J.D. Vance offers a compelling, firsthand account of life among the white working poor, and in particular among a family with roots in the Appalachia region of northern Kentucky. It's easy to devise economic explanations for this group's stagnation and retrogression, but a deeply ingrained set of self-destructive ideas and behaviors renders futile most conventional, political approaches to remedying the problem. This is an episode you won't soon forget.

Show notes for Ep. 706

It's pretty thin gruel, to put it mildly, for freedom lovers in 2016, so I spent the opening talk at this year's Mises University program (hosted by the Mises Institute) contrasting the free society with what Trump and Clinton have to offer. Zingy stuff.

Show notes for Ep. 705