Tue, 19 April 2016
If there's one thing our university system is devoted to, it's "diversity." Our universities can boast faculty members who look very different from one another and who come from different places -- but they more or less think the same. Aren't ideas a teensy bit important, too? We discuss why universities have so little interest in intellectual diversity. |
Mon, 18 April 2016
We are supposed to believe that the network of organizations promoting a particular view of Israel and the U.S. relationship with that country doesn't exist, and that anyone who says it does is a crank and a hater. Yet it's precisely the network of organizations that would call such a person a hater that we're talking about in the first pace. Grant Smith joins me for a rational discussion of this inexplicably sensitive issue. |
Fri, 15 April 2016
Derek Magill discontinued his studies at the University of Michigan -- where he was a member of Young Americans for Liberty, by the way -- in order to go into business for himself and to do work he found rewarding. We discuss the ins and outs of all this in today's episode. |
Thu, 14 April 2016
Is an increasing number of jobs always a good thing? We treat job numbers as a proxy for economic health, but should we? The Mises Institute's Ryan McMaken helps us make sense of it all. |
Wed, 13 April 2016
Historians haven't been terribly sympathetic to business leaders of the late nineteenth century. What should we think about Andrew Carnegie? Does he deserve the abuse of historians, or is there something to be said in his defense? The author of a new biography joins us! |
Tue, 12 April 2016
In order to distract attention from government housing policy and the Federal Reserve, left-liberals claim the financial crisis was brought on by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (the partial repeal of Glass-Steagall) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. In this episode we'll see if there's anything to this. |
Mon, 11 April 2016
Take a glimpse into the Orwellian dystopia of Stalinist Russia in my compelling conversation with Soviet emigre Eugene Yelchin. His young adult book Breaking Stalin's Nose -- which this 43-year-old is still thinking about, weeks after reading it -- superbly captures the terror, the suspicion and paranoia, the irrationality, the loss of life, and much more. |
Fri, 8 April 2016
When libertarian scholar Walter Block announced the creation of Libertarians for Trump, he generated a good deal of controversy. Now he explains his support for Donald Trump's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination -- in the context of a debate with Robert Wenzel. Enjoy! |
Thu, 7 April 2016
Rags-to-riches entrepreneur and #1 New York Times bestselling author T. Harv Eker discusses his path to success, why prosperity isn't a matter of luck or simply meeting the right people, and why a lack of money or business know-how are lousy excuses for staying in a rut. |
Wed, 6 April 2016
Every year the countries of the world are ranked in terms of their economic freedom. What can we learn from the results? |
Tue, 5 April 2016
How do you figure out what kind of work you were meant to do? Not by "following your dreams," since a lot of dreams, frankly, shouldn't be followed and won't earn you a dime. The new book by Chris Guillebeau offers case studies as well as practical advice for breaking out of the conventional modes of work -- climb the corporate ladder! work 9 to 5! -- that have been held out to us since childhood. This, surely, is an episode not to be missed. |
Mon, 4 April 2016
The Ethan Allen Institute promotes free markets in -- wait for it! -- Vermont, where the ideas of Senator Bernie Sanders have affected the political culture of the entire state. We get some insights into Bernie and into promoting free-market ideas in hostile territory. |
Fri, 1 April 2016
Do economics and the virtues have anything to do with one another? How do we reply to those who would say that capitalism and virtue can hardly be mentioned in the same sentence? Is economics a moral science? A highly engaging conversation that wrestles with some darn good questions. |
Thu, 31 March 2016
There's a possibly counterintuitive solution to the heroin epidemic, says Mark Thornton: legalization. We discuss his recent article. |
Wed, 30 March 2016
Sibel Edmonds is a former translator for the FBI and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. |
Tue, 29 March 2016
We've heard about the raw milk controversy, but there's so much more to the issue of food and drink freedom, and the regulatory thicket ordinary farmers are expected to navigate. We get the inside scoop from the executive director of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. |
