Great summary! This is a lesson straight from an Austrian economics text book. It seems to me that the destruction of the US middle class is being offset by the rise in the Chinese middle class.
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Posts Tagged ‘Austrian Economics’
Why The Middle Class Exists
Posted by M. C. on March 11, 2025
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Austrian Economics, Middle Class | Leave a Comment »
Austrian Economics, Libertarianism, and Academic Writing in the Humanities – A Bibliography
Posted by M. C. on June 25, 2022
A preliminary list of books and articles that may be of interest to libertarian and classical liberal humanists (last updated 6/21/22)
I am grateful to the friends and colleagues who helped me compose this list. If you have additions or edits, please email me at jac3@columbia.edu (providing full references as well as links if online versions are available). Foreign language publications are listed separately at the bottom. I’m especially interested in including critical studies of literature and film that use Austrian economics and/or libertarian philosophy. Thank you!
Jo Ann Cavallo, Professor of Italian, Columbia University
Adamo, Stefano. “Animal Spirits in Designer Suits. The Representation of Finance in Walter Siti’s Resistere non serve a niente.” Rivista di storia economica 3 (2016): 351–80. https://doi.org/10.1410/85082.
—. “The Crisis of the Prato Industrial District in the Works of Edoardo Nesi: A Blend of Nostalgia and Self-Complacency.” Modern Italy 21.3 (August 2016): 245–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/mit.2016.30.
—. “The Italian ‘Economic Miracle’ in Coeval Cinema: A Case Study on the Intellectual Reaction to Italy’s Social and Economic Change.” Italian Quarterly 50 (2013): 46–64.
—. “The Italian Financial Novel: Finance As Told By Financial Professionals.” Estudios Libertarios 3 (2020): 49-73.
Blanco, María, and Alberto Mingardi, eds. Show and Biz: The Market Economy in TV Series and Popular Culture. Forthcoming 2023. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60912547-show-and-biz
Block, Walter E. “Ayn Rand, Religion and Libertarianism.” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies Vol., 11, No. 1, Issue 21, July 2011, pp. 63-79.
—. “Justifying a Stateless Legal Order: a critique of Rand and Epstein.” Journal of Private Enterprise; 29(2) Spring 2014: 21-49. http://journal.apee.org/index.php/Category:Spring_2014; http://journal.apee.org/index.php?title=2014.Spring.JPE_part2.pdf
—. “‘The Libertarian Minimal State?’ A critique of the views of Nozick, Levin and Rand.” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2002, pp. 141-60; reprinted in Younkins, Ed, ed., Philosophers of Capitalism: Menger, Mises, Rand and Beyond, 2004; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/minimal_state.pdf
—. “On Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard and Thick Libertarianism” June 1, 2014;
https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/06/walter-block-on-ayn-rand-murray.html
Camplin, Troy Earl. “Atlas Shrugged as Epic.” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 19.2 (2019): 192-242. https://aynrandstudies.com/past-issues/volume-19/
Cantor, Paul. “Flying Solo: The Aviator and Libertarian Philosophy” May 24, 2007. http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/cantor5.html
—. Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001.
—. The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture: Liberty vs. Authority in American Film and TV. University Press of Kentucky (illustrated edition), 2012.
—. Pop Culture and the Dark Side of the American Dream: Con Men, Gangsters, Drug Lords, and Zombies. University Press of Kentucky, 2019.
—. Shakespeare’s Rome: Republic and Empire. c. 1976. University of Chicago Press (enlarged edition), 2017.
Cantor, Paul, and Stephen Cox. Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Spontaneous Order in Culture. Auburn, Mises Institute, 2009. https://mises.org/library/literature-and-economics-liberty-spontaneous-order-culture
Cavallo, Jo Ann. “Contracts, Surveillance, and Censure of State Power in Arienti’s Triunfo da Camarino novella (Le porretane 1.1).” In Cavallo and Lottieri, 141-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D8XS5VRF
—. “The Ideological Battle of Roncevaux: The Critique of Political Power from Pulci’s Morgante to Sicilian Puppet Theatre Today.” In Luigi Pulci in Renaissance Florence and Beyond. Eds. James K. Coleman and Andrea Moudarres. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. 209-32.
