Tag Archives: don watkins

podcasts

What does Patriotism Mean and More – Podcasts for May 29

Each week I present a round-up of the podcasts I listen to. These podcasts are all centered around the theme of looking at current events through the lens of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. The goal is not to provide all the information they talk about, but rather to highlight the things I found interesting in the hope that it will intrigue others to take a listen. In this week’s edition

Yaron’s AM560 Rewind: What Does Patriotism Mean?

A caller from a few weeks ago who took exception to Yaron’s individualism, saying the read more

War on Success – A Tale of Two Quotes

to fight inequality is to fight successI recently finished reading Equal is Unfair: America’s Misguided War Against Income Inequality by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook and a quote from chapter 5, The War on Opportunity, stood out to me and yesterday, while listening to the book on Audible, that same quote jumped out at me again. The quote is from remarks made by President Obama about economic mobility. As quoted in the book:

[W]e were convinced that America is a place where even if you’re born with nothing, with a little read more

Inequality, Taxes and more – April 17 Podcasts

podcastsIn this week’s roundup there are podcasts from Yaron Brook and Don Watkins (who is filling in for Yaron on has Radical Capitalist podcast). Amy Peikoff had to cancel her weekly podcast due to a work conflict, but did a “make up” show on Saturday evening.

AM560 Rewind: It’s Not Inequality, Stupid

In this week’s broadcast from Chicago, Yaron discusses inequality, referencing a recent article from The Atlantic, “Total read more

teen drug addiction

Drug Addiction – Quote of the Day

Up in my part of the country, northern Vermont, drug addiction has been getting a lot of attention of late. In 2014 Governor Shumlin dedicated his state-of-the-state address largely to heroin addition. More recently, Governor Hassan of New Hampshire testified before the legislature in support of a bill to provide more resources to fight the “heroin and opioid crisis.”

By and large the measures advocated for do not address the fundamental issue: why do people begin taking read more

Preventing Concussions – Success and Positive Values

In the April 2nd episode of his Radical Capitalist show on Blogtalkradio, Yaron Brook answered a question about concussions in professional football. The concerns about the long-term brain damage stemming from concussions is an issue facing not just professional sports, but sports at all levels. The local television station, WCAX, has run stories about the issue for some time, including the fact that  read more

Ok, But What About the Federal Government?

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article yesterday regarding changes being proposed for the way that state and local governments account for the cost of retired workers.

The proposals, unveiled Monday by an accounting-standards group, would require state and local governments to add retiree-benefit promises to their balance sheets, making governments’ overall financial position appear worse.

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The move by the read more

Glass Steagall II Is No Cure For Banks’ Ills – Investors.com

Glass Steagall II Is No Cure For Banks’ Ills – Investors.com.

I am not surprised that the government would fail to see that it was their regulations that caused the financial crisis and seek to pass further regulations to control “big banks.”  While banks undoubtedly made bad decisions, the root causes can be found, as this article states, in government regulations and the incentives they provided.

Is Social Security a Wealth Redistribution Program? – Part 3 — Laissez FaireLaissez Faire

Conclusion to another great series from Don Watkins at the Ayn Rand Institute.  He also has a great 6 part series titled “The Social Security Myth” that looks at the origins of the social security system.

Is Social Security a Wealth Redistribution Program? – Part 3 — Laissez FaireLaissez Faire.