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Words & Numbers

648 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★★ - 329 ratings

Words & Numbers touches on issues of Economics, Political Science, Current Events and Policy. Each Wednesday we'll be sharing a new Words & Numbers podcast featuring Antony Davies Ph.D and James Harrigan Ph.D talking about the economics and political science of current events.

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Episodes

Episode 374: The Price of Baseball

April 10, 2024 14:30 - 32 minutes - 25.2 MB

James recently wrote an article on the price of admission and food at baseball fields over the years. To look at the prices, it appears that baseball has shifted from entertainment for the working classes to entertainment for the middle and rich classes. Or perhaps we’ve simply all become richer and baseball has simply followed along. Foolishness of the Week: 13:07 Main episode: 16:09 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant an...

Episode 373: FDA: Friend or Foe?

April 03, 2024 14:30 - 41 minutes - 32 MB

We all know that the FDA saves lives by keeping bad drugs off markets. But far fewer of us understand that the FDA costs lives by keeping good drugs from markets. Often all it takes to see this other side of the FDA is to be confronted with a life threatening disease for which there are treatments - just not FDA-approved treatments.  Foolishness of the Week: 08:38 Main episode: 14:53 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and...

Episode 372: Where’s the Middle Class?

March 27, 2024 14:30 - 32 minutes - 23.8 MB

Each election cycle, we’re treated to politicians and their supporters crying about the disappearing middle class. So many people repeat the mantra that most of us just accept it as fact. It turns out that those people are right - the middle class is disappearing. Where they get the story wrong is that it isn’t bad news. It’s excellent news. Foolishness of the Week: 09:12 Main episode: 15:32 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More...

Episode 371: An Interview with Spike Cohen, pt. 2

March 20, 2024 14:30 - 38 minutes - 29.3 MB

Spike Cohen, 2020 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nominee, joins us this week for a two part series in which we discuss the upcoming election, the Libertarian Party, the future of politics in America, and his work in single-issue activism - You Are the Power. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnu...

Episode 370: An Interview with Spike Cohen, pt. 1

March 13, 2024 14:30 - 27 minutes - 21.9 MB

Spike Cohen, 2020 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nominee, joins us this week for a two part series in which we discuss the upcoming election, the Libertarian Party, the future of politics in America, and his work in single-issue activism - You Are the Power. Foolishness of the Week: 11:05 Main episode: 13:14 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & ...

Episode 369: A One-Party System?

March 06, 2024 17:03 - 25 minutes - 19.7 MB

The United States has been a two party system almost since its inception. In modern times, this has led to the Democrats and Republicans having a virtual monopoly on the political landscape. Despite the fact that a plurality of Americans don’t identify with either party, they won’t allow a third party to compete. And what’s the only thing worse than a two-party system? A one-party system. Foolishness of the Week: 06:08 Main episode: 09:41 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! ...

Episode 368: Hampden-Sydney College Q&A

February 28, 2024 15:30 - 33 minutes - 25.6 MB

Last week, we recorded live from Hampden-Sydney College. This week’s episode is the Q&A from that recording. Foolishness of the Week: 09:21 Main episode: 10:05 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://studyfinds.org/is-everyone-angry-toxic-outrage-culture-consuming-societ...

Episode 367: Live from Hampden-Sydney College

February 21, 2024 15:30 - 34 minutes - 27.8 MB

Last week, we talked about the incongruity of not only having a majority of voters not like either major party candidate, but to have those two candidates appear twice in back-to-back elections. This week, we explore what happens when a President is incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office. Foolishness of the Week: 11:01 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Suppo...

Episode 366: What’s Up With the President?

February 14, 2024 15:30 - 30 minutes - 24.6 MB

Last week, we talked about the incongruity of not only having a majority of voters not like either major party candidate, but to have those two candidates appear twice in back-to-back elections. This week, we explore what happens when a President is incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office. Foolishness of the Week: 09:59 Main episode: 12:50 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers....

