Tag Archives: capitalism

Income Inequality as Such is not the Problem

income inequalityJim 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 read more

[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, read more

[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 read more

[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 read more

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 read more

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 read more

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.