Mon, 28 March 2016
Libertarian car expert Eric Peters returns to the show to discuss a smorgasbord of topics, including the bubble in the used car market, how to get around government regulations by (essentially) calling a car a motorcycle, and the state of diesel vehicles in the U.S. market in the wake of the VW scandal. |
Fri, 25 March 2016
Andrew Cockburn joins me to discuss the drone strategy being deployed in the War on Terror, as well as the High Level Target strategy that motivates it. Do either of them make sense? |
Thu, 24 March 2016
By popular demand, Christina Hoff Sommers joins me to discuss feminism, which has become 40% crazier just since she started writing about it. We discuss women in science, women's pay, campus rape statistics, and much more. |
Wed, 23 March 2016
Imagine what you would have seen and heard had you been in charge of security for the 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaign. You'd accumulate some stories, right? Well, imagine no more: today's guest was himself Ron Paul's director of security and yes, he has stories. |
Tue, 22 March 2016
Are schooling and education the same thing? No way, says Zachary Slayback, who encourages the cultivation of entrepreneurship skills in place of the passive experience of traditional schooling. Almost nothing we've come to believe about education goes unchallenged in this provocative discussion. |
Mon, 21 March 2016
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who was working at the Pentagon on 9/11 and has spoken out about the corruption of the intelligence-gathering process, has her own story. She didn't begin her military career as a Rothbardian libertarian, that's for sure. |
Fri, 18 March 2016
Wait until you hear the new rules the IRS is set to impose on a wide variety of organizations in September 2016 if all goes as planned. For example, forbidden "electioneering" will include so much as the mention of a candidate's name on a website. We get into the details in this episode. |
Thu, 17 March 2016
Another interesting side effect of the Trump insurgency is that salaries of supposedly indispensable political consultants are coming way down. Trump is crushing the field while spending a pittance on such people, and ignoring all standard political advice. Another person to do this was Pat Buchanan, to whom Trump is often compared. My guest today, Roger McCaffrey, who worked for Pat, describes how Pat did this. It's a freewheeling, informative, and at times hilarious discussion of then and now. |
Wed, 16 March 2016
Murray Rothbard, the great Austrian economist, drew on Austrian business cycle theory to describe what should be done to make sure a depression ends as quickly as possible -- and it's the opposite of the advice the American intelligentsia has recommended since the Great Depression. My guest has developed a way to convey Rothbard's point to the mainstream of the profession, using the mainstream's very own tools. |
Tue, 15 March 2016
Lauren Southern has become a phenomenon by standing up to the craziest of the crazies among the left, including within the Libertarian Party itself, where an SJW contingent tried to take over the Canadian contingent. Members of the tolerant, open-minded left even poured urine on her,in an incident that made headlines. We discuss all this and more. Warning: this episode probably shouldn't be listened to with children within earshot. |
Mon, 14 March 2016
Twelve-term congressman, former presidential candidate, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Ron Paul answers listener questions -- and I limited them to questions he hasn't been asked a million times before. So no "Should I run for office?" or anything like that. Just good, interesting questions, covering the Israel Lobby, whether he regrets any of his votes, what his morning routine is, how he'd contribute if he weren't famous, what he thinks the most positive development in the world is, and much more. |
Sun, 13 March 2016
I've had many requests for an episode on Pope Francis and the current state of the Catholic Church. I covered economic issues in episodes 497 and 54, but this episode is a general discussion of Church politics, who Pope Francis is, the state of opinion among the college of cardinals, and much more. Plus, no conversation with Roger McCaffrey is ever boring. Ever. |
Fri, 11 March 2016
The debate was much more serious this time around than it was last time, and Lew believes it's because the candidates see the writing on the wall and want to go out with dignity. Whatever the motivation, it's still good fodder for Lew and me, as we discuss the debate's style and content, as well as some important news items related to the race. Don't miss it! |
Thu, 10 March 2016