Episode 365: Democracy Might Not Be a Good Thing

February 07, 2024 15:30 - 34 minutes - 26.6 MB

  The Trump vs Biden election of 2020 was noteworthy because, for so many voters, it wasn’t a matter of selecting the person they thought was best suited for the job so much as a matter of selecting the person they thought was least ill-suited. As if it isn’t weird enough that, out of 200 million or so adults, the best we could do was to bring Trump and Biden to the fore, here we are in 2024 apparently set to do the same thing all over again. Foolishness of the Week: 09:10 Main episode:...

Episode 364: $34 Trillion

January 31, 2024 15:30 - 29 minutes - 23.3 MB

People used to scared about the federal debt. But it's been so huge for so long that people have lost interest. Yet, despite people's lack of attention - or perhaps, in part, because of it - the debt has continued to grow. For the past 50 years or so, it has been doubling every 8 to 9 years. Foolishness of the Week: 09:10 Main episode:  13:36 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org ...

Episode 363: Labor and Marx

January 24, 2024 15:30 - 41 minutes - 32.8 MB

Many people share an intuition that “excess” profits are a sign of something having been stolen from labor. Karl Marx shared this intuition and formalized it in his writings on the surplus value of labor. Foolishness of the Week: 05:48 Main episode: 11:55 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers...

Episode 362: Shareholders and Stakeholders

January 17, 2024 15:30 - 32 minutes - 26.2 MB

For whom does the corporation exist: investors, workers, customers, the community? Economists tend to answer, "investors." That's not to say that workers, customers, and the community aren't important, but rather that the corporation exists to further the interests of the investors. Where the interests of the workers, customers, and community coincide with those of investors, the corporation also cares about those groups. But where their interests conflict with those of investors, the intere...

Episode 361: Degrowth

January 10, 2024 15:30 - 30 minutes - 22.6 MB

Economic "degrowth" seems to be the new socialism. Like the old, it promises all manner of wonderful things, from equality to a cleaner environment. And like the old, it will deliver nothing but misery. Foolishness of the Week: 10:24 Main episode: 13:35 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers ...

Episode 360: Time is Money

January 03, 2024 15:30 - 37 minutes - 28 MB

Intuitively, people understand the value of time. We consider it every time we decide to put off something we want now for something better later. Psychologists call it, “delayed gratification.” But when we think about things like banks and landlords and Wall Street, we fail to see the time value of money driving people’s behaviors. Foolishness of the Week: 14:15 Main episode: 18:13 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and ...

Episode 359: A Conflict of Moral Principles

December 27, 2023 15:30 - 29 minutes - 23.1 MB

Colleges and universities, for years now self-proclaimed bastions of “safe spaces,” are allowing some students to express anti Semitism and call for genocide. Should colleges allow this in the name of free speech, or should it disallow it in the name of protecting students? Congressional hearings into prominent universities appear to reveal administrators picking a third and worse option: selectively allowing or disallowing free speech depending on at whom the speech is directed. Foolishne...

Episode 358: The Cost of the Good Life

December 20, 2023 15:30 - 34 minutes - 26.6 MB

We respond to an article that claims that “the good life” has become so expensive as to be beyond the reach of most Americans. We conclude that what is beyond the reach of at least some Americans is the ability to perform simple math. Foolishness of the Week: 05:33 Main episode: 09:16 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://w...

Episode 357: Biden’s Wealth Tax

December 13, 2023 15:30 - 31 minutes - 24.9 MB

More frequently, politicians are talking about a wealth tax. As with the income tax back in the early 1900s, politicians promise that the tax will only be one or two percent and will only apply to the rich. But, as with the income tax, if politicians can convince voters to allow the government to impose a tax on wealth, it will be less than a decade before that new tax hits the middle class. Foolishness of the Week: 15:15 Main episode: 19:45 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now...

Episode 356: Social Distancing and Masks: Again?