—. “Malaguerra: The Anti-state Super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater.” AOQU (Achilles Orlando Quixote Ulysses). Rivista di epica 1 (July 2020): 259-294. https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/aoqu/article/view/13907/13061
—. “Marco Polo on the Mongol State: Taxation, Predation, and Monopolization.” Libertarian Papers 7.2 (2015): 157-168.
http://libertarianpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/article/2015/11/lp-7-2-42.pdf
—. “National Political Ideologies and Local Maggio Traditions of the Reggio Emilia Apennines: Roncisvalle vs. Rodomonte.” Conquistare la montagna: la storia di un’idea. Conquering Mountains: The History of an Idea. Eds. Carlo Baja Guarienti and Matteo Al Kalak. Milan: Mondadori, 2016. 121-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D8P84C8N
—. “On Political Power and Personal Liberty” in The Prince and The Discourses.” Machiavelli’s The Prince at 500. Ed. John McCormick. Social Research: An International Quarterly 81:1 (Spring 2014): 107-32.
https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8H70CXR
—. “Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden: The Man versus the State.” January 1, 2021. Mises Institute. https://mises.org/wire/pietro-marcellos-martin-eden-man-versus-state
—. “Purgatory 17: On Revenge.” Purgatory: Lectura Dantis. Eds. A. Mandelbaum, A. Oldcorn, C. Ross. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008. 178-90.
—. The Romance Epics of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso: From Public Duty to Private Pleasure. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.
Cavallo, Jo Ann, and Carlo Lottieri, editors. Speaking Truth to Power from Medieval to Modern Italy. Annali d’italianistica 34 (2016).
Cox, Stephen. “Adventures of ‘A Little Boy Lost’: Blake and the Process of Interpretation.” Criticism 23 (1981): 301-316.
—. “The Art of Fiction.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 1 (2000) 313-31.
—. “Ayn Rand.” American Philosophers, 1950-2000. Ed. Philip B. Dematteis and Leemon B. McHenry. Detroit: Gale – Bruccoli Clark Layman, 2003. 255-72.
—. “Ayn Rand: Theory versus Creative Life.” The Journal of Libertarian Studies 8 (1986): 19-29.
—. “The Cather Correspondence.” American Literary History 26 (Summer 2014) 418-29.
—. “Completing Rand’s Literary Theory.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 6 (2004): 67-89.
—. Culture and Liberty: Writings of Isabel Paterson. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
—. “Devices of Deconstruction.” Critical Review 3 (Winter 1989) 56-76.
—. “The Devil’s Reading List.” Raritan 16 (Fall 1996) 97-111.
—. “Having Your Say.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (2002) 339-47.
—. “‘It Couldn’t Be Made Into a Really Good Movie’: The Films of Ayn Rand.” Liberty 1 (August 1987): 5-10.
—. “Literary Theory: Liberal and Otherwise.” Humane Studies Review 5 (Fall 1987) 1, 5-7, 12-14.
—. Love and Logic: The Evolution of Blake’s Thought. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992.
—. “Merely Metaphorical?: Ayn Rand, Isabel Paterson, and the Language of Theory.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 8 (Spring 2007) 237-60.
—. “Methods and Limitations.” Critical Paths: Blake and the Argument of Method. Ed. Dan Miller, Mark Bracher, and Donald Ault. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1987. Pp. 19-40, 331-34.
—. “Nathaniel Branden in the Writer’s Workshop.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 16 (December 2016) 245-60.
—. The New Testament and Literature: A Guide to Literary Patterns. Chicago: Open Court, 2006.
—. “Public Virtue and Private Vitality in Shadwell’s Comedies.” Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 16 (1977): 11-22.
—. “Representing Isabel Paterson.” American Literary History 17.2 (2005): 244-58.
