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Never let it be said that the Ricochet Podcast does not scour the world looking for the best guests and conversation to elucidate the issues of the day and make you muy contento. This week, we’ve got Senator Ben Sasse direct from the backroads of Nebraska talking about his new must-read book The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis–and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance. We talk parenting and yes, some politics. And then, live on a scratchy phone line from Havana, it’s TV’s Rob Long with a sickles loafers-on-the-ground report from the Worker’s Paradise.
Music from this week’s podcast: Chan Chan by The Buena Vista Social Club
The all new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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I frankly had never heard Senator Sasse speak. Impressive — actually, jumping-up-out-of-my-chair-punching-the-air impressive.
I concur.
Did Peter Robinson say “jeepers” non-ironically?
Ben Sasse is an open-borders guy wrapping himself in self-righteousness about adhering to conservative principles. This is a characteristic of a lot of NeverTrumpism.
Ben Sasse is not an “open borders guy.”
Great podcast. Ben Sasse is smart, funny and extremely likable. Thank you, James, for pointing out the difference between nauseous and nauseated. That drives me crazy when people confuse them. Although, Comey may have used it correctly. He has been the cause of nausea in many.
So does communism actually foster the kind of unity that Rob says it does? It seemed completely absent when I was in China. Save for the rhetoric of course.
Senator Sasse is great!
On another note… I have never nicked myself with Harrys shave, shaving my face.
My head, however… I have taken huge swathes of skin off. My daughter (the goth) delights in taking pictures of the blood streaming down my head. I even stock the big 3×4″ band aids in my shaving kits for the eventual “emergency”. One of the joys of living with millennials is that whenever you shout out in pain with blood streaming down your head your kids come running with phone cameras ready. I am sure I am online somewhere.
Fan of the podcast. Never been to Cuba but been to Guyana during the downfall of the Soviet Union. Big Cuban influence in many parts of society with similar results.
cheers!
If you study Austrian economics, the reality is, it’s impossible for politicians to control spending or spend intelligently under a central bank dual mandate. Debt based growth has to be enabled no matter what the cost of misallocated capital or they get voted out of office. Whining about a political will to do better in this area is just nonsense.
The whole thing is an out of control racket.
Why should young people delay their gratification, stop playing video games, or get off their smart phones given the ***chronic 2% GDP***, the global debt to GDP, the unfunded Medicare and Social Security, and 3.5 trillion unfunded public pension obligations? What are they, slaves to pay this stuff off as most of us age into low productivity? I say drop out and force the brutal reckoning that will create a fair and prosperous country.
They need to stay attuned to Mises.org so they can save themselves with countermeasures and be productive at their own initiative.
Everyone whines about the all sociological problems we have. They emanate from too much government and a bad monetary policy. This is simply history repeating it’s self. The Asian countries will learn from this and kick us into the dustbin of history because we deserve it.
I take no pleasure in saying this stuff, but I have been watching hedge fund guys (basically) that follow the Austrian school for two decades an they have never been more pessimistic than now.
P.S. As long as Ricochet is going to have a million podcasts, they might as well have one from some nice Austrians like FEE.org, LearnLiberty.org, or Mercatus etc.
James, you asked Rob about the literacy in Cuba, but not the health care. I assume Rob saw the healthiest people in the world. Why can’t Senate now send fact finding teams to discover the wonders of the place as they contemplate legislation to replace Obamacare (making it even better than it was!)?