December 06, 2023 15:30 - 26 minutes - 20.4 MB

A new outbreak of a communicable disease in China has officials there calling for masks and social distancing. This week, we talk about what lessons we learned from the last go around and how people might respond in this country to a reprise of social distancing and masking.  Foolishness of the Week: 07:23 Main episode: 11:23 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support...

Episode 355: It's Time for Libertarians to Grow Up

November 29, 2023 15:30 - 42 minutes - 31.6 MB

We recently moderated the South Carolina Libertarian Party’s Presidential debate. We had a great time and the candidates were serious people. But the contrast between our excellent experience in South Carolina and Libertarian party hijinx we’ve seen in the past spurred this conversation. Is the Libertarian Party a political party or a philosophical society? The latter’s goal is to delve deeply into important questions about the economy and polity. The former’s goal is to win elections. Foo...

Episode 354: Academic Fraud

November 22, 2023 15:30 - 49 minutes - 35.5 MB

Three former professors discuss the fraud that universities are perpetrating on students and taxpayers.. Foolishness of the Week: 11:59 Main episode: 15:20 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Topic of the Week https://www.aier.org/people/phillip-w-magness/ Words & Numbers Backstage h...

Episode 353: What’s a Few Trillion Among Friends?

November 15, 2023 15:30 - 38 minutes - 28.4 MB

Over ten years ago, we predicted that, as the Federal government approached insolvency, the Federal Reserve would start printing money to monetize the government spending, and that that would give us sustained inflation in the 5% plus range. We saw the 5% plus inflation and, as the Fed fought it, we then saw interest rates skyrocket. Trillion dollar plus deficits are the new normal, Social Security is within a decade of becoming insolvent, and that will mean even more borrowing. It appears t...

Episode 352: Fraud, Fairness, and Value

November 08, 2023 15:30 - 51 minutes - 40.5 MB

An elderly couple, an antiques dealer, and an African mask spark a conversation about fraud, fairness, and value. Foolishness of the Week: 11:00 Main episode: 13:14 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2023/11/02/california-regulators-put-off-a...

Episode 351: The Snooty Stuff

November 01, 2023 14:30 - 38 minutes - 25.7 MB

Composer and musician Josh Nichols was annoyed when, on an earlier episode, James referred to “high culture,” and Ant said, “you mean the snooty stuff?” Being a classical composer and, importantly, making money at it, Josh joins us to set the record straight as to why we should all be more appreciative of “the snooty stuff.” Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for...

Episode 350: The Economics of Taylor Swift

October 25, 2023 14:30 - 31 minutes - 24.1 MB

Fans are applauding Taylor Swift for contributing billions to the country’s GDP. Yet Taylor Swift (three-quarters of a billionaire) is doing less for the economy than what many billionaires, who we vilify, do. Why do we applaud one business person and vilify the other? Foolishness of the week: 09:33 Main episode: 14:24 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Wo...

Episode 349: Should Experts Dictate What Teachers Teach?

October 18, 2023 14:30 - 24 minutes - 18.9 MB

More than a decade ago, experts decided to change how students are taught to read. Without testing whether the new method worked or, apparently, even checking in with actual teachers, the experts forced the change. What resulted was a generation of children with reduced reading abilities. The experts have now reversed course. People make mistakes like this all the time. When the people who are making the decisions are the same people who live with the consequences of the decisions, errors ge...

Episode 348: Error Corrections

October 11, 2023 14:30 - 49 minutes - 38.9 MB

From time to time, listeners write to tell us what we’ve gotten wrong. This week, we go back through predictions and analyses we’ve made that have turned out to be wrong. Main episode: 12:09 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/1300...

Episode 347: Workplace Harassment with Vince White

October 04, 2023 14:30 - 40 minutes - 29.6 MB

Attorney Vince White joins us this week. Vince’s law firm does more workplace harassment and sexual discrimination cases than any other US law firm. His firm also handled some of the Harvey Weinstein cases. Interestingly, Vince is James’ former student. Foolishness of the week: 05:30 Main episode: 08:39 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at...

Episode 346: Are the Rich Killing Social Security?

