Capital Record

Are exclusive deals of private companies for select investors exacerbating the divide between haves and have-nots? Or is there an entirely different lesson in the fact that there are substantially fewer public companies than there used to be? Is this a class struggle issue, or rather, a by-product of certain unavoidable realities combined with unintended consequences of policy decisions. Put differently -- are there some trying to have their cake and eat it, too?

Show notes:
Inside the Invitation-Only Stock Market for the Wealthy

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Scott Galloway is no conservative, and I am not sure he would like me nearly as much as I like him. But despite his professed atheism and center-left political leanings, a certain common grace has enabled Galloway to become a counter-voice in today’s responsibility-averse culture.  His new book, Notes on Being a Man, offer a few truisms that are desperately needed, desperately lacking, and profound for their counter-cultural tenor. In today’s Capital Record, we will look at how this message may be the lowest hanging fruit for a free and virtuous society in this current societal moment.

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If tariffs are “making us rich,” and if tariffs are “beautiful,” and if tariffs are “finally making things fair again,” and if tariffs are everything the administration has told us they are, why have there been exemptions, exclusions, and carveouts on $1.7 trillion of imports so far? Don’t get me wrong -- I would favor excluding tariffs on 100 percent of imports. But the question we address on Capital Record today is why we have exempted so many special parties and particular products if tariffs are such a force of good? As you will see, the question answers itself.

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President Trump announced on Monday that he was signing an executive order to have ONE RULE (his words, not mine) when it comes to artificial intelligence, seeking to suppress the Tenth Amendment rights of states to have their own regulatory framework around, well, every single other industry on the planet. Over the weekend the president said he was concerned about the Netflix purchase of Warner Brothers because “that might give them too big of a market share.”

These feigned antitrust/monopolistic concerns and blatant disregard for states' rights in favor of a behemoth federal government control are longstanding beliefs and practices of the New Deal, big government left. They have been anathema to the right for time eternal. 

These are deeply concerning shifts in both action and philosophy that must be fervently resisted by those who still revere the Constitution and cherish the very concept of economic liberty.

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A little debate broke out on social media when a left-wing progressive mocked the idea that “absolute” standards of living are more important than “relative” ones. To some, what people aspire to is merely “to have a better life than the people around them,” and not “to have a better life.”

What is the truth here? And does it matter? If people really are merely concerned with “upping” their neighbors, couldn’t we do that pretty easily without driving burdensome things like “progress”?

On today’s Capital Record, David takes on the reality of human nature and the fundamental aim of economics. Ultimately, we find ourselves back to the Tenth Commandment to resolve one tension, and to the Garden of Eden to resolve another!

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The Nobel Prize for economics has gone to some serious winners over the years -- Hayek, Friedman, and Mundell come to mind. But the Nobel committee has shamed itself over the years as well (looking at you, Krugman), and more recently seemed to indicate a bias toward so-called economic justice than actual economic productivity and prosperity. That is why this year’s winners are an encouragement to those of us who see growth as a moral good, and a rising standard of living for all as dependent on progress, innovation, and growth. It is good for the field of economics when good work is rewarded that explains how the world works, and why. It is far better than rewarding econometrics that explain neither.

Show Notes:

WSJ article by David Henderson

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We all know President Trump is counting the days until Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair ends. He may be rooting for the right thing for the wrong reason, but it is not debatable that this is where things are headed. In today’s Capital Record, David looks at the various candidates for Fed chair and makes the case for the obvious pick (of the major pool of candidates that exists). Let’s send this episode to President Trump if we have to!

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Now that New York has elected a self-avowed socialist as its mayor, many are concerned with how to combat his dangerous ideas and policies. In this episode of Capital Record, David offers the wild suggestion that one way to defeat Mamdani’s ideas is to not replicate them ourselves! From class warfare to price controls to government ownership of production, Mamdani does not have a monopoly on bad ideas in 2025. For conservatives to win this debate, they need to be debating on the right team.

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The ‘Greedflation’ line is back, only it isn’t coming from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Joe Biden. With beef prices up nearly +13 percent over the last year, many are wondering why, and many are providing answers that don’t pass the smell test. Fortunately for those of us on the Capital Record, first principles go a long way toward helping us sort this out.

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David devotes this week’s Capital Record to the folly of the “game-changing” idea of a 50-year mortgage. He stands within first principles by allowing risk takers to freely transact, but points out the economic reality of how people who believe they get a cheaper house by paying for it over an extra 20 years are, well, wrong.

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