


An Interview with George Gilder Asks, Can You Pass the Israel Test?

The Israel Test
In this timely and courageous book, George Gilder demonstrates that the widespread antagonism toward the state of Israel is based — as is anti-Semitism itself — on self-defeating envy and resentment of its superior accomplishments and moral leadership. Israel’s stunning rise as a world capitalist and technological power, he argues, stems in part from the Jewish “culture of Read More ›

Progressive Gloom Ignores a Marvelous Historical Economic Measure

Book Review: George Gilder’s Brilliant ‘Life After Capitalism’
It was probably fifteen years ago that I was at lunch with Banknote Capital’s Jim Fitzgerald. We were finishing up when the conversation shifted to tax rates, at which point Fitzgerald dismissed the notion that lower rates stimulate more work.
To be clear, Fitzgerald was not saying that he opposed lower tax rates. He was and is very much for them. But he was expressing his disdain for the theory that lower rates cause people to work more. In his case, Fitzgerald would work a great deal precisely because there was joy in it.
Still, what he said at the time was jarring. It called into question so much that was accepted wisdom. Gradually it made lots of sense. Tax rates should be low simply because they should be low. After that, it’s perhaps unrealistic to suggest that Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and FedEx founder Fred Smith began to build their remarkable businesses only after consulting the tax code. Work for them was and is similarly joy.
The conversation with Fitzgerald, along with my own evolution on matters economic, came to mind while reading George Gilder’s essential new book, Life After Capitalism. Though Gilder penned what many view as the underlying philosophy of supply-side economics with the brilliant Wealth and Poverty in 1981, in his spectacular 2013 book Knowledge and Power Gilder began to question the “incentive” economics that at least on the surface informs supply-side.
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The Future of Money: Is it Blockchain or a Renewed Dollar?
Bret Swanson and John Tamny join George Gilder in a wide-ranging discussion of the future of money—from the dollar to cryptocurrency, and what are the implications for investing, inflation, government spending, and credit.

The Dangers of Totalitarian Science, Pt. 2

Wealth is Knowledge

George Gilder Interview: Can Gold and Blockchain Fix a Broken Monetary System?
The New Wall Street and the High Cost of Manipulating Money
Writing at The Independent Review, Senior Fellow George Gilder diagnoses the central problem with Wall Street and big banks today, which he calls “the chaos of floating currencies.” Banks used to help companies of all sectors and sizes, but the new Wall Street favors regulatory overreach, costly litigation, and financial volatility that paralyze Main Street and Silicon Valley. The transformation of American banking and finance arose from a regime of excessive financial regulation, which in turn has roots in the government’s manipulation of money. Continue reading The New Wall Street and the High Cost of Manipulating Money.