The Tom Woods Show

In one of my Twitter exchanges, I came across a fellow who thought the vulnerable would be worse off under libertarianism, since they'd be less likely to have access to education, etc. Since a lot of people think this way, I thought I'd address issues like this in this episode.

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Show notes for Ep. 1331

Direct download: woods_2019_1_29.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Richard Cobden, the nineteenth-century pro-trade, noninterventionist member of Parliament, once said, "The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace and the spread of commerce and the diffusion of education than upon the labor of Cabinets or Foreign Offices." I take this one sentence and riff on it, covering themes in modern European history, development economics, noninterventionist foreign policy, and more.

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Show notes for Ep. 1330

Direct download: woods_2019_1_28.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Today I talk to Ethan Blevins with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which does pro bono work for people wronged by the state. Crazy laws and regulations in left-wing Seattle keep these folks pretty busy, but they take on cases all over that part of the country. Nice to have an encouraging episode once in a while!

Show notes for Ep. 1329

Direct download: woods_2019_1_25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:36pm EDT

Some libertarians shrink from this kind of language, but I don't see how it can be doubted, especially now. In this episode I discuss not just the Covington high school students, but also the media's general pro-regime bias.

Show notes for Ep. 1328

Direct download: woods_2019_1_24.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress joins me to discuss the Green New Deal proposal, which seeks a radical transformation of the American economy in the service of "green" energy targets.

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Show notes for Ep. 1327

Direct download: woods_2019_1_23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:16pm EDT

Frequent guest Bob Murphy returns, this time talking about his new (co-authored) book, The Case for IBC. This is an acronym for "Infinite Banking Concept," a strategy that uses properly designed whole life insurance policies as a way to "become your own banker." The concept was developed by Nelson Nash, who besides working in insurance was personally tutored in Austrian theory by Leonard Read himself. Bob explains how the average person can benefit from IBC, and he answers common objections like "Isn't it better to buy term and invest the difference?" and "Why would I put my money in life insurance when the dollar is going to crash?"

Show notes for Ep. 1326

Direct download: woods_2019_1_22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

A law professor recently included a thought experiment on a constitutional law exam: suppose Lincoln had survived the assassin's bullet, and later wound up facing articles of impeachment for some of his actions during the war. This is obviously a useful exercise, since many people feel an emotional connection to Lincoln and his cause, but this is precisely what law school is supposed to be about: can you suspend such thoughts and think entirely about the law? Well, guess how one critic characterized the exam. You already know the language used to condemn it. Brion McClanahan and I review the accusations against this professor, and the extremely valuable and thought-provoking questions on his exam.

Show notes for Ep. 1325

Direct download: woods_2019_1_21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Musician Tatiana Moroz has an audience a portion of which is new to libertarian ideas, so she asked me newbie-friendly questions: how I get non-libertarians to start thinking differently, who will build the roads, what about the police, the truth about the Federal Reserve -- fun questions like that.

Show Notes for Ep. 1324

Direct download: woods_2019_1_19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EDT

Author and publisher Victor Koman joins me to discuss agorism, the anti-political, anti-state philosophy and strategy developed by Samuel E. Konkin III. Those chapters that exist of Konkin's would-be treatise, Counter-Economics, have just been released for people to read for the very first time. We discuss those chapters and the ideas found in them, and how what Konkin calls the "counter-economy" can challenge the state.

Show Notes for Ep. 1323

Direct download: woods_2019_1_18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:27pm EDT

Professor Jeff Herbener just completed the first of two courses for my LibertyClassroom.com website on American economic history, an area where there are plenty of misconceptions and fallacies to refute. In this episode we talk about 19th-century monetary policy and bank panics, fiscal policy in an age of limited government, colonial inflation, and lots more.

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Show notes for Ep. 1322

Direct download: woods_2019_1_17.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:58pm EDT