September 27, 2023 14:30 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MB

Robert Reich (not an economist) recorded a video recently in which he claims that the rich are not paying their fair share of Social Security. But the calculations he uses to prove his point are fundamentally flawed. Foolishness of the week: 09:54 Main episode: 12:57 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wor...

Episode 345: Did Masks Save Lives?

September 20, 2023 14:30 - 36 minutes - 30.1 MB

Economist Bryan McCannon gives us two things to think about this week: his research into whether covid mask mandates saved lives, and that journal editors were afraid to publish his results. Foolishness of the week: 08:04 Main episode: 11:49 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits ...

Episode 344: Burning Man

September 13, 2023 14:30 - 31 minutes - 29.3 MB

Burning Man, a modern day Woodstock, occurs each year in the desert. This year brought 87,000 people together to live, if only for a few days, in a cooperative nirvana. We take some time to look at the Burning Man principles for living and ask whether they make any sense. Foolishness of the week: 05:21 Main episode: 11:44 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for...

Episode 343: What About Unions?

September 06, 2023 14:30 - 28 minutes - 21.9 MB

Union membership in the private sector has been declining for decades, while union membership in the public sector has been increasing. This is consistent with workers voluntarily choosing not to unionize to the point that unions must turn to government jobs where it is easier to force workers to unionize. Foolishness of the week: 04:20 Main episode: 10:03 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsand...

Episode 342: The Start of the Season

August 30, 2023 14:30 - 28 minutes - 23.5 MB

The Republicans held their first primary debate. What they said wasn’t interesting. What they didn’t say was. Foolishness of the week: 07:00 Main episode: 09:10 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4171633-ceiling-fan-efficiency-ru...

Episode 341: Strangers With Candy

August 23, 2023 14:30 - 33 minutes - 24.9 MB

Economist Art Carden joins us this week to talk about his popular book, Strangers With Candy. Foolishness of the week: 04:27 Main episode: 18:01 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://fortune.com/2023/07/06/wealthy-leaving-china-education-school-sisb-stock-surge-singapo...

Episode 340: Wrongfully Convicted

August 16, 2023 14:30 - 37 minutes - 30.1 MB

Michael Semanchik, Director of the Innocence Center, joins us to talk about freeing the wrongfully imprisoned, and reforming the criminal justice system to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions. Foolishness of the week: 06:13 Main episode: 07:09 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers ...

Episode 339: The Meanings of Words

August 09, 2023 14:30 - 35 minutes - 26.8 MB

The point of communicating is to transfer thoughts from one person’s brain to another. In most forms of human communication, words are the tools we use. But if the two people don’t share common definitions of words, then communication becomes clouded. The most extreme case is when two people speak very different languages. But miscommunication often happens when both people speak the same language. If we hope to resolve, or at least come to peaceful disagreement, over topics from gun control...

Episode 338: Age, Ability, and Incumbency

August 02, 2023 14:30 - 32 minutes - 26.3 MB

The Constitution sets lower age limits for members of Congress and the President, but sets no upper limits. Before modern medicine, this wasn’t as much of a problem as people’s bodies tended not to outlive their minds. Today, it’s becoming a problem. Foolishness of the week: 05:30 Main episode: 09:35 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Pa...

Episode 337: The (Hollow) Sound of Freedom

July 26, 2023 14:30 - 38 minutes - 32 MB

James and I both went to see the recent box office hit, The Sound of Freedom. I liked it. James didn’t. But we both were appalled at what appear to be seriously distorted claims made in the film about human trafficking. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Topic of the Week Human trafficki...

Episode 336: A Fireside Chat Without the Fire

July 19, 2023 14:30 - 51 minutes - 40.8 MB

Howie Baetjer, Rob McDonald, James Stacey Taylor, and Clark Neily join us to talk about gun rights, canceling the Founders, and animal rights. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories ht...

