Philosophisn't

Until the 1940s, Argentina’s political economy was an archetypal example of agro-export model capitalism. Politics existed to serve Argentina’s elite landowning oligarchy whose interests were tied to foreign interests, particularly those of the British empire. Electoral politics was tolerated only so far as it did not interfere with the business of extraction. Argentina’s markets were never laissez-faire, but rather, cronyist. Monopolies like CADE supported politicians in return for capturing Argentina’s markets and state support. At one point, British shippers had the rights to transport 80% of Argentine beef exports and a British company became the beneficiary of loans borrowed from Britain by the Argentine state.

Argentina’s historical trajectory underwent a reversal just as dramatic as its inception. The elites of today's Argentina are antithetical to those of earlier eras. Populist support gives statist and tight control of Argentina’s finances, industry, trade, and distribution of social services. Instead of using this power for good, Argentina’s politicians exploit it to enrich themselves and their cronies.

Since that time I have found that almost all of the English language news media is missing crucial context about why Argentina, a country whose economic model involves heavy subsidization of economic and political activity, public industries, and the strongest labor unions in the world would suddenly inaugurate a libertarian “revolutionary” as president.

Since Milei’s election, it has become very clear that ‘shock therapy’ a mix of currency devaluation and austerity will cause severe economic pain for the average Argentine and even Argentine businesses in the short run. But Juan Ignacio Castellini, former Head of the Justice of the Sarmiento Group, believes that setting Argentina down with a new path of economic development is worth it. Check it out.

Alex Darlington, Chair of the Stair Party argues his wide-ranging, yet poignant critique of the American Political-Economic system. The American government has liberal democratic institutions, but the ways by which society is ruled more closely resemble kleptocratic ones. Rather than giving voters authentic choices to change the status quo, in his view, the two major electoral parties wield power the same way monopolies usurp competition in markets. The systematic gatekeeping by the Republicans and Democrats drives away dark horse challenger candidates and scares voters into submission by constantly resorting to fearful “Vote for the lesser of two evils” rhetoric. Meanwhile, the government continues to devalue the currency to finance the public debt and America’s chronic trade deficit. During the pandemic, it lavished subsidies on multinational conglomerates that have outsourced production while neglecting the developmental potential of local communities. The Stair Party has a platform to reverse all these trends by spearheading development and industrialization along local lines. Though I challenged Alex on some of his assumptions about the American voter and repercussions in international politics, I agree with many of his economic beliefs and critiques of corruption, at least in the spirit of devolving power to make it closer and more accountable. This was the single most challenging Philosophisnt conversation I have had so far. He has given me much to think about, and I hope listening to this episode does for you too.

I speak with Ray Nothstine of the John Locke Foundation about first principles thinking, economic policy ideas, and complicated trends in American politics. He explains the key ideological premises driving tensions between different variations of conservatism within the Republican party and the broader conservative movement.

He is a fascinating thinker whose work I would recommend for thought-provoking insights. 

His key links can be found here in the link

https://www.johnlocke.org/about/team/ray-nothstine/

Matt Torrijos is a construction worker and Marxist who spends his free time researching politics, and reading Marxist theory. In this episode, he gives one of the clearest and most thought-provoking explanations of the Marxist view of history that I have ever heard. Many textbook explanations will emphasize the historical context of Marx's thoughts, but Matt Torrijos takes things a step further; he argues that automation and other technologies Marx only could have speculated about make the progression of stages of history, inevitable.

Matt is also a Christian who believes not only that Marxism is compatible with Christian ethics, but that his ethics as a Christian impel him to support Marxism. He clears up a major misconception about Marx's often-quoted remark about religion as an opiate for the masses and makes a clear case from the Christian tradition why a socialist or communist view is imperative.

We also briefly discuss Matt's relation to Omar Torrijos, the Panamanian leader responsible for gaining control of his country's canal which was a U.S.-held territory until the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977. Matt did not know he was related to Omar Torrijos until after he had become a Marxist and the relationship is more distant than I initially believed. Matt's views on his distant relative are not his area of expertise, but it was very interesting for me to hear what he had to say based on his familiarity with Panamanians.

Michael Gavin is the founder of Uniic Media, the Viva La Pura Foundation, and Be Uniic Media and Marketing. He discusses his journalistic philosophy and entrepreneurial motivation to change the media landscape through his Uniic Media. Uniic Media focuses on conciseness so that important details which are often missed due to repetitiveness of coverage in other media sources are included in Uniic Media stories. 

We discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the gossip culture of DC, current economic situations, and factors that have contributed to the decline in media trust. Michael also discussed his personal experience facing and witnessing antisemitism against himself, those in business, and his community while growing up. I was shocked at how blatantly present antisemitism was in some formal settings where people could be expected to be more reserved rather than open about beliefs.

I highly recommend Uniic Media's newsletter or bookmarking its page. The stories are highly explanatory, and its think pieces are highly researched based with none or very minimal abstract appeals to ideology or dogma. More about Michael's other projects such as the Viva La Pura Foundation can be seen on his Linkedin. 

https://www.uniicmedia.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgavinjr/

Christian Matheis is not an orthodox thinker. A professor and researcher of Community Justice Studies at Guilford College, his work spans many disciplines and criticizes them too. Much of his thought is rooted in anarchofuturism, a worldview that advocates the use of science and technology to design communities, "political" systems, and modes of economic organization which prioritize societal health, emotional well-being, and environmental sustainability. While he does not pretend to know all the answers, Matheis presents a powerful critique of the assumptions which underline current social scientific discourse in favor of setting human wellbeing as a priority from a holistic and scientific viewpoint, rather than focusing on preserving institutions. Some of the ideas he discusses are bioregionalism, computer-aided production, and economic decision making, as well as more traditional anarchist ideas such as cooperatives, workers committees, and community-centered economies. 

He also explains why he thinks the discipline of economics has become "financialized" in that it prioritizes studying assets and markets over the conditions of the home. Oικία a Greek word for home, is the root word of economy, and economics. Matheis argues that the discipline does not typically study what its etymology would suggest. Other progressives and Marxists may disagree with Matheis that political centralization is an outcome that should ideally be avoided, and so I am curious to hear other viewpoints in the future.

I also give my take on the centralization of financial institutions based on recent research I have conducted on U.S. management of public and private debt and credit throughout its history, and the centralization of banking in Nigeria during the 2000s. 

In this episode, we have Fillipi back on the show to discuss his creation of what is probably the world's first carbon-neutral NFT, Elixer. Purchasing Elixer finances planting of the tree through the World Health Society nonprofit Fillipi founded which we discussed in our first episode two years ago. 

Fillipi also gives us a general overview of how blockchain technology works, the major trends in Web 3.0 monetization, and its implications for art, esports, and even voting. 

In this episode, Candidate for County Commissioner Derek Mobley discusses how different thinkers viewed capitalism, and his ambitious plans for Guilford County including improving public safety, funding programs designed to encourage de-escalation in policing, preventing youth from engagement in criminal activities which would harm their futures, enacting environmental preservation initiatives, and of course, building an esports stadium.  

In this episode, I explain the implications of Hong Kong's national security law. Since it's passage last year, Hong Kong has been transformed from a relatively independent city-state, into city governed in quite the same way as the Chinese mainland, with only Chinese approved candidates and parties able to govern. Dozens of activists have been arrested under charges of sedition, the false accusation that they are working for foreign governments, when really the CCP's goal is to crush the democracy movement once and for all. 

How calling to abolish the police will backfire and what activists should do instead.