  The essay covers what property is and the government’s role in protecting it.  It is interesting to note how broadly property was defined by the founders.  Sadly the essay illustrates just read more

Quote of the Day – When Government Tries to “Save” Us From “Greedy” Businessmen

I am reading, among other things, “The Myth of the Robber Barons,” which is a fascinating book about  19th and early 20th century big business.  This particular quote deals with the government’s decision to build its own munitions factories so they would no longer “be at the mercy of identical bids from the “greedy and hoggish” steel companies.”

The identical bids were the result of the government’s policy of, after seeking bids from the three companies read more