Economics
Why Do Millennials Reject “Capitalism?” podcast of June 11 2016 show
Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3
Who’s the Bigger Scammer, the Media or the Fed? Podcast of March 19, 2016 Show
Maybe scale of the Paris attack following Russian airline bombing and California terrorist attack will convince our leaders this is real war
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) November 13, 2015
On the show this week, one caller said he saw the results of Obama’s election accidentally pop up on TV before the election; another caller reprimanded me for not dismissing this out of hand. My answer? Stranger things have happened. The tweet above was sent by Newt Gingrich on November 13, 2015, more than two weeks before the San Bernardino attack on December 2, and there is no other relevant “California terrorist attack” to which Newt could have been referring. Happily, I got a little twitter support on this:
@MonicaPerezShow I wouldn’t apologize for listening to people. Improbable things may be found to be true in the end.
— Bradrad (@Bradrad12) March 19, 2016
This little exchange was just the beginning. We hit on many different topics this week, so after the podcast links, I have put up links to some of the references I made…hope that’s useful. I also respond to comments, so feel free to start a conversation below…
Hour 1
Tipping Is Anarcho-Capitalism In Action
Capitalist society is self-ordering and tipping proves it!
Anarcho-capitalists claim that capitalist society is self-ordering. Hayek called it “spontaneous order.” Understanding this concept constituted my ancap epiphany. The premise is simple: arms-length transactions give rise to all the apparatuses needed to conduct and secure them.
I frequently take opportunities to point out to people in my everyday life that all the order we see around us is a function of our voluntary actions and self-interest. Rarely if ever do we see police forcing us to pay for our orders at McDonald’s. The counter-argument inevitably is: “The knowledge that the police are just a phone call away is what keeps everyone acting right.” I disagree, and the custom of tipping waiters and waitresses demonstrates why.
I was a waitress for seven years. In all that time, I can remember only a handful of tips that weren’t fair. I got 15% or more virtually every single check. Why? There is no law that a tip must be paid. None. The waitress could call you names on the way out, but she couldn’t call a cop on you. Why do people tip, and tip fairly–generously even? Perhaps it’s a sense of justice, perhaps it is fear of censure…whatever it is, it is a self-enforcing rule with no legal consequences for breaking it, yet it is almost never broken.