Ep. 258 Responding to the Dave Smith/Curtis Yarvin Discussion on Libertarianism, Part 1
Bob addresses Curtis Yarvin’s claim that free trade policy has hurt America, and that libertarians don’t have a good response to it.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The Michael Malice episode featuring Yarvin vs. Smith.
- FRED charts showing manufacturing employment, index of total manufacturing production, components of manufacturing, and domestic auto production.
- A previous BMS episode that critiqued Yarvin.
- A Yarvin post that Bob liked.
- Bob’s warning about free traders going too far.
- Bob explains the social function of call and put options.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
Saying the free market will solve a problem is not wrong, but what it means is that an entrepreneur takes initiative and does the work. There is no guarantee that will happen even if there is no government restrictions on doing so. Is it illegal to do any of the things you describe for mitigating the possible issues resulting from international trade? If not, maybe you or your listeners should be the ones who figure out how to profit from doing this.
Great episode. These anti-trade people have permanently lost the economic debate and the moral debate. Yes, there are questions on how deeply we should specialize and outsource: we face that question as individuals and groups. No one has the right to elevate themselves as dictator over that decision for everyone, nor can their central planning ever perform as well as the free market.
P.S. If you do not call yourself a libertarian, which term do you prefer? I’m ok with maintaining association with terms like libertarian and capitalism, despite broad flawed use and perception of these terms, but I do think saying “I favor a private property society” is a better way to communicate my goals than terms many people are confused about.