Jim Pagels over at Reason.com has a good article on why Oxfam’s claim that the wealthiest 1% may soon be worth more than all the rest of us is not something to worry about. He correctly points out a number of reasons why this study is extremely flawed. For example, with the methodology the study uses a person I know, a truck driver who has gone through bankruptcy, is wealthier than
Tag Archives: capitalism
[Video] Yaron Brook on the Scandinavian Welfare model
Another excellent talk from Dr. Yaron Brook. In this talk he focuses on the welfare state in Scandanavia, Norway in particular. I love that more and more emphasis is being placed on the moral issues involved in questions about whether the welfare state with its focus on egalitarianism is good or not. The Q&A session, my favorite part of many of Yaron’s talks, is very good as well. During the Q&A Yaron mentions a book by Hernand Desoto,
[Video] Yaron Brook on Selfishness in Maastricht University, SBE
Here is the prepared part of the presentation which I posted the Q&A for a few days ago. Another great speech by Yaron Brook.
[Video] Yaron Brook Q&A on Selfishness from Maastricht
As I have written before, one of my favorite parts of any of Yaron Brook’s talks is the Q&A that follows the prepared remarks. This one from his recent talk in Maastricht in Holland is definitely one of the best I have seen so far. While a good number of people, to judge by applause at some points, are sympathetic to the ideas he discussed, the vast majority of questions reflected antagonism towards the idea that selfishness, properly understood, is the key to a successful life. Definitely
[Video] Yaron Brook on the Morality of Capitalism
On October 21st Dr. Yaron Brook gave a Livestreamed talk on the Morality of Capitalism from the University of Exeter in Great Britain. As always, Yaron is passionate and informative about capitalism. If you have listened to other talks by him much of the initial talk will be familiar, though still worth watching as the formulations always vary a bit, but the Q&A section is always different because each audience brings different contexts to the conversation.
One particular question (located
What Unregulated Capitalism?
My Facebook feed today had a link to an article from last year by The Objective Standard on homicide statistics. The article looked at claims that if the murder rate of blacks was the same as that for whites, then the United States would have a very low murder rate which would rank 147th in the world. After dissecting the numbers the article’s author pointed out the cultural causes for the disparity in murder rates.
The first comment to the article made a claim that in the 1960s many people
Podcasts for June 30 and July 7
Last week was pretty busy at work and I did not have time to listen to all the podcasts I try to follow, so here is a two week list of them.
Philosophy in Action Rapid Fire Extravaganza – Dr. Diana Hsieh and Greg Perkins answer some 20 questions on topics ranging from Buddhism, Kant, negative income tax and superpowers.
Peikoff.com: Episode 327 – Leonard Peikoff in a special half hour edition of his podcast
Video: Yaron Brook – Capitalism Without Guilt
Yaron Brook is in the midst of a speaking tour in Europe. This video was livestreamed on May 14, 2014 from the Instituto Juan de Mariana in Spain. Fantastic talk. As usual, the Q&A is my favorite part.
Video – Yaron Brook: Morality of Capitalism
This video is of Yaron Brook’s talk on the Morality of Capitalism given on May 11, 2014 at the University of Amsterdam. The only drawback to being a fan of Yaron’s talks, which I definitely am, is that the basic talk is getting more and more familiar so that I could almost do that portion myself. This is why I get more out of the Q&A sessions that follow the main talk as you never know what people will ask. The Q&A from this talk was especially lively.
http://www.youtube.com/v/62506TBQK1o?autoplay=0[Video] Eric Daniels – Revolutionary Case for Capitalism
After listening to a number of videos by Yaron Brook on Vimeo (links are here) I came across another video featuring Dr. Eric Daniels, another of my favorite speakers. He gives a great historical perspective on how capitalism is viewed and how it should be viewed.
Eric Daniels: The Revolutionary Case for Capitalism from The Undercurrent on Vimeo.