The Bob Zadek Show

Richard Rubin on Tax Incidence and the Corporate Income Tax

Property is a concept at once so simple that a 4-year-old can grasp it, yet so complex that the greatest legal minds have not been able to formally settle on a definition.

Law students are presented with the classic case of Pierson v. Post to illustrate how a dispute over the rightful owner of a fox carcass cannot be settled without surveying a whole host of historical legal treatises.

Pinning Down Property
Bart J. Wilson is a Professor of Economics and Law and the Donald P. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Economics and Law at Chapman University, where he co-founded the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, for which he serves as the director.

His economic research aims to better understand humans as we interact with each other and our environment - especially with respect to things that can be considered as “yours” and “mine,” i.e., private property.

His new book, The Property Species: Mine, Yours, and the Human Mind, is one of the most comprehensive studies ever undertaken of how we come to own stuff, and from whence this essential concept arises.

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Bart J. Wilson on The Property Species

Not long ago, the word “socialism” was something of a taboo. Following the failed Soviet experiment in hardcore socialism, most Americans of a certain age still shudder at the prospect. Libertarians schooled in Friedrich Hayek’s writings have learned to instinctively resist even the smallest encroachments of government ownership into the means of production. But have we perhaps learned a lesson too well?

Revisiting Socialism
Every so often, I like to re-assess my fundamental beliefs by inviting highly intelligent people to make the case for ideas like socialism on my program. A glance through my show archives reveals that I'm long overdue for a challenge, and John B. Judis is the perfect man for the job.

John is Editor-At-Large at Talking Points Memo and author of eight books, including most recently The Socialist Awakening – the last in his trilogy of books on the revival of the doctrines of nationalism, populism, and now, the "S" word.

Venezuela or Sweden – Which Way for the New Socialist Man?
Judis observed how Trump used populism to promote a nationalist agenda, and calls on today's progressives to use these same populist forces to advance a rebranded socialist program.

For Judis, Bernie Sanders is the poster-child of the evolution of socialism, from orthodox Marxist ideology calling for imminent revolution to an incremental approach of expanding the power of labor over capital in a modern "mixed economy." Where I see a flashing red DANGER sign in Sanders' appeal to young people, Judis sees a sign of hope.

Is Judis’s vision compatible with a robust economy, free markets, and individual autonomy, or will a single step toward Scandinavian-style socialism set us down the "Road to Serfdom"? Can socialists learn from the mistakes of the past, or are they doomed to be relegated to the dustbin of history?

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John B. Judis makes the case for reviving the defunct doctrine

In January of 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously penned a radical proposal for American independence. “Common Sense,” the title of his pamphlet, has been a rallying cry for American patriots since our founding and continues to unite a dissatisfied public in the pursuit of better governance.

Today, a new Common Sense Party of California – led by Quentin Kopp and Tom Campbell – aims to free Californians from the yoke of single-party rule.
Ending One-Party Rule, Once and For All

California has problems. From drought to fires, a bankrupt pension system, homelessness, unemployment, and housing crises, the only “solutions” our leaders have offered are more regulation, higher taxes, and the declaration of a permanent state of emergency.

The primary crisis, however, is the lack of leadership.

The Democratic Party has failed liberal and conservative voters alike. Lacking serious competition from an increasingly irrelevant GOP, our legislature has let special interests write the laws – that is, when “Emperor Newsom” isn’t exercising indefinite and dubious “emergency powers.”

Help is On the Way

Meanwhile, former U.S. Congressman and California state senator Tom Campbell has been laying the groundwork for an independent third party that could run serious contenders for the state office as soon as 2022. Outside of his political career, Campbell has served as Dean of Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law, a Dean and professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and Professor of Law at Stanford.

Campbell joined me to outline his vision of a party of principles and independence from political monopoly run by special interests. We’ll also discuss the ever-important question of separation of powers in the context of federalism and California’s COVID policy.

After learning about the Common Sense Party from Judge Quentin Kopp last fall, I’ve been eager to get an update. Signature gathering to get on the ballot was put on hold by the pandemic, but Campbell and Kopp are finally getting back to work. If the recall movement is any indicator of Californian’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, they should have no trouble getting the 70,000 required signatures to get on the ballot.

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Tom Campbell on restoring common sense to California

While Biden's idea of a solution includes cash payments to would-be immigrants to get them to stay in their home countries, Alex has a better plan that also doesn't cost nearly as much: "Encourage free trade, end the drug war, and liberalize immigration," he says.
Of course, the President is not entirely to blame for 150 years of bad immigration law - ultimately it's up to Congress to replace the patchwork of executive orders with a rational framework and plan for naturalizing future American immigrants, while disincentivizing dangerous illegal crossings.
Wretched Refuse?
Alex Nowrasteh - my go-to immigration expert - returns to the show to unpack the root causes of this chaos, and offer practical solutions that don't put the blame on those seeking a better life in America.
I was eager to discuss Alex's new book, co-authored with Benjamin Powell, Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 2020). We grappled with the political problem of immigration reform, along with the misconceptions underlying nativist hostility to more open immigration.

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Alex Nowrasteh explains how Congress let the situation got so desperate,

and how to fix it.

When Steven B. Smith told his Yale colleagues about the topic of the book he was working on – Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes– he was met with bewildered and even troubled looks. Perhaps they viewed patriotism (following British critic of the American Revolution Samuel Johnson) as the last refuge of scoundrels. Or perhaps something else is at work that has turned Americans off to the idea of love for one's country. There seems to be a skepticism of our own history and national values, which in the extreme erodes any semblance of patriotism.

Smith is careful to distinguish patriotism from nationalism, which often accompanies ethnic chauvinism, while also warning against the dangers of excessive cosmopolitanism that is so fashionable among elites in academic institutions and government.

Can patriotism be reclaimed in a way that brings these two extremes of American politics closer together under one banner? It turns out a certain amount of skepticism about America can be healthy and is even part of what makes our country so great. Professor Smith joined me live to help me understand first of all why patriotism has gotten such a bad rap, and secondly, how it can be revived without stoking the flames of international conflict or invoking a dangerous "us vs. them" mentality.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bobzadek.com/subscribe