Foolishness of the week: 10:57 Main episode: 11:17 The USDA is experimenting with paying people to eat fruits and vegetables. That sounds like a good idea, but it opens the door to regulatory capture wherein companies lobby the USDA to have their products included in the program, and where manufacturers add just enough ingredients to call their formerly-fruit-and-vegetable-free product a “fruit” or “vegetable” and so qualify for the USDA subsidy.

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Quick Hits

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/google-unveils-bard-its-chatgpt-rival-for-ai-powered-conversation/

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/biden-will-call-for-billionaire-tax-bigger-levy-on-stock-buybacks-in-state-of-the-union/ar-AA17aRGj

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Dr. Samuel Gregg joins us to talk about his latest book, The Next American Economy, in which he describes emerging problems and potential solutions to America’s slow movement away from freedom.

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Quick Hits

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artificial-intelligence-identifies-long-overlooked-raphael-masterpiece-180981528/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/468983/cite-gov-top-problem-inflation-ranks-second.aspx

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyb4k/ohio-nazi-dissident-homeschool

This Week’s TopicSamuel Gregg on Twitter: @drsamuelgregg

The Next American Economyhttps://www.amazon.com/Next-American-Economy-Markets-Uncertain/dp/164177276X

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A year ago, Mikhail Rasner joined us to talk about shortages and supply chains. A year later, he’s back to talk about what’s happened, both expected and unexpected, and where he sees the economy going in the near future.

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Quick Hits

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/once-biologically-dead-the-river-mersey-in-england-is-best-environmental-story-in-europe/

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/earth-talk-how-effective-is-endangered-species-act/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyje7/earths-core-has-stopped-and-may-be-reversing-direction-study-says

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/21/china-says-covid-outbreak-has-infected-80percent-of-population.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11667115/Protesters-swarm-Justice-Kavanaughs-home-50th-anniversary-Roe-v-Wade.html

Mikhail’s Previous Episodehttps://wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com/episode-256-an-insiders-view-of-the-supply-chain

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This week, we answer listener questions about the ratchet effect, how to disagree civilly, and who our dream guest would be.

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Quick Hits

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/supreme-court-justices-public-conflict/672494/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/washington/2023/01/15/classified-document-snafus-predate-biden-presidency/69809187007/

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.semafor.com/article/01/15/2023/cnn-is-serious-about-getting-into-comedy

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This week, we answer listener questions about unfunded liabilities, different types of rights, what would happen if the Supreme Court overturned the broad interpretation of the commerce clause, and statistical versus practical significance

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https://www.ocregister.com/2023/01/09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears/

https://www.enerdynamics.com/Energy-Currents_Blog/How-Much-Primary-Energy-Is-Wasted-Before-Consumers-See-Value-from-Electricity.aspx

https://dailycaller.com/2023/01/06/university-michigan-diversicrats-year-diversity-equity-inclusion/

Foolishness of the Week

https://thepostmillennial.com/historically-debunked-1619-project-to-be-released-as-hulu-docuseries

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Pope Francis devoted his Christmas homily to speaking out about the evils of pursuing wealth. This week, James and Ant share their different takes on the topic.

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/people-skipped-covid-vaccine-higher-183148392.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/weight-loss-drug-affordability-rcna60422

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/1146377342/5-things-to-know-about-southwests-disastrous-meltdown

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Listener questions this week include: What are the benefits of central banking? Is it time for the states to have an amicable divorce? What would it take to reduce the size of the federal government? What’s the difference between private and public companies?

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https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb040.html

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tx.htm#35-0000

https://ktrh.iheart.com/featured/houston-texas-news/content/2022-12-22-fully-automated-mcdonalds-here-in-texas-sparks-debate/

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This week, listeners ask whether it’s right to think of contagion as pollution, and if so, whether government has a role in containing contagion, why are we so litigious, and how we can say anything about socialism or capitalism if neither one has ever existed in a pure form.

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https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/spain-digital-nomad-visa-37201509

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Over the past century, three constraints on the federal government have failed. When we started ignoring Constitutional constraints, we opened the door to massive increases in federal spending. When voters started asking politicians for more “free” stuff, we walked through the door. And when we went off the gold standard politicians were able to strong-arm the Federal Reserve into funding the massive spending. What transpired was unsustainable spending, which created unsustainable debt, which required money printing, which is causing inflation.

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https://www.creativebloq.com/news/kia-logo

https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/trade/article/21949510/bite-the-wax-tadpole

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u-s-to-announce-fusion-energy-breakthrough/ar-AA15ahiG

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-makes-shocking-comments-about-armed-jan-6-if-i-organized-it-we-would-have-won/

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Whether regulations are a good thing or a bad thing is a more complicated question than it appears. Government can regulate through law. But consumers can also regulate through choice. Some government regulations protect people from harm. But some purport to protect people from harm while actually protecting favored businesses from competition. In this live episode, recorded at Susquehanna University, we talk about the good and bad of regulation.

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https://www.livescience.com/quantum-computing

https://www.heatbit.com

https://cointelegraph.com/news/repurposing-bitcoin-mining-heat-can-solve-global-energy-crisis-arcane

https://dnyuz.com/2022/12/06/in-sweeping-new-law-indonesia-outlaws-sex-outside-of-marriage

Foolishness of the Week

https://www.newsweek.com/kanye-west-tells-jews-forgive-hitler-amid-anti-semitism-controversy-1764844

Topic of the Week

https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1700

https://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb13q4a2.pdf

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