"Profit foes accept the ‘zero-sum’ fallacy and the myth that factors of production create equal value. Disdain for profit reflects a deeper distrust of its ethical essence – rational self-interest. Profit is crucial to capitalism, but even in our personal (non-commercial) lives, we’re rational and right to maximize the benefits versus the costs of our actions. On economic, ethical, and personal grounds, profit deserves our unabashed allegiance." - Richard Salsman
Paternalism, Infantilism & the Welfare State
May 28, 2024
"A free society depends not only on rational philosophy, capitalist economics, and rights-respecting politics but a psychology of mental health rooted in self-esteem and its corollaries (self-confidence, self-responsibility, self-reliance). Many people are anxious, angry, and even phobic about living in a free, vibrant, dynamic culture. Preferring security to liberty, they lose both."
Capitalism, For & Against: A University Seminar
February 27, 2024
“For the past five years at Duke University, I’ve conducted a popular seminar which assesses both the pros and cons of capitalism. In this session, I recount the seminar’s origins, share the syllabus, review the readings, and convey some student reactions. My introduction reads: ‘Capitalism is a formidable and durable social system worthy of scientific, objective study. Only three centuries old, it has both proponents and opponents, each wielding strong and weak arguments. In this seminar, we investigate, analyze, and debate the nature of capitalism and assess the validity (or not) of various pro-con claims.’”
A Capitalist Approach to Immigration and Borders
November 29, 2023
A free society welcomes manageable flows of goods, capital, and people over its borders, whether incoming or outgoing. A state is defined as the institution with a monopoly on the legitimate use of retaliatory force within a specific territory – and the last feature requires fixed and protected borders. An indispensable job of a legitimate government includes managing the borders, setting liberal terms, processing the flows, and interdicting dangers (hostile actors, transmissible diseases). America’s most capitalist era (1865-1915) coincided with the “Ellis Island model” and we need that again, instead of the false choice of “open borders” (with no processing) or “closed borders” (with despotic-type walls).
The Nefarious Purpose of Central Banking
August 22, 2023
Central banking is not—as most economists claim—a benign institution that ensures our economic and financial well-being. It is central planning applied to money and banking and as such it proliferates statist regimes, to the detriment of liberty and prosperity.
AI: Promise and Peril
May 23, 2023
"AI is just a fancy name for automation—which is the embodiment of advanced human intelligence in tools and machines—and like all technology it should be welcomed, not feared, curbed, or banned. History shows that fire, the wheel, the gun, electricity, nuclear power, and many other technologies have been enormously beneficial to humans; that they’ve also been misused by evil actors only means we should prevent evil, not invention."
From The Vault: Why American Can't Win Wars Anymore
May 19, 2023
"The U.S. won the “Cold War” but hasn’t won a “hot” war since World War II. It’s been 0-5 since 1945. Korea. Viet Nam. The Gulf War. Iraq. Afghanistan. Why? The U.S. has had a large, strong economy, the best weaponry, and superb soldiers; yet it loses to far-inferior foes, costing thousands of American lives, trillions in American wealth, and a large measure of national pride. Instead of being guided by national self-interest, U.S. foreign policy embodies the alleged “nobility” of self-sacrifice (altruism) and thereby appeases and emboldens enemies. Presidents and military leaders (“top brass”) have accepted much of the anti-Americanism preached for years at universities and even in military academies. This can be fixed, but it’ll require a moral revolution – a case for both realism and egoism in foreign affairs." View Full Transcript Episode Transcript
From The Vault: The Religious Marxism of Critical Race Theory
May 12, 2023
“Critical Race Theory”(CRT) claims that contemporary America is systemically, institutionally, and structurally racist. In the same vein, President Obama in 2015 told NPR that in America “the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination in almost every institution of our lives is still part of our DNA. We are not cured.” In fact, only America’s South was systemically racist–-and not after the 1960s. CRT is not new but reflects an odd amalgam of false theories: Marxism (“inherent conflict”), Christianity(“original sin”), and determinism (“no one can choose to be color blind”). CRT demands that Americans become more race conscious than they are. Reason and volition are the antidotes to CRT (and racism)."
From The Vault: Should College Be Free and Student Debts Canceled?
April 21, 2023
Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode from back in May of 2021 in which Dr. Salsman discusses the idea of free college, President Biden's proposal for student debt forgiveness, and what thoughtful students think about it: “For decades U.S. public policy has subsidized college tuition and professors’ research while guaranteeing a burgeoning pile of student loans,” says Salsman. “Now politicians and pundits of every persuasion demand tuition price controls or free tuition plus ‘forgiveness’ of student debt. Is there a link between the first set of policies (subsidies) and the second set? What are the moral, economic, and political arguments for and against making college “free” and canceling student debt? Is it possible both sets of policies are morally unjust, economically destructive, and politically coercive?”
From The Vault: Environmentalism & Capitalism
April 14, 2023
Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode from back in April of 2021 in which Dr. Salsman discusses anti-capitalist aspects of the environmental movement: “Initially called the 'ecology' movement, proponents seemed merely to want cleaner air and water, for the benefit of humans (while denying that capitalism alone delivers it),” explains Salsman. “Before long, the movement became ‘environmentalism,’ with the premise that ‘nature’ has intrinsic value (apart from man) and man is non-natural (not part of nature, hence expendable).”
From The Vault: The Encouraging Spread of Academic Programs in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
April 7, 2023
Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode in which Dr. Salsman discusses PPE Programs at Universities: "Until recently, the social sciences in academic - philosophy, politics, and economics - have existed in narrowly-specialized silos, detached from each other (and from reality). Thankfully, in recent decades an interdisciplinary approach has evolved, in the form of "PPE" programs, with studies that conform far better to the real world. The best and brightest students are drawn tothis integrated, non-paritsan approach and profit by it. In this webinar, Dr. Salsman, who teaches in Duke's PPE program, discusses the origins, content, spread, and future of these programs."