Podcast Episodes

Ep. 83: Everybody's Wrong About Trump's Tariffs

Murphy first dissects the dubious constitutional and economic justifications for Trump's new tariff regime. Then he explains why the US decision to leave the gold standard has more to do with trade d…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Ep. 82: Economic Problems Made in the USA: Analyzing Lighthizer Trade Talk With Tucker

Bob dissects a recent appearance of former Trump trade representative Robert Lighthizer on the Tucker Carlson show. While agreeing with the description of US economic problems, Bob disagrees with Lig…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Ep. 81: Did the Department of Education Boost American Test Scores?

In light of President Trump's recent Executive Order abolishing (though it has no teeth) the Department of Education, Bob presents statistics for 3 separate federal initiatives—namely the Clean Air A…

Published on 5 months ago

Ep. 80: Did Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Try to Hire Hit Men?

Having just been interviewed for a documentary on the topic, Bob gives some of the details on the trial of Ross Ulbricht. Even if one endorses the Drug War, there were many absurdities in Ulbricht's …

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Ep. 79: Financing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and How Private Sector Could Deal with ETH Heist

Bob goes solo to explain why the libertarian objections to a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve are overblown. He then comments on the recent $1.4bn ETH heist, and explains how private organizations could hel…

Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago

Ep. 78: Explaining Elon: Social Security as a Ponzi and Government Spending Distorting GDP

Bob elaborates and defends Elon Musk's recent claims that (1) Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time and (2) government spending distorts GDP calculations.

Watch the video version of…

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Ep. 77: DOGE and Social Security Fraud

Bob addressees the recent tweets from Elon Musk, indicating that there are millions of people who have been long dead receiving Social Security. Although Bob agrees with the critics that Musk was mis…

Published on 6 months ago

Ep. 76: Jack Farley on Why Money Matters and the Contribution of the MMT Camp

Jack Farley is host of the podcast "Monetary Matters," and was recently the moderator of Bob's debate on ZeroHedge against Nathan Tankus. Farley sticks up for the MMT camp and forces Bob to drill dow…

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago

Ep. 75: Alex Tabarrok on the History and Economics of Life Insurance

Alex Tabarrok is an economics professor at George Mason University and (with Tyler Cowen) co-host of a popular podcast. He and Tyler recently discussed the history and economics of life insurance, an…

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago

Ep. 74: Brian Domitrovic on the Supply-Sider Support for Tariffs Over Income Taxes

Brian Domitrovic is the Richard S. Strong Scholar at the Laffer Center, who holds a PhD in history from Harvard. He joins Bob to discuss his recent articles explaining why the economics profession is…

Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago