Per Bylund joins us to talk about a few things that we didn’t have time to cover at the Capitalism & Morality event in Calgary.
Per gave an excellent talk on How Regulations Destroy the Economy and even after his very convincing arguments some people still grapple with the idea that State imposed regulations are necessary. Building codes and safety standards are examples of things which none of us believe should be done away with, but the questions remains of whether or not the State is well-equipped to be the voice of reason in these matters.
Just as the idea of free market regulatory bodies is a hard one to grasp sometimes, the term Capitalism itself is often problematic. Per explains how many debates are unproductive due to a misunderstanding in definition. We often refer to a free market as capitalism, which is accurate. . . in a sense. Yet the left will describe capitalism as the corruption of State authority by those with deep pockets, which is also accurate. . . as long as the State has that authority.
We talk about the State expanding it’s power through Central Bank Digital Currency. We know how quick the Canadian Government was to shut down peoples bank accounts during the trucker convoy. CBDC’s could be used in much more subtle ways. Maybe you’ve eaten too much beef and not enough bugs, your money simply won’t work to purchase certain items, or support certain causes like the freedom convoy.
Per has a great article published through the Brownstone Institute where he explains Why Economic Cost was so Seriously Neglected during the pandemic.
Episode #39 with Per Bylund