—. “Sensibility as Argument.” Sensibility in Transformation: Creative Resistance to Sentiment from the Augustans to the Romantics. Ed. Syndy McMillen Conger. Rutherford NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990. Pp. 63-82.
—. “The Significance of Isabel Paterson.” Liberty 7 (October 1993) 30-41.
—. “The Stranger Within Thee”: Concepts of the Self in Late-Eighteenth-Century Literature. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980.
—. “The Titanic and the Art of Myth.” Critical Review 15 (2003) 403-34.
—. “Willa Cather.” Literary Genius, ed. Joseph Epstein. Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2007. Pp. 192-98.
—. The Woman and the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2004.
Fernandez-Morera, Dario. American Academia and the Survival of Marxist Ideas. Praeger, 1996.
Friedman, David. “Thoughts on Literature, Economics and Education.” Ideas. May 1, 2017. http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2017/05/thoughts-on-literature-economics-and.html
Giménez Cavallo, Maria. “Elsa Morante’s La storia: A Posthumanist, Feminist, Anarchist Response to Power.” In Cavallo and Lottieri, pp. 425-47.
Hazlitt, Henry. The Anatomy of Criticism: A Trialogue. Simon & Schuster, 1933.
Long, Roderick T. Rituals of Freedom: Libertarian Themes in Early Confucianism. The Molinari Institute, 2016. Expanded version of his essay “Austro-Libertarian Themes in Early Confucianism” Journal of Libertarian Studies, 17, no. 3 (Summer 2003): 35-62.
McCloskey, Deirdre. “Economics With a Human Face: Adam Smith did not believe people are merely economic maximizers. Instead, we balance self- interest with humane sympathy for others. Deirdre N. McCloskey reviews Cents and Sensibility by Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro.” Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2017. https://www.wsj.com/articles/economics-with-a-human-face-1505343242
McMaken, Ryan. Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre. 2012.
Mendenhall, Allen. Literature and Liberty: Essays in Libertarian Literary Criticism. Lexington Books, 2014.
—. Shouting Softly: Lines on Law, Literature, and Culture. St. Augustine Press, 2021.
Mingardi, Alberto. “A Lesson in Humility, a Lesson for Our Times: Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed,” The Independent Review 25.3 (2020): 369–84. https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=13135
—. “Manzoni’s unfulfilled legacy. On the economic lessons of Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed.” The New Criterion 36.6 (2018): 35-38. ISSN:0734-0222.
Monsen, Anders. “Fifty Works of Fiction Libertarians Should Read.” Prometheus Newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society Volume 30, Number 3, Spring 2012. http://lfs.org/newsletter/030/03/FiftyWorks.shtml.
Nock, Albert J. Francis Rabelais the Man and his Work. Harper & brothers, 1929.
Perdices de Blas, Luis, and John Reeder. “Quixotes, Don Juans, rogues and arbitristas in seventeenth century Castile. Oeconomia. Editions NecPlus, vol. 3-4 (2013): 561-91. https://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/702
Pinker, Steven. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Penguin, 2011.
—. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Viking, 2018.
Rand, Ayn. The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature. Signet; Revised edition, 1971.
Rectenwald, Michael. Beyond Woke. New English Review Press, 2020. https://www.michaelrectenwald.com/books
—. Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom. New English Review Press, 2019. https://www.michaelrectenwald.com/books
—. Springtime for Snowflakes: ‘Social Justice’ and Its Postmodern Parentage. New English Review Press, 2018. https://www.michaelrectenwald.com/books
Rothbard, Murray. “Movie Reviews.” The Rothbard Reader, edited by Joseph T. Salerno and Matthew McCaffrey. The Mises Institute, 2016. 293-303. https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Rothbard%20Reader.pdf. Many other reviews can be found dispersed throughout The Complete Libertarian Forum 1969-1984 under the rubric “Mr First Nighter.”
