Leo D.M.J. Aurini - December 06, 2012


How to Govern Through a Depression


Episode Stats


Length

23 minutes

Words per minute

129.2425

Word count

3,087

Sentence count

259

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

What should a ruler do when the economy collapses? How to govern through a depression? - How to deal with an economic collapse? What should a government try to do in the event of a Great Depression? In this video, we discuss what a ruler should do if they find themselves in the midst of a financial collapse.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 How to govern through a depression. That's the topic of this video. This is
00:00:08.440 not going to be cheap armchair quarterbacking on Monday morning. This
00:00:14.280 is actually going to be a valid strategy for what somebody in charge of a
00:00:19.920 government should try and do when an economic collapse hits. Now this is
00:00:26.580 certainly going to be using Austrian economic theory and we all know that
00:00:31.700 that's been discredited many a time. And yet the only people who saw the
00:00:37.680 housing collapse coming, Aaron Clary, Peter Schiff, they were all Austrian 1.00
00:00:44.340 economists and the Keynesians never even heard of it. Never thought the economy
00:00:50.200 was doing absolutely fine right before the collapse. So I tend to go
00:00:55.920 with the scientific theories that are backed up by evidence. So I'm going
00:01:02.160 with the Austrians on this one. And of course there's that rumor that Keynes
00:01:07.740 only intended his theories to be applied during the Great Depression and not
00:01:12.840 afterwards. Supposedly he died before he could correct the students that were
00:01:19.200 getting obsessed with his theories. The other theoretical basis for this video is the
00:01:28.380 following. And I've never seen any evidence against it, so I have a very high
00:01:34.140 probability that's true, plus it's internally coherent, but not necessarily
00:01:39.440 absolutely positive. Around the 97% positivity on it.
00:01:45.680 And it's this. Economic collapses are nothing new. We've had inflationary spirals before,
00:01:53.680 we've had, well, certainly wars and disruptions before. We've had economic
00:01:58.800 problems before. They're nothing new. But there is something new in the modern era.
00:02:04.160 There's a reason that the Great Depression is something we all remember, while other
00:02:10.900 depressions in earlier periods of times have been forgotten. And it's simply the
00:02:18.100 number of people living in major cities divorced from the land. During earlier
00:02:23.700 times, earlier periods of history, if you have an economic depression, you can't
00:02:28.700 afford new clothes, you can't afford anything nice, but most people live on a farm, so
00:02:33.980 most people are still eating. Most people can batten down the hatches and weather it
00:02:38.540 out. Whereas today, and in the 1940s, or the 1930s, we are too divorced from that. Most
00:02:48.900 people, if the power gets shut off, if they lose their job tomorrow, if they won't be
00:02:56.300 able to afford food. If we can't get the food at the grocery stores, people will be starving
00:03:00.040 in the streets. And so as a consequence, there is a far, far greater demand for action during
00:03:08.600 an economic apocalypse than there would have been in other eras.
00:03:19.960 So with that in mind, let's discuss the strategy of what a ruler should do if they encounter
00:03:28.240 an economic collapse. Well, the very first thing is that you need to take stock of what
00:03:36.480 actually matters. And the most important thing to recover from this collapse is property law.
00:03:46.960 See, the solution is not going to come from government. Government creates the environment
00:03:55.520 that business can flourish in. You know, whether we're talking about a monarchy, a democracy,
00:04:02.420 or an anarcho-capitalist utopia, you're going to have some organization in charge of the roads,
00:04:08.700 in charge of the military, in charge of the police. You know, maybe you'll have multiple
00:04:13.080 organizations competing. But ultimately, all of those organizations are there to provide
00:04:19.320 the environment in which business thrives. They're not there to create the thrive. Business does
00:04:26.620 that. People do that. You leave people alone. You make sure there's no murderers and rapists
00:04:32.660 wandering all over the place. People will figure things out for themselves.
00:04:35.140 So, the very, very number one priority is property. People need to be able to know that they can sell
00:04:47.100 goods at the store without having a gang of thieves come in and rob them. They need to know that you're
00:04:53.920 not going to seize their property. People aren't going to invest in a new venture if the government
00:05:00.160 is going to come and seize their property. Oh, we need to distribute these goods to the people out
00:05:05.400 there. You know, you're saving up some seeds because you're going to grow a farm, and all of a sudden,
00:05:10.100 you know, the government comes and seizes them and boils them and, you know, gives people the rice
00:05:15.400 pudding or whatever they make out of the seeds, and you no longer have a farm.
00:05:19.360 The other aspect of property, of course, is currency, because currency is a form of property.
00:05:31.380 It's accrued wages. You can invest it in a full tank of gasoline for your car. You can invest it
00:05:38.640 in whatever, or you can keep it in a monetary form. Now, chances are, during this depression,
00:05:46.220 you're going to have an inflationary currency, which, you know, leads to a whole other video,
