What is Money?

The word “money” comes from the Latin moneta, which is where coins of precious metal were made and stored. Precious metals naturally rose to the top of money markets because they are scarce, long-lasting, and valued by weight. Gold in particular became the standard for money because it is uniquely suited to serve the purposes of money.

Peter Leeson: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think (1h7m)

This episode features a lecture by economics and law professor Peter Leeson from 2016. Leeson uses rational choice theory to explore the benefits of self-governance. Relying on experience from the past and present, Professor Leeson provides evidence of anarchy ‘working’ where it is least expected to do so and explains how this is possible. Provocatively, Leeson argues that in some cases anarchy may even outperform government as a system of social organization, and demonstrates where this may occur.

The Political Class: At War with Each Other and on the Rest of Us

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,” President John F. Kennedy said in a 1962 speech, “will make violent revolution inevitable.” Nearly 60 years later, two warring groups within the American political class seem resolutely determined to make “peaceful revolution” — by which JFK seems to have meant orderly democratic decision-making — impossible.

Yes, Dr. Fauci, You DO Need to Have Some Humility Here

“When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,”  Dr.  Anthony Fauci, director of the US  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and public face of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told the New York Times in December. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.”

Being Neighborly and Responsible

I may have mentioned that we have a lot of wind here. Yesterday was one of those blustery days. But today wasn’t bad, so this afternoon I got out and was picking up some of the trash that always ends up in my yard, snagged on cacti, mesquite, and yucca, and just lying on the ground where it happened to stop.

I may have mentioned that we have a lot of wind here. Yesterday was one of those blustery days. But today wasn’t bad, so this afternoon I got out and was picking up some of the trash that always ends up in my yard, snagged on cacti, mesquite, …