Murray Rothbard's work, more than anything else, is responsible for making me into a libertarian. I continue to learn so much from that vast body of scholarship, spanning several disciplines. He was unforgettable, too, for his infectious enthusiasm and lively personality. On the occasion of the release of a new collection of Rothbard's work, we revisit his legacy. |
Wed, 9 March 2016
To call any aspect of the climate change orthodoxy into question is to risk being condemned as "anti-science." But are the arguments and computer models of the so-called mainstream really so rock solid? |
Tue, 8 March 2016
Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff says the U.S. is actually already in recession, Plus, listener questions about asset allocation, the Department of Labor's crazy new rules for the financial industry, Donald Trump and international trade, and more. |
Mon, 7 March 2016
Libertarians have done a good job when it comes to economics, and a terrible job when it comes to filmmaking and entertainment. Unfortunately, that's where a lot of people's views come from. Patrick Reasonover joins me to discuss his strategy for changing this! |
Sun, 6 March 2016
Sara Young decided she didn't want to have to leave her children in order to earn an income, so she turned to the Internet, where she became very successful as an affiliate marketer and product creator. Learn how she did it in today's episode. |
Fri, 4 March 2016
In last night's debate (March 3, 2016), Trump suffered blows at the hands of moderators and candidates alike, and didn't respond well. Some very lively exchanges occurred, just as they did last time. Lew Rockwell and I give you the details and our thoughts. |
Thu, 3 March 2016
Here's a talk I gave in Kansas City in 2011 about state nullification, a topic I'd written a whole book about the previous year. The audience had a good many Tea Party people in it, so listen and see how I bring them over to the idea of really breaking with the Establishment and entertaining unconventional thoughts and strategies. |
Wed, 2 March 2016
I wanted to discuss a few topics in the news, so we got them all done in one episode: the real story of Guantanamo, the federal government and the iPhone, and countries resisting the EU over migrants. |
Tue, 1 March 2016
Were we lied into war, or was it an innocent mistake on the basis of faulty intelligence? Our guest observed the formulation of the propaganda up close, and tells us what really happened. Oh, and now she's a Rothbardian libertarian. |
Mon, 29 February 2016
One of the most frequently cited reasons for the alleged need for eminent domain is road provision -- how could roads be built if people with property along the route couldn't have their property taken from them? Well, they can, and I explain how in this episode. |
Sun, 28 February 2016
Ben Settle is author and publisher of the monthly newsletter Email Players (which I myself subscribe to). Over the past 14 years he's written ads, created email campaigns, and cooked up marketing strategies for clients that have collectively earned tens of millions of dollars in sales in hyper-competitive markets. |
Fri, 26 February 2016
The Houston GOP debate on February 25, 2016, was the most contentious one yet, with attacks and crosstalk galore. The best part, of course, is the next day, when Lew Rockwell and I get to chat about it! Here's our conversation and analysis. |
Thu, 25 February 2016
Try to follow the convoluted U.S. policy in Syria as my guest, Scott Horton, describes it. I dare you. It makes no sense, and it's obviously making the situation worse. Here's the analysis you won't hear in any GOP debate. |
Wed, 24 February 2016
Tom Woods Show producer A.J. Van Slyke discusses how he became a libertarian, came to work for Peter Schiff, became my producer, and met lots of fascinating people along the way. |
Tue, 23 February 2016
Here's what I said at the 2013 Illinois Libertarian Convention. What should we do? How do we define success? Should we be radical or should we moderate our message to reach more people? Lots of fun in this one. |
Mon, 22 February 2016
Today I talk a bit about several of my books, and how I was able to reach people with them and with my promotional work whom we could not otherwise have reached. Fun and horrifying stories galore. |
Sun, 21 February 2016
We hear a lot about wealth and income inequality, but what's the truth of the matter? And does it make a difference? Bob Murphy and I hash it all out in an episode of our podcast Contra Krugman, which in this episode I share with the Tom Woods Show audience. |
Fri, 19 February 2016
