Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » Trade

Grant F. Smith

Scott Horton — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:00:52 +0000

Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C., discusses the 60 year history of Israeli espionage against the U.S., Obama’s “assumption of openness” decree that has made FOIA requests more successful, the inauspicious start of the 1985 U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement and how the 1979 Iranian Revolution cost Israel an important export market.

MP3 here. (31:04)

Grant F. Smith is the author of the new book America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government. He is a frequent contributor to Radio France Internationale and Voice of America’s Foro Interamericano. Smith has also appeared on BBC News, CNN, and C-SPAN. He is currently director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

Robert Higgs

Scott Horton — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:32:09 +0000

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Depression, War and Cold War, discusses his thesis of “regime uncertainty” as a major factor of the Great Depression, the crash and recovery of 1921-22, the bubble created by the Fed in the later “roaring” twenties in order to prop up British interests, how World War II provided the certainty big business needed to start investing again – in arms, why the Cold War buildup was still cheap enough for the economy to continue under its weight, who really benefits from empire, who pays, the irrelevance of trade deficits, the roots of the financial crisis in Wall St.’s bogus financial models, congressional and Federal Reserve polices and the cartelized ratings business, the all-important intertwined policy of inflation and war, his view of the extent of the collapse and whether the empire will be dismantled, the danger of high price inflation, danger of nationalization, and why government regulation of the market is responsible for – not the solution to – its failures.

MP3 here. (1:16:17)

Robert Higgs is Senior Fellow in Political Economy for The Independent Institute and Editor of the Institute’s quarterly journal The Independent Review. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University, and he has taught at the University of Washington, Lafayette College, Seattle University, and the University of Economics, Prague. He has been a visiting scholar at Oxford University and Stanford University, and a fellow for the Hoover Institution and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Higgs is the editor of The Independent Institute books Opposing the Crusader State, The Challenge of Liberty, Re-Thinking Green, Hazardous to Our Health? and Arms, Politics, and the Economy, plus the volume Emergence of the Modern Political Economy.

His authored books include Neither Liberty Nor Safety, Depression, War, and Cold War, Politická ekonomie strachu (The Political Economy of Fear, in Czech), Resurgence of the Warfare State, Against Leviathan, The Transformation of the American Economy 1865-1914, Competition and Coercion, and Crisis and Leviathan. A contributor to numerous scholarly volumes, he is the author of more than 100 articles and reviews in academic journals.

Mary Ruwart

Scott Horton — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:09:38 +0000

Mary Ruwart, author of Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression and Libertarian Party presidential candidate, discusses the similarities in how our government provoked 9/11 and the attack on Pearl Harbor, how our militaristic over-reaction to 9/11 has hindered our apprehension of Bin Laden and increased the danger of terrorism, how America needs to nurture free trade policies to build relationships with foreigners, our misguided immigration policies, how an armed populace would reduce crime and may have prevented 9/11, the threats to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, how slashing governmental regulation will boost the economy and job market, how she means to pick up where Ron Paul left off with her Libertarian run for president, and how the American people should decide our foreign policy.

MP3 here. (35:46)

Mary J. Ruwart, Ph.D. is a former pharmaceutical research scientist and Assistant Professor of Surgery. She has worked extensively with the disadvantaged in low-income housing and was a contender for the 1992 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nomination. Her scientific, political, and community activities have been profiled in several prestigious biographical works, including American Men and Women of Sciences, World’s Who’s Who of Women, International Leaders in Achievement, and Community Leaders of America.

Dr. Ruwart is the author of Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression.

Doug Bandow

Scott Horton — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:20:03 +0000

Doug Bandow, policy analyst and Robert A. Taft fellow with the American Conservative Defense Alliance, discusses the War Party’s need for a new enemy, their attempt to make China fill that role, the progress toward liberty there since the days of Mao, the defensive nature of their military establishment, the lack of neccessity of American hegemony in the east and the benefits of free trade.

MP3 here. (23:08)

Doug Bandow is a Washington-based political writer and policy analyst and Robert A. Taft Fellow with the American Conservative Defense Alliance. He served as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and as a senior policy analyst in the 1980 Reagan for President campaign.

He has been widely published in leading newspapers and periodicals and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows. He has written and edited several books, including Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire (Xulon Press), The Korean Conundrum: America’s Troubled Relations with North and South Korea (Palgrave/Macmillan, coauthor), Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World (Cato), Perpetuating Poverty: The World Bank, the IMF, and the Developing World (Cato, coeditor), and Military Manpower and Human Resources (National Defense University). His latest book is Foreign Follies (Xulon Press).