Words & Numbers

Americans, as individuals, carry a lot of debt. But don’t panic! Not all debt is created equal, and not all debt is necessarily a bad thing. Some debt—like mortgages, vehicles, even some college degrees—can be good debt. There are also bad kinds of debt, too. But the thing about individual debt is that it’s the individual's responsibility and really only the business of the borrower and the lender. Once the government gets involved, though, things can get messy. Just how messy and in what ways? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they sort through the bills in this week’s episode of Words & Numbers. Come to FEEcon 2019! Show Notes: Amazon hiring robots $6 trillion war Foolishness of the week: Limiting credit card interest rates Topic of the week: Good debt and bad debt: Household debt Join the conversation: Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Let us know what you think at: wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com

Lately, headlines seem to focus on big companies that pay no corporate taxes. However, most of those big companies are still paying payroll taxes. So, have these big companies actually paid their fair share? Americans have their own tax burdens as well. How do we measure a fair tax for all incomes? How do people define what “fair” means? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they cover progressive/regressive taxes, sales taxes, sin taxes, and more on this week’s episode of Words & Numbers. Come to FEEcon 2019! Show Notes: New York may ban glass and steel buildings Scientists discover how to convert blood to Type O Foolishness of the week: Treasury: US may have to stop borrowing Topic of the week: Taxes Amazon 1 Amazon 2 Join the conversation: Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Let us know what you think at wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Thought Experiment: Should the government tax buyers or sellers? Consider the following three scenarios. In all

There’s no such thing as a free lunch or, in this case, a free college education, despite the promises of certain presidential candidates. The federal government already guarantees student loans. But what would happen if we just forgave all that student debt? What would it take, politically speaking, and what would it cost? And what’s the value of a college education these days, anyway? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they tackle the topic on this week’s episode of Words & Numbers. Win tickets to FEEcon 2019! Quick hits Chalk on tires violates Fourth Amendment Phone surveillance Foolishness of the week Williams College is afraid of free speech Tuition at Williams College Tuition at University of Massachusetts Topic of the week: Free stuff is too good to be true Free college too good to be true Constitutional concerns about a wealth tax Wealth tax Join the conversation Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Let us know what you think at: wordsand

Many college students seem baffled or even outraged by opinions that differ from their own. We hear phrases like safe spaces, trigger warnings, and virtue signaling. What’s going on? Has the same psychology that caused religious persecutions returned? Has it infected the majority of students and faculty across the country, or just a vocal few? Guest Donald Boudreaux joins hosts James Harrigan and Antony Davies to sift through the loudest arguments coming from our nation’s universities in this week’s episode of Words & Numbers.  Win tickets to FEEcon 2019! Show Notes:  Nuclear fusion Artificial intelligence Cancer cure Longevity gene Cure for bubble boy disease Brian Lamb retiring Foolishness of the week: San Francisco: Poop in the streets Washington DC: Homelessness Seattle is dying Topic of the week: Silencing Dissent Donald Boudreaux Donald Boudreaux on Brett Kavanaugh and GMU Join the conversation: Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies

Getting paid for your blood—do you have any concerns? Many people are opposed to donors receiving compensation for ethical reasons. Should people only donate blood for altruistic reasons? Should we worry about exploitation? How much of America’s total exports are blood products? Join Antony Davies, James Harrigan, and their guest Peter Jaworski, co-author of the book Markets Without Limits, as they discuss the morality underlying the supply and demand of blood plasma around the world. Win tickets to FEEcon 2019! Show Notes: Deficit up 15% in 2019 Deficit up 17% in 2018 Tourism and Chernobyl Foolishness of the week: Illinois to raise smoking age to 21 Florida town makes it illegal to grow vegetables State of Florida overrules Florida town Topic of the week: Blood plasma sales: Peter Jaworski Letter to Senate of Canada regarding the ban on blood plasma sales Canada needs blood plasma We should pay for blood plasma donations Bans on blood plasma sales 1 Bans on blood plasma sales 2 Don’t end NAFTA, Ca

Wage gap myths, middle class success, and hate crime statistics are examined this week in order to dispel the calls for a new social contract. In a society where the majority makes the rules, how do minorities prosper? Is it because of a social contract, is it the result of people being rational, or is it just people being nice to each other? Listen to the conclusion of this two-part special as James Harrigan and Antony Davies use data to trace the prosperity of minority groups in America on this week’s episode of Words & Numbers. Win tickets to FEEcon 2019! Show Notes: 13 year old buys his mother a car  Cancer vaccine Foolishness of the week Illinois to raise smoking age to 21 Florida town makes it illegal to grow vegetables State of Florida overrules Florida town Topic of the week: Social Contract Nonsense (Part 2) Households by race and income (1967-2017) Income by gender (1960-2017) Hate crime statistics Join the conversation Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harri

