The Human Action Podcast

Jeff talks to Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals about why gold still plays a major role in the global economy.

Listen to Bob's interview with Keith at https://mises.org/BMS234

Find out more about Monetary Metals at https://monetary-metals.com

Bob and Jeff get into the weeds of Disney's shareholders, revenues, and holdings in light of the company's recent spat with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Jeff and Bob discuss the dynamics of the housing market in the context of a recent talk by Alex Pollock.

"Hazlitt, Hayek, and How the Fed Made Itself into the World's Biggest Savings and Loan": https://mises.org/PollockAERC

Jeff and Bob Murphy talk about the state of gross economic ignorance in America today.

Lessons for The Young Economist: https://Mises.org/YoungEcon

Understanding Money Mechanics: https://Mises.org/BobMoney

This week, Jeff and Bob discuss oil prices. Why are gas prices spiking in the US, and what are D.C. politicians planning for oil companies?

Jeff and Bob discuss Biden's SOTU, the immorality of sanctions, and Fed Chair Powell's Pregnant Comments.

A recent New York Times article featuring economist Stephanie Kelton and her book on Modern Monetary Theory garnered criticisms, but not from the usual sources.

No less than economist Larry Summers, former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, weighed in to criticize the Times for giving credence to MMT (he likened it to "quack cancer cures").

Reliably leftwing economics writer Noah Smith chimed in on substack to call MMT a "fringe ideology" and lambaste its lack of macroeconomic foundations. But a backlash ensued: several female economists claimed the criticisms of Kelton (and MMT) were rooted in sexism, bemoaning the male-dominated nature of the economics profession. And as with all academic or professional disciplines, "diversity" is now not only a buzzword but an open requirement in hiring.

I asked Baylor professor and Mises Institute senior fellow Dr. Peter Klein to join the show and give us his behind-the-scenes view of the increasingly politicized economics profession.

Read the Times article: https://Mises.org/KeltonNY

Bob Murphy's review of Kelton's book: https://Mises.org/KeltonBook

Noah Smith's review of Kelton's Times article: https://Mises.org/KeltonNoah

The Human Action Podcast wraps up the year with none other than the venerable Professor Paul Gottfried!

This is our final show focused on the Old Right, the early 20th century political tradition which animated later libertarian figures like Murray Rothbard. How was this great legacy of peace and freedom on the Right—the Old Republic—lost to Cold Warriors and neoconservatives? Nobody is a better sociologist of American conservatism than Dr. Gottfried, and nobody is more compelling and erudite when it comes explaining how the Right went so horribly wrong (hint: former Commies). Lots of great names discussed, from Rothbard and Nock to Kirk, Strauss, Jaffa, Buckley, Meyer, and even Gore Vidal.

Don't miss this show!

Read Professor Gottfried's work on Conservatism: https://Mises.org/Gottfried-Book

We continue our look at leading figures from the Old Right with guest Tom Woods, who helped publish the late Murray Rothbard's The Betrayal of the American Right. Rothbard admired the courageous and revisionist voices promoting the Old Republic, and shared their antagonism for war and economic intervention. Tom and Jeff discuss great essays like Albert J. Nock's "Isaiah's Job" and Frank Chodorov's "The Ethic of the Peddler Class;" the latter a rousing defense of the merchant class against both bureaucrats and the country-club conservatism which would emerge under William F. Buckley. The old antiwar and anti-New Deal works of figures like Menken, Hazlitt, Howard Buffett, Chodorov, and Nock deserve far wider consideration, especially as the "New Right" spirals into the worst of Buckleyite foreign policy and know-nothing economics. You owe it to yourself to explore this great but underappreciated tradition.

Read Rothbard's important work: https://Mises.org/Betrayal

Albert J. Nock's "Isaiah's Job:" https://Mises.org/HAPNock

Frank Chodorov's "The Ethic of the Peddler Class:" https://Mises.org/HAPChodorov

Jeff Leskovar on "The Psychology of Human Action:" https://Mises.org/HAPLeskova

HL Mencken is the writer you need to read immediately. He was savagely brilliant, caustic, and witty, but also prolific across genres in ways almost unthinkable of journalists today. His skill with the English language was virtually unmatched in the 20th century, as was his deep and abiding contempt for utopian statism in any form. And his broadsides against two world wars were incredibly courageous at the time.

Our great friend Jim Bovard joins the show to discuss Mencken's work, his complicated elitism, his Old Right politics and social views, and the magnificent pleasure of reading this master.

"H.L. Mencken, The Joyous Libertarian" by Murray N. Rothbard: https://Mises.org/Joyous

Mencken Wikiquote: https://Mises.org/HLQ