Skousen, Jo Ann. Movie reviews for Liberty. https://libertyunbound.com/author/joannskousen/
Movie reviews for Anthem Film Festival https://anthemfilmfestival.com/reviews/
Sarah Skwire, Amy Sturgis, Fred Turner, William Patterson. Liberty, Commerce and Literature. Cato Unbound. July 2012.https://www.cato-unbound.org/issues/july-2012/liberty-commerce-literature/
Skwire, Sarah, Ross Emmett, Maria Pia Paganelli, and Michelle Vachris. The Prehistory of Public Choice. Special issue of Cato Unbound (March 2017). https://www.cato-unbound.org/issues/march-2017/prehistory-public-choice/
Skwire, Sarah, and Steve Horwitz. “Lady Pecunia at the Punching Office: Two Poems on Early Modern Monetary Reform,”Journal of Private Enterprise. The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 30 (Spring 2015): 107-20.
Skwire, Sarah, William H. Patterson, Jr., Frederick Turner, and Amy H. Sturgis. Liberty, Commerce, and Literature. Special issue of Cato Unbound (July 2012). https://www.cato-unbound.org/issues/july-2012/liberty-commerce-literature.
Skwire, Sarah “Curse, Interrupted: Richard III, Jacob and Esau, and the Elizabethan Succession Crisis” in a special issue of Religions on Shakespeare and Religion, 2019.
—. “History through a Classical Liberal Feminist Lens” in What is Classical Liberal History? Ed. Michael J. Douma and Phillip W. Magness. Lexington Books, 2018.
—. “Edna Ferber’s Business Stories” in Capitalism and Commerce in Imaginative Literature, Lexington Press 2016.
—. “Without Respect of Persons: Gender Equality, Theology, and the Law in the Writing of Margaret Fell” Social Philosophy and Policy, 2015.
—. “Take Physic, Pomp’: King Lear Learns Sympathy” in Sympathy: The History of a Concept, Ed. Eric Schliesser, Oxford University Press, 2015.
—. “Eating Brains and Breaking Windows” (with Steven Horwitz), in Economics of the Undead, Glen Whitman and James Dow, Eds. Rowman and Littlefield, 2014.
—. “Not-So-Bleak House” in New Developments in Economic Education, Eds. Franklin G Mixon and Richard J. Cebula, Edward Elgar, 2014.
Spivey, Matt. Re-Reading Economics in Literature: A Capitalist Critical Perspective. Lexington Books, 2020.
Sunderland, Luke. Rebel Barons: Resisting Royal Power in Medieval Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Thomas, William, ed. The Literary Art of Ayn Rand. Poughkeepsie NY: Objectivist Center, 2005.
Torres Louis, and Michelle Marder Kamhi. What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand. Open Court, 2000
Turner, Frederick. The Culture of Hope. Free Press, 1995.
—. Shakespeare’s Twenty-first Century Economics. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Van Es, Bart. Shakespeare in Company. Oxford UP, 2015.
Watts, Michael. The Literary Book of Economics: Including Readings from Literature and Drama on Economic Concepts, Issues, and Themes. Intercollegiate Studies, 2003.
Wright, Robert. Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. Pantheon, 2000.
Younkins, Edward W., ed. Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”: A Philosophical and Literary Companion. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2007.
—, ed. Capitalism and Commerce in Imaginative Literature: Perspectives on Business from Novels and Plays. Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2015.
—. Exploring Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand’s Magnum Opus. Lexington Books, 2021.
—. Exploring Capitalist Fiction: Business through Literature and Film. Lexington Books, 2013.
Interdisciplinary journals and magazine that include the Humanities:
Journal of Ayn Rand Studies https://aynrandstudies.com/
Journal of Libertarian Studies (1977-2008) https://mises.org/archives/the-journal-of-libertarian-studies
Libertarian Papers, 2009- http://libertarianpapers.org/
Liberty https://libertyunbound.com/pdf-archive/
Literature of Liberty (1978-1982), Institute of Humane Studies https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/liggio-literature-of-liberty-a-review-of-contemporary-liberal-thought
Film reviews:
Anthem Film Festival, reviews https://anthemfilmfestival.com/reviews/
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Three Questions on Austrian Economics; Asked and Answered – LRC Blog LewRockwell.com
Posted by M. C. on November 1, 2021
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/three-questions-on-austrian-economics-asked-and-answered/
From: Ash caesar
Hi,
I read your blog post on your website from time to time, and I have to say I quite enjoy it, so keep it up. I have three questions that linger in my head a lot, and It would be a great deal to help me clarify them.
