Capitalism

Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Part Two)

October 23, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 18 Comments

Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk “invisible hand,” “greed is good,” tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket.

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End song: “With My Looks and Your Brains” by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.

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Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Part One)

October 16, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 13 Comments

On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how not to screw it up?

Continues on part 2, or get your unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

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Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Citizen Edition)

October 15, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

End song: “With My Looks and Your Brains” by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.

Is Capitalism Moral? (Reactions to a Video by Walter Williams)

October 12, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Yes, capitalism has provided a high standard of living, but how should goods other than monetary ones play into a public policy debate? Mark riffs off of Adam Smith and a video by Walter Williams.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 13: Solidarity

September 29, 2016 by Peter Hardy 3 Comments

Not only do Jesus’s moral values make sense when applied to socioeconomic issues, but there is reason to believe they were intended to do so as part of a political call to solidarity with the poor.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 12: Personal or Political?

September 22, 2016 by Peter Hardy 6 Comments

People from opposing ends of the political spectrum claim Jesus as their own. But is Jesus’s moral philosophy broad in scope, such that it includes a political morality, or narrower, consisting only of private virtues?

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 11: Poverty

September 15, 2016 by Peter Hardy 6 Comments

A look at how poverty was valued, in connection to virtue and to justice, within Jesus’s philosophy.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 10: More Mammon

September 8, 2016 by Peter Hardy 12 Comments

Jesus’s continued critique of the imperial economic system identifies what immoral uses of money look like.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 9: Mammon

September 1, 2016 by Peter Hardy 5 Comments

Jesus’s critique of the imperial economic system presents an idea of how money can be used morally.

Friedrich Hayek: The Road to Serfdom

June 9, 2016 by Daniel Halverson 10 Comments

“I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.” –Friedrich Hayek

Rousseau, Aristotle, and Freud on Political Narcissism

July 14, 2012 by Wes Alwan 4 Comments

Rousseau was not a cheerful fellow. According to Terry Eagleton, he’d be even less cheerful if he were alive to see what has happened to the public sphere and educational system in Europe: … would no doubt have been appalled by the drastic shrinking of the public sphere. His greatest work, The Social Contract, speaks up for the rights of the Continue Reading …