631-Individual Solutions Can Lead to Success and Happiness; Collective Solutions Lead to Frustration and Misery
As I recently finished my course on "How to Survive and Thrive During the Coming Economic Crisis," I was struck with how simple and feasible the individual solutions are, while how utterly impossible and difficult the collective solutions are.
Choose success and happiness by focusing on the individual solutions you can put in place in your own life.
Joshua
p.s., If you haven't yet, go check out my newest course!
619-Empathy and Personal Responsibility When Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck: Interview with the Cheap Bohemian
In Episode 616, I argued the point that if missing one paycheck is a problem for you, you're behaving stupidly. My guest on today's show took umbrage with my commentary on Twitter. So invited her on to discuss!
Enjoy,
Joshua
- Here's @CheapBohemian's Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/cheapbohemian/status/1084581032375001089
618-Reflections on the State of the USA From Two Travelers
Chris Moody and I have both spent the last 6 months traveling the width and breadth of the United States with an eye toward understanding the current moment. In this podcast, we discuss our findings.
- Life Opted Out www.instagram.com/lifeoptedout
599-Appreciating Our Rich and Peaceful Lives in the Midst of Political Turmoil
As many U.S. Americans engage in vigorous political debate today and follow with their vote, I want to share a story with you that I hope will help you to appreciate the richness of political peace. Not everyone in the world has it as good as you and I have it. But, as we vigorously debate political issues, it's easy to miss the blessing of the underlying framework of peace and prosperity that we enjoy.
Enjoy this personal story.
Joshua
Celebrate Independence Day by Refusing to Lie: "Live Not By Lies" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Today is July 4, Independence Day, in the United States.
Let's celebrate by actually behaving independently and rejecting the practice of lying.
Enjoy this essay by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, entitled "Live Not By Lies."
Joshua
- Written version: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/SolhenitsynLies.php
The Law by FrƩdƩric Bastiat (i.e., my 2018 Tax Day celebration)
Today on Radical Personal Finance, we celebrate Tax Day in the United States (April 17, 2018).
As we all reflect on the actions of the government we US Americans have just supported with our tax money, I thought it would be a good day to read to you a very helpful essay called, The Law.
The Law was written in 1850 by Frédéric Bastiat, a French economist.
If you haven't previously read this essay, be forewarned that the first third is fast-moving and the last third is fast-moving, but the middle drags a little.Hear it through, though. You'll be glad you did.
Joshua
- Please support RPF on Patreon: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron
- Written version of The Law: http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html
534-Friendly Advice To Help You Buy Your First AR15 Rifle
This show rounds out some friendly advice to help any interested listener who wants to put together a well-equipped home armory to do so in a thoughtful and financially prudent way.
Today, we tackle the AR15 rifle. The AR15 is a wonderful rifle. It's not the best at any one thing, but it is truly good at many things.
I'd love for you to have one if you don't already.
So I thought you might appreciate some advice on how to get a good deal on one.
Enjoy!
Joshua
p.s., In the show I referenced a statistic of police officers in a northeastern state not turning in their rifles after a ban. That particular story I referenced was actually a satire site that I stumbled over without realizing it. I got duped. I have no doubt that the thrust of the story is accurate, but the specifics I cited were flat wrong and untrustworthy. Sorry.
p.p.s., My guest in today's show referenced the AR15 as stemming from a military firearm first. The AR15 was developed for the civilian marketplace first, then...
A Nation of Cowards by Jeffrey Snyder (audio version)
This is the audio recording of an essay published in the Fall of 1993 in The Public Interest magazine.
The essay is titled: "A Nation of Cowards" by Jeffrey Snyder.
You can access a text version of this essay here: http://rkba.org/comment/cowards.html
I'm publishing this essay for you as a thought-provoking defense of the morality of your being well-armed.
In today's political climate where critics are drawing a moral equivalence between mass murderers and an average armed citizen, I think this moral defense is warranted.
The facts and names of the essay are dated. The arguments are not.
As you consider this essay with 25 years of hindsight, do some research into how well the arguments have weathered the test of time.
Joshua
528-Tools and Tactics for Self-Defense in a Non-Permissive Environment (like a school)
The tagline of RPF is "...living a rich life now..." But it's hard to LIVE a rich life if you're dead.
So I'd like to help you--and others--have a higher potential of staying alive.
I have looked and looked for practical responses to the recent school shooting and have found very few.
This is my best effort to help you with some practical solutions to the problem.
I did my best in today's show to keep it free of politics and free of guns. (To be fair, I think it's best to say it's politics-lite and gun-lite.)
Give it a listen. Even if you are frustrated by the current gun debate, I think you'll find some useful, practical ideas to help you defend your own life and the lives of others--even in a non-permissive environment.
Joshua
- Please support RPF on Patreon: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron
486-Ignore the Republicans...What Do You Think Is the Right Approach To Income Taxation and Why?
I feel like I owe it to you to keep you semi-current on the state of tax policy in the USA. But, it's too early to have any serious details about the current Republican proposals.
I thought instead we could have a useful philosophical discussion about taxation. My challenge to you today is to answer these questions, for yourself.
- Do you believe that a civil government has the moral right to tax an individual's income? Why or why not?
- Do you believe that the US civil government has the constitutional right to tax an individual's income?
- If you believe that a civil government does have this right, how much of a person's income can they claim? What's the right number and how would you know?
- Do you believe that everyone should be required to pay income taxes?
- Do you believe that some people should be treated differently than others and so be ordered to pay a different rate of income tax than others? Why or why not?
- If so, how would we determine who should be treated differently...