Q1) In a video, you said that capitalists help workers in many ways (I forgot which one). One is that the Capitalist risks their capital to provide production for the workers. However, in my opinion, you only see one side of the equation because the workers also risk something because of their income, housing, and family relay on it. So by that logic, workers should have some say with the capitalist on decision-making.
A1) Yes, the worker, too, takes risks. In Mises’ view, we’re all entrepreneurs: employers, employees, lenders, borrowers, landlords, tenants, buyers, sellers, etc. However, in the case of the business firm, there’s a relevant different between owner and worker. I now set up a company. We make pencils. It will take, oh, a year, before the first pencils come rolling off the assembly line. I have to buy machinery, rent a factory, pay for insurance, pay workers’ salaries, etc. Suppose no one wants to buy the pencils in a year. May I go back to my employees, and say, hey, sorry, I’ve got some bad news for you, the pencils aren’t selling, so, give me back that year’s worth of salary I paid you? No. I’m bearing that risk. The employees may keep their pay for the year.
Q2)In man economy and state, Rothbard states that “There are no ‘objective’ or ‘real’ costs that determine, or are co-ordinate in determining, price” (Rothbard 343). However, in Post-Keynesian Price Theory by Frederic Sterling Lee, he agrees that demand affects the price. But, cost also plays a factor because that is how they determine mark-up prices, which makes up most of the modern economy.
A2) There is indeed such a thing as cost, but it is alternative or opportunity costs. An important aspect of Austrian economics is subjectivism: no one really knows anyone else’s costs. We, often, don’t even know our own costs, can only speculate about them. For example, this is took you about 15 minutes to ask me these four questions. What were your costs in doing so? You probably didn’t think about this when writing up your questions. But what was it? What did you lose by asking me these questions? Money from a job? Sleeping? Eating? Swimming? Who knows.
Q3) Is it possible to say that prices are essential in economic calculation. Still, you can also argue that(in a Walrasian economic model) the economy can be represented in a complex system of equations where one can update them by trial and error, thus finding the right prices?
Q3) The Walrasian system is not too awful when it comes to depicting equilibrium situations. The difficulty is that we’re never in overall equilibrium. We’re always tending in that direction, both from higher and lower than equilibrium prices, but never there.
Q4)Just a side question do you think that the Roman people had more freedom under the late-stage corrupt republic or the dictatorship of Caesar(no relation to my name).
Q4) Sorry, I don’t know anything about this. Ask David Gordon. He knows everything about everything.
Sincerely,
Ash
Best regards,
Walter
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Dr. Robert Murphy on the Jordan Peterson Podcast | Mises Institute
Posted by M. C. on September 1, 2021
https://mises.org/power-market/dr-robert-murphy-jordan-peterson-podcast
Over the last several years, as Jordan Peterson rose to international fame, many thoughtful individuals in the Mises Institute orbit have voiced an appreciation for how Peterson’s work may complement the Austrian tradition. Some have written on the topic, including Jonathan Newman who noted in 2018:
Jordan Peterson is not famous for his action framework, but it is central to his Maps of Meaning book and university course. He uses it on his way to demonstrating the basis for belief systems and the superiority of a morality based on the inherent value of the individual.
The differences between his action framework and that of Mises and Rothbard may be attributed to the difference between psychology and economics. But the similarities are striking, even though, to my knowledge, Peterson has not read Mises or Rothbard.
Earlier this year, Jordan Peterson began tweeting about an interest in Austrian economics, asking for suggestions for potential guests.