Have you ever signed a contract without reading the terms and conditions? According to Elizabeth Warren, part of the “social contract” is to pay your fair share. But wait, what is the “social contract” that politicians and talking heads keep bringing up? Is it the consent of the governed? Is it written down? Did anyone actually agree to it? Enjoy the first part of a two-part special as Antony Davies and James Harrigan dig up the historical origins of the social contract. Quick hits Tversky & Kahneman, Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions Robots in grocery stores FEEcon VIP Giveaway https://info.fee.org/wordsandnumbers Foolishness of the week Special Olympics 1 Special Olympics 2 Topic of the week: Social Contract Nonsense (Part 1) Locke’s Social Contract Join the conversation Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies on Minds.com James R. Harrigan on Minds.com Let us know what you think at wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com

  538 Electors. 270 votes. Winner-takes-all! Well, at least for now. Colorado recently became the twelfth state to join an effort to award the presidency to the candidate who wins the most individual votes. But should the popular vote replace the Electoral College? Originally intended as a safeguard for the separation of powers, has this election method failed Americans? Population vs. Geography. Urban vs. Rural. Democrats vs. Republicans; it’s a conversation that usually gets people all lathered up on both sides of the issue. Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they inform us about the reasoning behind the Electoral College and how it works. Show Notes: Adidas making sneakers out of waste plastic China stops taking the world’s trash No place for US recyclables Nuclear energy better than renewables Foolishness of the week Police shoot teachers Milgram experiment Topic of the week Electoral College Contract Clause Federalist 68 Join the conversation Words & Numbers Backstage Antony Davies on Tw

The dominating online presence of Facebook, Google, and Amazon has often been called monopolistic. Government-enforced monopolies, such as Western Union and Ma Bell, have fallen before, but is Big Tech anything like those old companies? Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has even started a petition calling for the breakup of big tech companies, which may include Apple among others. How would the digital world look if she succeeds? Should politicians get to decide whether Facebook meets the same fate as MySpace or should the consumer? Join us this week as James Harrigan and Antony Davies thwart the misconceptions about monopolies and discuss the fates of tech products like Netscape and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Show Notes: Buying your way into college New York City wants to ban “unfair” firings Foolishness of the week Missouri wants to require residents to own AR-15s Topic of the week Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Facebook Join the conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on T

  Live from Scottsdale, Arizona! James Harrigan and Antony Davies contend that the median income in the US puts Americans in the top 1 percent in the world. What does that mean? Only that these people can afford stuff that, roughly a century ago, had been considered luxuries: air conditioning, running hot and cold water, ovens, refrigerators, stainless steel, and even sweet potatoes. The standard of living for even minimum wage earners today has remarkably improved in spite of burdensome regulations, but can this trend continue? Join us this week as our hosts suss out the reasons for the improvements in worldwide wealth and search for the “Goldilocks Zone” of government intervention. Show Notes: Measles outbreak at Midway airport Gap, JC Penny, Foot Locker closures Montgomery Ward Foolishness of the week Sanders: Government can’t go too far Topic of the week Where did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get her sweet potatoes? World median income Are you a 1-percenter? Donald Boudreaux on insider trading What w

This week’s guest, David Beito, professor of History at the University of Alabama, discusses the functions, benefits, and undoing of mutual aid societies. These private safety nets, like tontine funds and Masons, once widely provided services such as health and unemployment insurances, hospitals, housing for the elderly, and care for orphans. So what happened? Did beneficiaries dry up these funds? Did scandals, state bans, and the Great Depression lead to the disappearance of benefit societies? Are they still around? Join James Harrigan, Antony Davies, and professor Beito as they answer these questions and more on Words & Numbers. Show Notes: Male-only draft unconstitutional Humanity’s backup plan Foolishness of the week AOC says people shouldn’t reproduce Topic of the week Mutual aid societies Tontine insurance David Beito Join the conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies on Minds.com James R. Harrigan on Minds.com Words & Numbers Backstage Let us know what

This week, economist and theorist Warren Mosler joins James and Antony to explain the details of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). With 40 years of experience in finance and monetary operations, Mosler is a leading expert on MMT, is a co-founder of AVM—a brokerage, trading, and administrative services firm—and lectures on monetary economics around the world. He covers the important ramifications stemming from the adoption of MMT and how coercive shifts of resources benefit public infrastructure, and responds to criticisms of MMT. With supporters in Washington such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, MMT is quickly gaining a strong following, and Warren, James, and Antony discuss the important points on this winding theory and more. Show Notes: People killed in armed conflicts People killed by mosquitoes Genetically modified mosquitoes Foolishness of the week TSA smuggling ring Topic of the week Modern Monetary Theory Warren Mosler Join the conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan o

Discrimination happens every single day. Every human, in some way, makes a judgment about other humans and uses that judgment to discriminate, whether that be who they date, who they do business with, and, yes, who they hire and fire. Most discrimination is fine—necessary, even. But sometimes it crosses a line. Where is that line? How does it affect people’s careers? When is litigation the right option? Antony Davies and James Harrigan with special guest Vince White as they discuss this and more on Words & Numbers. Show Notes: Online dating is changing society Amazon paid no federal taxes Foolishness of the week Amazon took its ball and went home Topic of the week Federal employment discrimination laws Join the conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies on Minds.com James R. Harrigan on Minds.com Words & Numbers Backstage Let us know what you think at: wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com

