Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Peter Robinson ·
October 27, 2011 at 5:27am
Two posts beneath this, the Blue Yeti has linked to an interview on the NewsHour with Ricochet's own Richard Epstein.
It's brilliant--just utterly, utterly brilliant. Eight minutes of an unrelenting, unapologetic attack on the welfare state by a man so self-evidently brilliant that his questioner can only shake his head and splutter.
Watch it. Really. You've just got to.
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Feb '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Peter, the choicest cut is Richard's response on the estate tax. The interviewer had no response. Actually, he was rather cruel to the poor man. Who greenlighted that interview?
May '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
He did an EconTalk once about prescription drugs, and Russ Roberts asked one question- 20 minutes later he asked the second one. But the oral monograph was 100% substantive, ordered, and relevant, and a true tour de force.
Mar '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
It's really amazing when you consider that it's our side that has all the ideas, all the brains, and we still spend so much time responding to what the other side is saying about us. Richard Epstein talks common sense faster than most people, myself included, can think.
Oct '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
For some reason a voice from the Cosmos told me stop and listen.
Truly brilliant delivery on the part of Richard.
As for the voice from the Cosmos, well.. Try harder Peter.
Aug '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Peter, I heard Richard Epstein on the John Batchelor radio show the other day, critiquing Justice John Paul Stevens' memoir. I was absolutely riveted. Smartest guy I've ever heard.
Aug '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
So, do you think free pizza for life would disincentivize him about being Secretary of the Treasury ?
Dec '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
I will remember Richard Epstein quoting Lincoln. "You do not make the Poor rich by making the Rich poor." Thank you.
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 6:15amRe: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Are you folks not listening to Law Talk? Richard, John Yoo, and Troy Senik perform these types of mental gymnastics every two weeks for your listening pleasure. As a wise man once said, "try it, you'll like it."
Sep '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
The irony meter red lined while Richard Epstein schooled the flabby and out of shape publicly funded broadcaster. The poor guy didn't need a catcher's mitt for the home runs; he needed a bunker.
May '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
And then there's the little tidbit mentioned by Thomas Sowell that much of the reason household income has dropped is that what were previously households with larger numbers of people have steadily broken up: several people living together v. people living alone...
Oct '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
There was another episode where the guest commented "That was probably the longest answer in the history of Econtalk". And Russ responded, "Well, long-time listeners know full well that that honor belongs to Richard Epstein."
And the only reason we can all joke about the length of his answers is because every word is brilliant.
Oct '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
One does, try bending an arm or two for increased frequency. Perhaps a bigger hammer to get to current issues. Thumbscrews ?
Jun '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
A policy of championship trophies for everyone doesn't increase the quality of a sport. Rather, it suffocates it. So why does anybody imagine that it would work differently for entrepreneurship? We accept that some great athletes get "in the zone" and become unstoppable, so why can't we accept that the same thing happens in business?
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 6:56amJul '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
I was fortunate enough to have Professor Epstein as my 1L contracts professor. While my fellow 1Ls and I (naturally) initially had basically no exposure to contract law, Epstein had it all written down on his brain and was ready to read it all to us, and I just tried to absorb whatever bits of the genius that I could. Epstein really is amazing to listen to (particularly that I'm a smidgeon smarter now than I was then), and a treasure for our side.
While Professor Epstein's (excellent) argument against the estate tax seems, at least on the surface, consequentialist, my reaction to the questioner's case for the tax is more normative (though perhaps my view is ultimately reducible to the same premises as Professor Epstein's). My take on the argument that it's totally fine to take all of someone's wealth from them before they die and prevent them from leaving their kids with anything is something like moral horror. On the thread yesterday about the meaning of conservatism, we talked about our general disposition against busybodying social engineering. Well if the questioner's argument wasn't a prime example of such a thing...
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 6:53amApr '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
I love the Professor in this venue. Does the other side have a worthy questioner or opponent? Like every other sports fan, I like watching my team beat down an outmanned opponent once in a while -- but what I would love most is to have Prof. Epstein or our other worthies enter the arena against their counterparts on the left.
Who would you most like to see the good Professor debate on the left? Who on that side could give him a significant competition?
Kudos to the Prof, and thank you Peter for the link and tweet (actually got the word from you on Twitter).
A wonderful dessert after delighting in the entree Podcast.
;-)
Jun '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
boom!
I love Richard's response to the PBS man's observation that in our time of most prosperity, taxes were higher, capital gains were higher and society was more equitable...
NO!
hahaha!
Apr '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
On the Dept of Labor Web site there is a chart showing the median number of earners for each quintile of the reported household income distribution.
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Nov '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
When Prof Epstein said "Oh My God no" I laughed out loud and nearly woke up everyone in the house.
Absolutely brilliant!
Oct '10
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Grendel
On the Dept of Labor Web site there is a chart showing the median number of earners for each quintile of the reported household income distribution.
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Same here. I'm now always suspicious of people who refer to household income, which is the kind of data the Census uses, rather than the IRS (ironic, trusting the IRS?).
Mar '11
Re: Folks, Stop Whatever You're Doing. Really. WATCH RICHARD.
Did the interviewer just come in from "Occupy Wall St"? Oh, yes, PBS...