Success within the market economy boils down to one thing: the satisfaction of consumer preferences. But this is easier said than done. What are consumer preferences? What do people want? What will they buy? How does the entrepreneur answer these questions? Ryan Levesque, bestselling author of the books Ask and Choose, shows us how we move from the theory of capitalism to the successful real-life capitalist.

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Show notes for Ep. 1601

Amity Shlaes returns to the show to discuss her new book on Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, which -- to say the least -- failed to live up to its promises.

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Show notes for Ep. 1600

Last night's Democratic debate was more interesting than some of the others, partly because of the attacks on Bernie and partly because everyone was dying to see whether Bloomberg could recover from his disastrous performance last week. The result is one of my favorite debate analysis episodes of the season. Enjoy!

Show notes for Ep. 1599

Gerard Casey, who taught logic at University College, Dublin, for 30 years, joins us to discuss some common logical fallacies we regularly encounter.

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Show notes for Ep. 1598

I talk about (the horrendous) Mike Bloomberg and what he might have said in the debate, and also cover the Bernie Sanders phenomenon: his struggle against the Democratic establishment, and what's liable to happen if he gets elected.

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Show notes for Ep. 1597

We wrap up Walter Block week with a glance through his enormous list of publications and picking out interesting topics for libertarians: punishment theory, conjoined twins, the death penalty, and more, as well as a sneak preview of Defending the Undefendable 3.

Show notes for Ep. 1596

Walter Block week continues with this episode about Walter's experience suing the New York Times for libel, after they misrepresented his comments in what had to be a deliberate act of journalistic malpractice. But what does libertarian theory have to say about libel law?

Show notes for Ep. 1595

We continue Walter Block week with a discussion of the second Defending the Undefendable book, and cover the corporate raider, the multinational enterpriser, the picket-line crosser, the hatchet man, the human organ merchant, and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1594

Today we discuss Walter's classic work, Defending the Undefendable. The rogues gallery Walter seeks to rehabilitate in this episode includes the middleman, the slumlord, the speculator, and more.

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Show notes for Ep. 1593

Walter Block must be the most prolific living libertarian, with over 600 peer-reviewed articles, more than 30 books, and thousands of popular articles to his credit. In this first episode of Walter Block week, we get into Walter's own history, from his high school years with classmate Bernie Sanders to his conversion to economic liberty by none other than Ayn Rand herself.

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Show notes for Ep. 1592

Scott Horton, the great libertarian foreign-policy expert, returns to the show to discuss the state of the campaign for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination, and the prospects for having a spokesman who knows, loves, and can persuasively defend the ideas of liberty.

Show notes for Ep. 1591

Euro Pacific Capital's Peter Schiff joins me to take listener questions (submitted via my Tom Woods Show Elite private group), including (1) what sectors tend to get hit the hardest or hit the least during downturns, including our next one? (2) what can people who aren't wealthy do to protect the savings they do have? (3) what did you tell those Occupy Wall Street protesters, and would you do such a thing in 2020? (4) what's your evaluation of Trump? ... and more.

Show notes for Ep. 1590

The great Dominic Frisby joins me to discuss how he successfully lampooned the elitists who pushed the Remain cause on the British, and defended the Brexiteers. Plus libertarianism, comedy, and how (if at all) a comedian can come back after bombing.

Show notes for Ep. 1589

Mark Jeftovic, CEO of easyDNS and cryptocurrency enthusiast, says yes, and in his new book and in our conversation today he describes the approach all of us should take, regardless of how obviously inoffensive what you're saying might be.

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Show notes for Ep. 1588

Gene Epstein joins me to discuss the problems associated with protectionism, industrial policy, and the overall package of economic nationalism.

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Show notes for Ep. 1587

Income inequality has been a hot topic in recent years, but nearly everyone gets it wrong. Here are the real facts, and the best way for libertarians -- or anyone -- to think about them.

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Show notes for Ep. 1586

This episode builds on the discussion in episode 1584 about the primary, and devastating, argument against socialism, namely the one developed by Ludwig von Mises that involves the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism. Today I explain why this is the most fundamental argument against socialism, trumping even the problem of dispersed knowledge emphasized by F.A. Hayek.

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Show notes for Ep. 1585

We've heard Greta Thunberg's angry, apocalyptic warnings about the problems arising from climate change. Now economist Paul Krugman says she's closer to the economics than her critics are. What's the right way to think about all this?

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Show notes for Ep. 1584

In 1920 Ludwig von Mises published "Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth," an article that demolished the foundations of socialism in its original, no-private-property-in-the-means-of-production form. In this episode I explain Mises' thesis, and then show how the problems he identified in classical socialism persist to some extent under any state of any kind.

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Show notes for Ep. 1583

The demonization of people we disagree with has reached a level of us few of us could have conceived of a generation ago -- or indeed even five years ago. Thinking about this reminded me of several other things I think libertarians (and all people, including myself) could stand to do better.

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Show notes for Ep. 1582