Encore Episode 335: When Benevolence Backfires

July 12, 2023 14:30 - 34 minutes - 26.8 MB

This encore performance is of our most popular episode. This episode, in which we explore unintended consequences, first aired in September of 2019. Foolishness of the week: 06:19 Main episode: 10:54 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/ma...

Episode 334: Live at Brookfield Academy, pt.2

July 05, 2023 14:30 - 48 minutes - 38.4 MB

James and Ant field questions from students at Brookfield Academy on possible fixes for Social Security, the politics of taxation and spending, and how we’ve broken the separation of powers,  Foolishness of the week: 06:41 Main episode: 03:53 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & N...

Episode 333: Live at Brookfield Academy, pt.1

June 28, 2023 14:30 - 31 minutes - 24.5 MB

James and Ant field questions from students at Brookfield Academy on possible fixes for Social Security, the politics of taxation and spending, and how we’ve broken the separation of powers,  Foolishness of the week: 06:41 Main episode: 08:18 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & N...

Episode 332: Should Speech be Free?

June 21, 2023 14:30 - 45 minutes - 35.9 MB

This week’s episode is a live recording of a panel discussion on free speech at the University of Washington. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Christin Gilmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/christingilmer Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More...

Episode 331: A Fireside Chat

June 14, 2023 14:30 - 37 minutes - 28.4 MB

This week, historian Rob McDonald, Constitutional scholar and lawyer Clark Neily, philosophy James Stacey Taylor, and economist Howard Baetjer join James and Ant around a fire to discuss the indictments against former President Donald Trump. To accommodate the extended conversation, this week we forego our usual quick hits and foolishness of the week. We think you'll agree that, regardless of on which side you fall on the topic, the whole business with Donald Trump qualifies as foolishness.

Episode 330: What’s Up in the Economy?

June 07, 2023 14:30 - 26 minutes - 21.7 MB

Weird things are happening. Retail sales have stagnated, savings are markedly down, yet unemployment is low, inflation isn’t as bad as it was. Have we reached a “new normal?” Foolishness of the week: 05:00 Main episode: 06:41 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://www....

Episode 329: The Chevron Doctrine

May 31, 2023 14:30 - 32 minutes - 24.7 MB

For decades and where the law is ambiguous, courts have invoked the Chevron doctrine in allowing regulatory agencies to decide for themselves the meaning of the ambiguous language. Unsurprisingly, agencies invariably interpret ambiguous language in their own favors. The Supreme Court recently agreed to reconsider the Chevron doctrine. Overturning the doctrine could call into question decades’ worth of regulatory rulings. Clark Neily joins us this week to discuss. Foolishness of the week: ...

Episode 328: Artificial Intelligence

May 24, 2023 14:30 - 30 minutes - 23.6 MB

People are saying that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs and enslave humans. We’ve heard this many times before. Before artificial intelligence, people said it about computers. Before computers, they said it about machines. Not only were people wrong before, they were spectacularly wrong. They’re likely wrong again. Foolishness of the week: 09:15 Main episode: 10:16 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! ...

Episode 327: To Vote or Not To Vote

May 17, 2023 14:30 - 38 minutes - 29.8 MB

Episode 327: To Vote or Not To Vote This week’s episode comes live from Sandy High School in Sandy Oregon where James and I give arguments for and against voting. Foolishness of the week: 07:56 Main episode: 08:37 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://apnews.com/art...

Episode 326: Gender and Race Wage Gaps

May 10, 2023 14:30 - 23 minutes - 19.3 MB

We hear that women make 80 cents for every dollar that men make, and that blacks earn less than whites. This week, we delve into the data and find these claims far more complicated and interesting than they first appear. Foolishness of the week: 02:50 Main episode: 03:25 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.co...

Episode 325: Central Bank Digital Currencies

May 03, 2023 14:30 - 30 minutes - 25.4 MB

One of the things that cryptocurrency has done is to prompt central banks to develop their own digital currencies. These will combine the downsides of private digital currencies with the downsides of government currencies. Foolishness of the week: 08:21 Main episode: 09:58 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon....

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