The Human Action Podcast

Garet Garrett was among the most important figures from the literary, political, and laissez-faire economic traditions of the Old Right, but his name is hardly known today. In 1938 he penned "The Revolution Was," a remarkable essay about FDR's revolutionary New Deal and, more importantly, how it was accomplished. FDR's revolution had already happened, though few Americans understood it or grasped what the triumph of an administrative state would mean. The New Deal was a revolution "with the form," because the old trappings of constitutionalism and separation of powers remained intact. What had changed was the substance of American government, engineered through skillful propaganda and marked by radically increased control over the nation's capital and businesses. This essay is entirely relevant to our current politics, and explains with tremendous clarity the the ongoing revolution happening under our noses today. Ryan McMaken joins Jeff Deist for a deep exploration of the essay and its lessons for us today.

You owe it to yourself to read this masterpiece.

Read Garet Garrett's prescient essay: https://Mises.org/GaretWas

This week's show features a panel discussion recorded in late October at our annual Supporters Summit. Panelists Ryan McMaken, Jeff Deist, Mike Maharrey, and Tho Bishop lay out real strategies for achieving decentralization.

Includes an introduction by Joey Clark. Recorded in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 22, 2021.

Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute joins the show to discuss what might be termed the Ron Paul Doctrine: a combination of laissez-faire at home, decentralized domestic political power (up to and including secession), robust free trade, and strict non-intervention abroad, This doctrine—which mirrors Mises's prescription for a liberal society—makes no phony distinctions between foreign and domestic policy, or between military and economic interventions. It places peace and property at the center of a free society, and calls for humility rather than hubris in politics. Daniel also gives his thoughts on Dr. Paul's doctrine as it applies today to China, Turkey, Russia, and Iran.

We wrap up our look at Murray Rothbard's sprawling two volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought with Dr. Joe Salerno, Rothbard's friend and colleague. This show covers the second volume exclusively, starting with the Frenchman JB Say and working through Ricardo, the British Currency School, John Stuart Mill, and finally Karl Marx. Salerno has penetrating insights about all of these thinkers, from Say's understanding of production to Ricardo's erroneous systemization of Adam Smith. He also has great background regarding Mises and the Currency School vs. Banking School debate, on free banking and full reserve banking, and on Mill's deep misconception of money. The show ends with a thorough look at Rothbard's treatment of Marx over more than 100 pages: Marx's sick view of man as a collective, his hatred for the division of labor, his absurd and deterministic "laws of history," his materialism as a replacement for spiritualism, and the underlying folly of "superabundant production."

You don't want to miss this show!

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

We continue our look at Murray Rothbard's two volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought with a show focused on Adam Smith. Rothbard attacked him mercilessly as a plagiarist who set economic theory back decades with his muddled views on value and price. But was this criticism justified, or was Smith actually an early and valiant proponent of laissez-faire?

Our guest Hunter Hastings defends Smith in this rollicking discussion, while Professor Jonathan Newman is not so sure. They also discuss the Scottish Enlightenment and Smithian thinkers like Bentham and Malthus, and even tackle the contentious question of whether Smith produced Marx. Don't miss this!

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

Was Adam Smith the founder of modern economics? Not so, says Murray Rothbard in his staggering two-volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Dr. Patrick Newman joins the show for a look at Rothbard's treatment of economics before Smith—from the Ancient Greeks all the way to the Scottish Enlightenment—and his take no prisoners revisionist approach. Jeff Deist and Dr. Newman cover Aristotle and Plato, Aquinas, Protestants and Catholics in the Middle Ages, Spanish Scholastics, Mercantilists, French Physiocrats and Turgot, and the criminally underappreciated Richard Cantillon. If you're a fan of economics and non-bowdlerized history, don't miss this!

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

Find out more about Dr. Newman's new book: https://Mises.org/CronyismBook

Just a few years prior to his death, Murray Rothbard started one of his most ambitious writing projects: a full-fledged, three volume history of economic thought from a uniquely Austrian perspective. Unfortunately he never wrote the third volume, intended to span the post-Marx marginal revolution all the way through the mid-20th century. But the two existing volumes, over 1000 pages, start with ancient Greece and make their way to Adam Smith, Bentham, JS Mill, Ricardo, and Marx. As always, Rothbard is both compelling and radically revisionist. Contra most economic historians, he believed the proto-economists before Smith had much to offer. Both the Spanish Scholastics and French Physiocrats, for example, showed an understanding of value and subjectivism well before Smith developed his muddled cost theory.

These two volumes are a must read for any student of economics, and Dr. Patrick Newman is the perfect guest to bring them to life. Don't miss this first in a series of episodes on An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought.

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

Find out more about Dr. Newman's upcoming book: https://Mises.org/CronyismBook

On the heels of Biden's vaccine mandate announcement, Dr. Murray Sabrin joins the show to discuss his new book on escaping the state's medical fascism. 'Universal Medical Care from Conception to End of Life' lays out the sobering reality of our unsustainable "health care" system. It explains the ruinous policies which changed doctors from respected guardians of patients to functionaries for government and third party insurance companies—and the unsustainability of our current path. But the book also shows us the way out. The model for market medicine is simple enough: patients pay cash for basic services, have high-deductible catastrophic insurance for emergencies (priced according to actuarial realities), while charitable hospitals and clinics serve the truly poor and indigent. Heroic entrepreneurial doctors already operate in this cash-only marketplace, and Sabrin's book gives us a road map for delivering better and cheaper medical care to millions of Americans.

Watch The Mises Institute's Medical Freedom Summit held in June: https://Mises.org/Med21

Buy Dr. Sabrin's fascinating new book: https://Mises.org/SabrinBook

Having branched to our first novel with All Quiet on the Western Front, the Human Action Podcast begs your indulgence for one of the works of 20th century British satire. Lucky Jim is the late Kingsley Amis's seminal send-up of campus life, and it's among your host's favorite books. The book takes place in 1951, and England is trying but failing to lose its class distinctions. The protagonist Jim Dixon is singularly unfit for the academic life he's chosen, and the opportunities for Amis to skewer both the academy and English society are manifest.

Allen Mendenhall of Troy University joins the show to discuss the academic pretenses and foibles punctured by Amis, along with great insights about Amis's background and political views. If you like satire, don't miss this show or this book!

Fans of Austrian economics know hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel as a brilliant thinker thoroughly steeped in Menger, Böhm-Bawerk, Mises, and Rothbard. His excellent 2013 book The Dao of Capital was rooted in Austrian capital theory and "roundaboutness," and his application of of that theory has proven highly beneficial for his investors.

Now Spitznagel is back with a new book that directly challenges our understanding of risk. Safe Haven asks, and answers, a fundamental question: can mitigating risk actually add to the bottom line? Can safe havens be truly cost-effective, by adding to CAGR? Mises Institute Senior Fellow Robert Murphy, who consulted on the book, joins the show for a fascinating look at Spitznagel's penetrating and contrarian thesis. If you're interested in the intersection of investing and Austrian economics, don't miss this episode!

Mark Spitznagel's Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms on Amazon: https://Mises.org/SafeHaven

And Spitznagel's 2013 book The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World on Amazon: https://Mises.org/Dao