Your local police department is said to provide a service that we could never expect to arise in the private sector. But the Detroit Threat Management Center, a private and voluntary organization, has cut down on violent crime and made a point of defusing dangerous situations without violence. You'll love this one. |
Thu, 18 February 2016
A lot of people say: I've got a good grasp of the ideas, so what are our next steps? Jeff Deist joins me to discuss various libertarian strategies, and which are the most promising. |
Wed, 17 February 2016
The late Justice Antonin Scalia played a profoundly significant role in elevating "original understanding" jurisprudence into a position that even its opponents had to reckon with. Kevin Gutzman joins me to discuss some of Scalia's most important work. |
Tue, 16 February 2016
The efflorescence of classical Greece was a period of enormous historical significance. How is this level of achievement and prosperity to be accounted for? We can't rely on explanations like climate or slavery that applied to many other, far less successful, civilizations. So what was it? |
Mon, 15 February 2016
Lew Rockwell joins me for more debate analysis, this time of the February 13, 2016 debate in South Carolina. Unlike some previous debates, plenty of controversy and fireworks in this one. Enjoy! |
Fri, 12 February 2016
Stephan Kinsella joins me to discuss negative/positive rights and obligations, "loser pays," whether creation makes you an owner, how we can consider spam aggression, and more. Fun! |
Thu, 11 February 2016
We talk about some in this episode, and Brion McClanahan covers a whole lot more in his killer new book. Down with presidential idolatry! |
Wed, 10 February 2016
The brilliant Ron Unz, himself a Harvard alumnus, is spearheading a twofold campaign, pushing a slate of candidates to the Harvard Board of Overseers to (1) abolish tuition and (2) be more transparent about the admissions process, since it seems fairly obvious that Harvard is using a quota system. The proposal to abolish tuition may sound quixotic or even weird, but since tuition receipts are a tiny percentage of what Harvard earns from its endowment, it makes sense. Decide for yourself! |
Tue, 9 February 2016
It's considered bad form to criticize Milton Friedman -- why, you must be some kind of "libertarian purist"! But if you can't be a libertarian purist on the Tom Woods Show, where can you be? Walter Block and I look at the good and the bad about Milton Friedman. |
Mon, 8 February 2016
Lew Rockwell joins me for another debate analysis! The second-place slot is fluid in New Hampshire right now, so this debate could prove crucial. |
Fri, 5 February 2016
What's wrong with the GOP? My guest and I agree there's a lot wrong, but we're not always agreed as to what that is. We have a freewheeling discussion of populism, noninterventionism, localism, Trump, Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and more. Enjoy! |
Thu, 4 February 2016
Defenders of capitalism often wind up making arguments that implicitly concede the moral superiority of socialism -- sure, socialism is a fine system, but we can't live up to it. What kind of defense of capitalism is that? Jason Brennan makes a powerful moral case for capitalism that avoids this pitfall. |
Wed, 3 February 2016
Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race today, so I invited Dan McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative, to join me for a discussion of that decision, of the Rand Paul campaign in general, and why we may be looking at the nomination of Rubio now, believe it or not. |
Tue, 2 February 2016
Within what we might call establishment libertarianism there is almost an allergy to Murray Rothbard, the great libertarian polymath. Who was Rothbard, anyway, and what exactly is going on here? |
Mon, 1 February 2016
Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, recently proposed a series of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. As it turns out, they're actually pretty good. Would they help? Brion McClanahan joins me to figure it all out. |
Fri, 29 January 2016
Who's up and who's down after last night's GOP debate? Lew Rockwell joins me for another of our debate commentary episodes! |
Thu, 28 January 2016
I'm without a guest in this episode, and taking apart yet another critique of libertarianism. Enjoy! |
Wed, 27 January 2016
National Review, the flagship publication of the conservative movement, recently released an issue-length symposium simply titled, "Against Trump." They never did anything like that against Mitt Romney or John McCain, so what exactly is going on here? Jack Kerwick joins me to make sense of it. |
Tue, 26 January 2016
Quite an amazing development: the Tenth Amendment Center and the American Civil Liberties Union have announced a joint effort at the state level to fight back against surveillance. Some 16 states have introduced legislation approved by both organizations. Michael Boldin gives us the scoop on this Tenther Tuesday! |