What economist of the Austrian school should I interview for my YouTube channel and podcast?— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) March 27, 2021
Thankfully one name, in particular, got the attention of Dr. Peterson, Bob Murphy. Not only has Dr. Murphy long demonstrated himself to be one of the best educators of the Austrian tradition, but he has long been familiar with Peterson’s own work. His excellent book Choice Cooperation Enterprise and Human Action also offers a great introduction to Misesian thought for a new audience.
In his most recent podcast, Jordan Peterson published his interview with Dr. Murphy, offering his audience a deep dive into the Misesian tradition.
As Dr. Peterson begins his show, “I wanted to talk to you because I wanted a two-hour lecture in Austrian economics.”
Video can be found on YouTube. The podcast format is not currently published on his official website, can be found on most podcast platforms, such as Spotify.
Is Property Theft? | Dr Robert Murphy | The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast – S4: E43
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Tucker Carlson’s Broadside Against Austrian Economics | Mises Institute
Posted by M. C. on June 6, 2019
Tucker Carlson knows better, He knows full well how tariffs make society overall worse off, how markets make poor Americans far better off than the poor in many countries, why government medicine doesn’t work, and how minimum wage laws hurt the least-skilled workers. His argument is about priorities and strategy (and TV ratings), not ideology.
https://mises.org/power-market/tucker-carlsons-broadside-against-austrian-economics
Fox News host Tucker Carlson took to the airwaves of this popular show last night to lambaste Austrian economics and libertarianism, which he views as twin pillars of a failed ideology that doesn’t protect American workers and their interests.
The GOP, he argues, is in thrall to free-market corporate interests and esoteric economic theories from dusty textbooks. Republicans remain wedded to unbridled libertarian political philosophy, tax cuts, deregulation, and unilateral free trade, all of which enrich elites but hurt average people. Meanwhile, presidential aspirants like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders offer the American electorate real-world solutions to economic insecurity, jobs, and healthcare.
It’s a compelling story, but untrue. Does Carlson honestly think Republican members of Congress are overly theoretical and ideological? And here we thought they were a bunch of unprincipled and poorly-read hacks!1
Does he honestly think the budget-busting GOP of recent political memory, from Bush II (Iraq War, Medicare Part D, Department of Homeland Security, Patriot Act), John McCain, Mitt Romney are ideological libertarians? Why did Ron Paul and Rand Paul fare poorly among Republican primary voters, if in fact free-market ideology and its donor class dominate the party? And hasn’t the party been overtaken by Trumpist protectionists?
Of course we’re pleased when Right populists recognize the influence of the Austrian school, just as we’re pleased when Left-liberals at the New Republic convince themselves that Misesean “neoliberalism” has taken over the world. We note that Mises and Rothbard continue to receive criticism decades after their respective deaths, a testament to their deep (and apparently nefarious!) influence and an honor given to few economists.
Carlson, a onetime Cato Institute staffer and Weekly Standard writer, understands both Republican politics and the DC world of think tanks and punditry. When he references the Austrian school or libertarianism, it’s shorthand for “Koch money and influence” rather than any real ideology. It’s his shorthand for the “self-interests of rich guys,” interests given an intellectual veneer by academics and writers who are happy to accept billionaire crumbs in exchange for cozy non-profit sinecures. “Conservatism, Inc.” (or “Libertarianism, Inc.”) has become an self-serving industry unto itself, sclerotic and ripe for criticism.
There is truth to this. But it’s not an ideological truth. Tucker Carlson knows better, He knows full well how tariffs make society overall worse off, how markets make poor Americans far better off than the poor in many countries, why government medicine doesn’t work, and how minimum wage laws hurt the least-skilled workers. His argument is about priorities and strategy (and TV ratings), not ideology. And it accepts a fundamental tenet of the Left: self-interest for me is noble and warranted, self-interest for others (especially the rich) is suspicious if not sinister.
In other words, Carlson presents a fundamentally zero-sum perspective, which is to say a fundamentally political perspective.
That said, his populism—particularly his antiwar stance—should not be dismissed…
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