A jury ruled last week that social media companies are financially liable for a young woman's becoming “addicted” to social media use. In today’s Capital Record, David opines on the utterly ridiculous verdict and the horrific things it says about society, but also offers a social commentary on where companies do have a moral burden, outside the law, if we are to have a free and virtuous society. As is often the case, there is enough fusionism in David’s take to bother everyone.

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Is it a good thing for wealthy people to give money away? Is it a good thing for them to give half of it away? All of it? Is a pledge a gift? How should one who values a virtuous society think about this very idea? In this Capital Record, David looks at the results of a high-profile 2010 effort launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and suggests that there is a way to promote generosity that does not lend itself to a high-profile indulgence.

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The World Bank has spent three decades saying industrial policy is a bad way to go -- stunting growth, creating bad signals, and facilitating suboptimal outcomes. But now, lo and behold, they claim that government management of an economy can be a very good idea, as long as it is done the way they suggest. The internal contradictions in this statist mess are easy to see, and we’re not having it. You shouldn’t either.

Show notes: WSJ on World Bank reversal on industrial policy

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Do financial transactions all add up to zero? Should we be more concerned with piety than technique? Is a business going out of business a good thing if the founder treats his people well? Does money serve a greater purpose if we apply nice-sounding adjectives to our marketing pitch? Are all views of human dignity okay as long as they end with humans having dignity? On today’s Capital Record, David analyzes a plethora of things he literally heard in the last few days alone!

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David is joined this week by a very special guest, Tim Estes, for a thorough discussion on artificial intelligence. But this is not one of those exhausting conversations about whether or not AI would take our jobs, or is a good investment, or one of the other numerous things that dominates AI discussion these days. Rather, David and Tim use first principles to address the problems that conservatives are missing. The discussion goes all over the map but then ends with a profound idea from our special guest that might just scratch all the itches!

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David is joined by special guest Renè Aninao, of CORBU, for an invigorating discussion about the state of geopolitics, the Fed, markets, and more. They cover multiple countries, multiple world leaders, and most of all, multiple first principles. It is always worth the listen when Renè Aninao steps into the Capital Record!

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Some of the biggest companies in America are changing what they do with DEI, saying no the Human Rights Commission and the Southern Poverty Law Center, defending fossil fuels, and yes, even defending the profit motive. It sometimes takes more nudging than we want, but today’s podcast gives you an update on how shareholder engagement, not boycott, is yielding great dividends. And then, yielding great dividends.

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The New York Times published a long, redundant, somewhat odd screed from Oren Cass this weekend, bemoaning “financialization” and suggesting that Wall Street has duped everyone, from their investors to their own clients, about what they really do. The wide net of the attack manages to capture exactly no one, and exposes what the anti-market, pro-statism new right fail to grasp about markets. David takes on the piece point by point, and the rebuttal is worth a listen.

Show notes:
Oren Cass NYT piece on financialization
David’s AIER paper on financialization

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When economic analysis and partisan cheerleading get mixed together, one suffers, and the other becomes embarrassing. David dissects Kevin Hassett’s claim that the economy is growing at 7 percent per year, and the dissection is not kind.

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We are living in a time period where humans are spending less time together than ever, and more and more mechanisms in the market are facilitating this. Cultural trends and a host of demographic realities are reinforcing a human isolation that is problematic at best, and catastrophic at worst.

In today’s Capital Record, David addresses the human element of social interaction, and the very nature of things that undergirds this. He laments this social trajectory and recognizes where market forces can serve to accommodate unhealthy trends if human beings stay determined to do unhealthy things. But he suggests that the solution is not in criticizing the natural accommodation of markets but rather in reversing those feedback loops through intentional and deliberate action. Naturally, he finds the state’s role in this to be dubious. Rather, and with some biographical confessions, he suggests that the solution to people being increasingly alone, lonely, and devoid of healthy, human interaction, starts with us.

Show notes:
Derek Thompson on the anti-social century

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