Mon, 25 January 2016
The official conservative movement has its leftist opponents, but more interesting are its critics on the right, who are contemptuous of its think-tanks, its magazines, even its ideas. We discuss plenty of these people and groups in today's episode! |
Fri, 22 January 2016
Mark Skousen, the Austrian-friendly editor of the Forecasts & Strategies newsletter for over 35 years, dissents from the advice of what he calls the "doomsayers," and says those people miss a lot of bull markets. I thought my audience would benefit from another perspective. Enjoy! |
Thu, 21 January 2016
Already 576 episodes and not one on feminism? That ends today with this provocative discussion with the infamous Milo Yiannopolous! |
Wed, 20 January 2016
Historians consider 1916 to be the truly pivotal year of World War I. We look at all the major belligerents, along with developments in the United States. Submarines, blockades, Woodrow Wilson, civilian life, and much more are covered in this compelling episode with Hunt Tooley, my favorite historian of the war. |
Tue, 19 January 2016
Neoconservative commentator Jonah Goldberg says we shouldn't use the term "neoconservative" anymore. Paul Gottfried and I are having none of it, and we spend this episode explaining the origins and ideas of the neocons, and how they came to eclipse everyone else on the right. |
Mon, 18 January 2016
Is overpopulation a real problem? Our guest explains why not. He's also founder and president of the Mars Society, so you can bet that subject comes up as well.... |
Sun, 17 January 2016
Yaro Starak, a successful entrepreneur and blogger who earns a five-figure monthly income through blogging and product creation, discusses how and how not to earn an income as a blogger. Consider this part of my "capitalism in practice, not just in theory" series. |
Fri, 15 January 2016
Rand Paul was demoted from the upper-tier Republican debate last night, and he decided to boycott the undercard debate and hold a national town hall from Twitter headquarters instead. Meanwhile, Lew and I were stuck watching the debate. But as always, we have great fun breaking it down for you! |
Thu, 14 January 2016
The world's worst, most totalitarian regime just conducted another nuclear test. What's the appropriate response? I ask Michael Malice, author of Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il. Another chilling glimpse inside one of the remaining bastions of communism. |
Wed, 13 January 2016
Here's one of the big issues libertarians have to deal with: wouldn't you favor military intervention to prevent some horrifying atrocity? Laurie Calhoun joins me to take on this hard question. |
Tue, 12 January 2016
The 1970s were a time of economic stagnation -- but why, and just how bad was it? The full truth in today's episode -- plus lots more stuff about the unfortunate '70s. Enjoy! |
Mon, 11 January 2016
The FAA has gone berserk regarding the amount of airspace it wants to regulate. A listener of the Tom Woods Show found that good, old-fashioned ridicule is the best approach when dealing with a ridiculous and unpopular law. |
Fri, 8 January 2016
It's become fashionable in libertarian circles to ridicule the nonaggression principle. Stephan Kinsella and I speak in its defense. This one is long overdue. |
Thu, 7 January 2016
The situation in Greece no longer makes many headlines, but it remains catastrophic. How did it happen, and what can we learn from it? |
Wed, 6 January 2016
Joshua Bennett tells us how he took matters into his own hands and got the libertarian message out in Alaska to listeners of right-wing radio. Actionable ideas here! |
Tue, 5 January 2016
![]() Why are political campaigns based on dumbed-down slogans, instead of the rational deliberation our textbooks taught us was the basis of the system? Why is it that tiny minorities manage to get lucrative subsidies in a system supposedly based on the popular will? Why are voters uninformed -- and why do they have an incentive to be? Public Choice economics can help us understand these phenomena better, and that's our topic for today. |
Mon, 4 January 2016
What's the truth about John F. Kennedy, the Federal Reserve, his public persona, the economy, and more? Here's a side of things you've never heard before, I guarantee. |
Thu, 24 December 2015
Since 2008, the Left has mocked the idea that the government might have had a hand in the housing bubble and collapse and the financial crisis, which are portrayed as spontaneous outcomes of a market economy. This thesis is blasted to smithereens in this discussion with Peter J. Wallison. |
Wed, 23 December 2015
