Andy Flattery

Guido Hulsmann rebutting those who commonly weep and gnash their teeth about the practice of inheritance: (From his new book Abundance, Generosity, and The State) Gifts are often rejected by outsiders with great vigor when they come in the form of wealth handed down from one generation to the next. The undeserving heir comes to own a sizable estate by sheer luck of birth and privileged social relations. Inheritance seems to create an appallingly unjust inequality of wealth. Scrooge McDuck became rich as a result of an entire life of hard labor and cunning investments. He earned his wealth. But why should his heirs, who did not labor as he did, and who might be clueless investors, come to own all of this? Would it not be equitable to share this wealth more widely? Would it not be just for the state to tax the heirs and distribute the proceeds to other people? The premise of this sort of reasoning is that only work, and maybe also the investment of one’s savings, should count as legitimate sources of wealth. But why? Consider that most forms of inheritance are not financial. Boulding points out that a mother language, too, is an inheritance and that it can be quite valuable, as in the case of the English language in our contemporary world... Furthermore, some of the most important activities in human life are performed outside of the market nexus. A woman who runs the family household, a full-time mother, earns no wage and no return on capital. Does this mean that she should not inherit her husband's wealth, all of it?.. The life cycle and the cycle of generations are not separable from the cycle of patrimonies, of their birth, their development, their transformation, and their annihilation. The transmission of goods—by free transaction or by inheritance—is one of the essential means by which the unpredictable evolution of human history occurs . . . The transmission of inheritance of a property, whether a home or a family business, is one of the means by which people establish a link between the past and the future. By confiscating an important part of the property, the state amputates not only a legacy, but the personality of the person who has created it. Inheritance taxes should be removed, without exception.

@alancornett I like how they chose an idyllic New England church in the image to bulldoze for McMansions

The good folks at Realtor DOT com Seem to be channeling their inner Henry VIII:

@AdamSimecka Cool

Hey... guys... we're over halfway there.

Sometimes I think about coming on here and raging about how the internet is just TV now. But then I remember that you people like this, it’s your fault this dynamic has happened to all these former platforms for the written word. So I expect my griping falls on deaf ears. Society is becoming more illiterate. I should make a video about this.

@michaeljburry Another Neal Stephenson idea comes around again

@EricJorgenson Be useful

What's your favorite idea from the Book of Elon?

@alpaysh Duels are back. Neo-Feudalism is officially here.

Never ever leaving this app

@dgt10011 Would offer that it may be less of Jeff’s “take” and more the kind of signaling one does when he’s worth $200 billion with much to lose.

A surprisingly (rare) bad take. If half the population doesn't pay tax because "it's very meaningful to that person" while its only "3% of the total tax revenue" it means you've built a patronage state that monetizes suffrage/political legitimacy through fiscal non-participation. As Mises clearly articulated, once you establish any precedence that the state may exempt any classes of citizens from any contribution on moral grounds, you have dissolved the "principle of generality" which in fact makes taxation indistinguishable from theft In other words, the democratic system will have been completely captured, thus completely failed.

@MickC_1 @AcquiredFM Great pod. Seems like Skunk Works threads a needle between business history and men’s adventure/history (I.e. dad books)

@andyflattery Bought the ‘skunk works’ book and ‘beyond the horizons’ after listening to LM on @AcquiredFM - cannot wait to get stuck into them! Some other clinkers here. Would maybe add; SPQR The Tiger Into thin air

Some Dad Books to get you back into Dad reading: Endurance The Wager Shadow Divers Pirate Hunters Skunk Works Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea Empire of the Summer Moon The Wright Brothers Undaunted Courage The First American A History of the American People The Frontiersmen The Lost City of the Monkey God Centennial The Greatest Knight Empires of the Sea

@nic_carter Welcome, Nic

Tonight I was received into the Catholic Church. I received the sacrament of Communion and Confirmation under the patronage of Saint Andrew at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach, administered by Bishop Delgado.

@tylerjone_s Exactly

@andyflattery Pirate hunters might be the funnest book I’ve ever read. S tier summer read

@BostonLooper Cool

@andyflattery 1776 Mornings on Horseback American Prometheus The Match The Pioneers to add to the list

@Halfrack_8 I didn’t think it could be better than Pirate Hunters, but it is

@andyflattery Shadow Divers is fantastic.

@Hazelthebulldog I haven't read The Fisherman's Tomb, but I loved this one. Presumably covering the same ground? amazon.com/Bones-Peter-Jo…

@andyflattery Aztec- Gary Jennings; Flight from Monticello- Michael Kranish; Follow the River- James Alexander Thom; The Fishermsn’s Tomb- John O’Neill Manhunt- James Swanson Ghost Soldiers-Hampton Sides Happy reading, Dads!

@DanDonatoV Looks like a deep cut, not all on the regular Dad Lists. Thanks

@andyflattery Ha, I have a bunch of these. If you liked Pirate Hunters you’d enjoy Barry Clifford’s Expedition Whydah, great book.

@ScipioArizonas No but any time someone posts those Shelby Foote clips I’m all over it

@andyflattery Good list. Have you read Shelby Foote's "Civil War" trilogy ?

@zac_pohlenz I know you have dad book recommendations

@andyflattery Saving for later. This is great timing, in a bit of a dearth of good books currently.

@Iamj4ke Had the Cortez book on my list, but thought it may be a challenge based on the og source material. Thanks

@andyflattery The Right Stuff The First Salute The Men Who United The States The Anarchy The Vanquished Charlie Wilson's War The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico American Caesar

My takeaway from the @FoundersPodcast on Kelly Johnson (Skunk Works) is that his course in life was set by watching his father use tools to make him toys, by later being allowed to use the tools himself, and by age 12 being convicted to build airplanes with his life thanks to the inspiration of TOM SWIFT