The Outrage Engine that is social media and op-eds has set its sights on a new target: billionaires. Apparently, being a billionaire is a bad, bad thing. Billionaires should sit down, shut up, and meekly wait until we confiscate their wealth. For certain people of certain political beliefs, this sounds like a great idea. Because, after all, nobody needs that much money. But is it really that simple? Can we really just steal billionaires’ money and nothing bad happens? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they breakdown this and more on Words and Numbers. Quick hits Redditors are kind to a person in need Hawaii tries to ban smoking 1 Hawaii tries to ban smoking 2 Foolishness of the week Green New Deal Resolution Topic of the week Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax plan How an income tax on the rich expanded to be a tax on everyone Join the conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies on Minds.com James R. Harrigan on Minds.com Words & Numbers Backstage Let us know w

  Fun fact: the profit margin for most businesses is about 8 percent. When you’re talking about categories like restaurants and retail stores, that margin drops to around 2 percent. Yet, some people still seem to believe that all companies are perfectly capable of simply absorbing dramatic increases in their operating costs—namely, labor—with no changes in behavior by these companies. Artificially inflating labor costs, as in the form of minimum wage increases, will not lead to decreased hours, lay-offs, deferred hiring, decreases in benefits, or increased prices for consumers because… reasons. And if you voice disagreement with any of these beliefs, then you must just hate the poor or other ad hominem claims. But who really “hates” the poor based on actual policy outcomes, the #FightFor15 crowd or those who oppose minimum wage hikes? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they dig into this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits AOC ruffles feathers Lyft offers free rides to she

Though the United States, as a constitutional republic, is considered to be a “limited government,” it often doesn’t feel that way. Washington keeps churning out law after law regarding what the state may do and what the individual may not. The fault for this is often laid at the feet of the Founders for including the “Necessary and Proper Clause” in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. But is that blame just? Or have politicians through the years simply used it as an excuse to do what they wanted, regardless of what the Constitution says? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: Judge convicts volunteers Nancy Pelosi on inequality Foolishness of the week Wealth tax Senators’ oath of office Topic of the week: Diversity Officers and Administrative Bloat in Higher Education How much of government shuts down? Article 1, Section 8 10th Amendment 16th Amendment Wickard v. Filburn Join the conversation Antony Davies on

The word “diversity” has become a sticky one. In the last fifteen years, a genuine “diversity industry” has sprung up, particularly at colleges and universities in the United States. Higher education institutions across the country have entire departments with dozens of full-time, highly-paid staff members dedicated to the concept. But to what effect? And exactly what kinds of “diversity” are we talking about? Special guest (and regular FEE contributing author) Mark J. Perry joins Antony Davies and James Harrigan to drill down into this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Oregon first state to require home visits of all families with newborns Oregon looks to impose statewide rent control Article II, Section 3 Nancy Pelosi Foolishness of the week Ginia Bellefante $33 minimum wage City Harvest self-sufficiency calculator Topic of the week: Diversity Officers and Administrative Bloat in Higher Education Mark Perry The impact of diversity officers on diversity University of Mich

Americans are pretty concerned about violent crime—particularly crimes committed with guns, “assault weapons” most specifically. This concern, statistically speaking, is fairly irrational. You are far more likely to be killed by being beaten or stabbed than you are to be killed by any kind of rifle, “assault” or otherwise.  So why are so many people so tied up in knots about it? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they discuss this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Corona brewing replaces plastic six-pack rings Illegal immigrants and Social Security numbers The economic case for immigration W&N episode #51: America relies on immigrants Foolishness of the week Being morally right vs being factually correct Criticism vs harassment Topic of the week: Reality and Perception of Crime Pew report on violent crime data FBI crime data Bureau of Justice Statistics crime data Gallup polls on perception of crime trends Defensive uses of guns Firearm homicide and suicide rat

People like to talk about the “good old days” where everything used to be so much better than it is today. Everybody feels nostalgic on occasion, and it’s perfectly normal to misremember the past, but were the good old days really all that great? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they compare then and now on the 100th episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits:Cat parasiteElizabeth Warren Foolishness of the Week: NY Times crossword Topic of the week: Comparing Life Today to Life 100 Years Ago See the accompanying chart for data and data sources. Join the Conversation:Antony Davies on TwitterJames R. Harrigan on Twitter Antony Davies on Minds.com James R. Harrigan on Minds.com Words & Numbers Backstage

Happy 2019, everyone! On our first episode of Words & Numbers in the new year, professor James Stacey Taylor joins Antony and James this week to discuss the ethical implications of creating markets for human organs. According to Prof. Taylor, nearly 18 people a day die from a shortage of kidney donors. Economists have argued for decades that these kinds of markets could save lives by creating better incentives for people to donate their organs to people in dire need, but critics say that it would encourage poorer people to put their health at risk for money. Who's right? Quick Hits: University of Missouri says tall men asking short women on dates is policy violationUniversity of Missouri and Title IX (court transcript)No one wants to buy Sears Foolishness of the Week: Union dues eat worker’s entire paycheck Topic of the week: Organ Markets James Stacey Taylor People in need of kidney donors Join the Conversation: Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on TwitterAntony Davies on Minds.comJames R.