Doesn't the market lead to vulgar outcomes, and undermine high culture? Paul Cantor, a member of Ludwig von Mises' NYU seminar, joins us to discuss this and more -- including topics in popular culture, including The X Files and Breaking Bad. |
Mon, 21 December 2015
Patrick Moore, a Canadian scientist who was a founding member of Greenpeace, finally had to leave the organization for its extremism. Don't miss his fascinating story! |
Fri, 18 December 2015
The real truth about Medicare and Medicaid and their true nature and consequences are completely unknown to most people. Murray Sabrin has just released a documentary on the 50th anniversary of their creation setting the record straight, and providing an alternative. Not to be missed! |
Thu, 17 December 2015
Ever since we learned in school how a bill becomes a law, we've absorbed the idea that it's normal for law to be imposed from the top down. But it's possible, and indeed the historical norm, for law to emerge in a completely different, more libertarian-friendly way. Join me for a great conversation with Stephan Kinsella! |
Wed, 16 December 2015
The fifth Republican presidential debate was last night, December 15, 2015, and Lew and I are on the case. A few surprises and some good lines, but mostly horrifying, save for the good performance by Rand Paul. As always, our discussion is livelier and more illuminating than the debate itself, so don't deny yourself this guilty pleasure! |
Tue, 15 December 2015
Judith Curry, a highly credentialed climate scientist, discovered what happens when you question the reliability of the models on which global warming predictions are based. She also discovered that the way science is done in practice might be a teensy bit different from the dispassionate model of Francis Bacon. |
Mon, 14 December 2015
I answer some helpful listener questions in today's episode: my concerns about Trump, how I know which opponents to engage and which to ignore, what historical misconception is most important for Americans to overcome, and many more. |
Fri, 11 December 2015
The just-war tradition is a much-heralded aspect of moral reflection in the Western world. But does this series of criteria for the acceptability of particular wars really serve the purpose of limiting war? It's a question I've changed my mind on in recent years, and Laurie Calhoun helps me to work through the issue in today's episode. |
Thu, 10 December 2015
![]() Michael Malice returns to the show to discuss his debate with me about Alexander Hamilton. This post-game discussion is a lot of fun -- plus, we talk about what could well be the topic for our next live, in-person debate! |
Wed, 9 December 2015
Here it is: the audio from the December 2015 debate between Michael Malice and me. Resolved: Alexander Hamilton was a hero for the cause of liberty. Michael argues in the affirmative, and I in the negative. You are going to love it. We're both relentless, and the audience loves it. At the end I reveal the winner. |
Tue, 8 December 2015
Ilana Mercer joins me to discuss the recent campus lunacy, and whether we ought to save the university or dance on its grave. |
Mon, 7 December 2015
Eric Peters returns to the show, to discuss unintended consequences of automobile regulation, interesting new innovations, and how government's attempts to fix things create an array of new problems. |
Fri, 4 December 2015
Leave it to Walter Block to write a book on privatizing lakes, rivers, oceans, and aquifers. We discuss the how and why today! |
Thu, 3 December 2015
Stephan Kinsella explains the importance of Rothbard's theory of contract -- a point I myself did not appreciate until this episode -- and contrasts it with mainstream theories, which most libertarians think are the same as their own. We need to get these fundamentals right, so listen in and learn with me! |
Wed, 2 December 2015
Here's an interview I did with a FOX News Radio affiliate, in which I discussed everything from nullification to agorism -- in other words, topics that don't generally make it onto radio. Enjoy! |
Tue, 1 December 2015
Today I talk about the social contract arguments we encounter from critics all the time, and how we might answer them. Plus, a digression on entrepreneurship, and how I'm teaching my kids that sitting around hoping someone will hire you is the wrong way to advance your career in the modern economy. Enjoy! |
Mon, 30 November 2015
Some libertarians describe themselves as "fiscally conservative and socially liberal." This is a completely wrongheaded way to think about libertarianism. In today's episode, author Tom Mullen discusses what precisely it is that both groups get wrong that leads them off the liberty path. We are not a combination of the two, but something entirely distinct. |