00:05:53.540 why do we have these depressions in the first place, but let's just focus on how we respond
00:05:57.780 to them, because it's too late to stop this one. So, currency is going to be inflating. People are
00:06:05.480 going to be fleeing the currency, and the knee-jerk reaction is to try and stabilize the currency by
00:06:14.980 forcing people to use it, by banning gold and silver. That's what happened in the United States,
00:06:20.400 by requiring that bills be paid in the legal tender, whatever. The thing is, when you start
00:06:29.720 changing the rules on people, when people don't know what you're going to do, what your plans are,
00:06:35.820 will I still have my property in a month? Will I still have my money in a month? Am I allowed to
00:06:41.740 spend my money the way I want? That's when they stop investing. That's when they freeze,
00:06:49.660 because they don't know what you're going to do as the governor. So, you need to keep things
00:06:55.640 standard. You need to protect private property and protect the currency. If people want to switch to
00:07:00.920 gold, let them do it. If they want to start swapping chickens for cows, let them do it. Even though it 1.00
00:07:07.400 violates the tax code, you can't tax a chicken when you buy a chicken with a cow. Leave it be.
00:07:15.060 People need security in their property if they're ever going to recover from the depression.
00:07:22.480 That's your number one priority. Maintain the regularity of property and currency.
00:07:33.960 Number two, maintain critical services and infrastructure. Primarily, this is water, food,
00:07:45.360 and power. Water and power are generally a private-public partnership. So, that one should take care of
00:08:00.500 itself. You're already doing that. So, of all your departments and services, that should be your
00:08:07.700 number one priority. Water and power. As for food, thank God the Soviets taught us not to nationalize 0.94
00:08:17.600 food. Do not nationalize food, okay? This is not what you should be doing. You should not be
00:08:22.100 nationalizing all of these things so you have direct control of them. What you want to ensure
00:08:29.040 is that the farmers have water, the farmers are safe from bandits and roaming mobs,
00:08:37.700 and that the highways work so that food can be delivered. You should not take over the trucking
00:08:43.980 companies. You should just make sure that the highways are working for food. One thing that might be
00:08:51.680 valid if the highways are deteriorating, for instance, ban civilian transport on the highways. Allow only
00:09:05.100 the semi-trucks to drive on them. This is your infrastructure. You don't want to control
00:09:11.380 it precisely, but you want to make sure that it doesn't fall apart.
00:09:18.160 And the third thing, after you've enshrined private property rights, you're not going to be stealing
00:09:27.820 things from people. You've made sure that the people providing critical services can continue to do
00:09:34.580 so. That's when you get to criminal law.
00:09:46.580 We're talking about rape and murder here. Quite frankly, if it's not property related, it's not your highest priority.
00:09:58.580 You want to ensure that the hard-working, productive citizens can walk down the street to work without being molested.
00:10:05.580 You want to be able to draw a line between them. You want to make sure your cops should be protecting the good people.
00:10:15.580 And if the good people are breaking a couple of laws, if they're, you know, violating a couple of statutes,
00:10:22.580 that's not a concern right now. You want to be protecting citizens.
00:10:30.580 So if somebody steals a car, hunt down the scumbag. If somebody breaks into a store, if somebody mugs somebody, 0.99
00:10:39.580 or if they're breaking into property, stealing things, raping people, then deal with them.
00:10:43.580 So that's your three main priorities. Make sure people can trust the property law.
00:10:52.580 Make sure they can, that the critical service providers can keep doing what they're doing.
00:11:00.580 And make sure that people are safe.
00:11:07.580 Now what shouldn't you worry about?
00:11:11.580 Because this is where the big mistakes happen.
00:11:14.580 Because here we have a depression. People in the cities are out of work and starving.
00:11:20.580 They have no access to food. And you have this huge, human cry to take some action.
00:11:28.580 These are the actions you should not be taking.
00:11:34.580 As I mentioned with the security, you're trying to maintain security for law-abiding people.
00:11:41.580 If somebody gets murdered in a theft, prosecute that person.
00:11:47.580 If somebody gets murdered in a bar fight, leave it alone.
00:11:52.580 You do not have the resources to pursue this right now.
00:11:55.580 If you have revenge killings, if you have, quite frankly, and this is horrible,
00:12:01.580 but if you have random rapes unconnected to property crime, date rapes, murder of prostitutes, all that,
00:12:10.580 you cannot afford to enforce this right now.
00:12:13.580 Somebody that's going to a bar during a major depression and getting into a knife fight,
00:12:19.580 they're making that choice for themselves to do that.
00:12:25.580 If there is a thief that gets shotgun blasted to the face, best to sweep that under the rug.
00:12:35.580 And certainly, certainly all the petty crimes, the graffiti, the drug dealing, the ordinance violations,
00:12:47.580 you do not have the resources to waste your cops on these things.
00:12:52.580 Maintain the cops and the military for critical services.
00:12:58.580 Have them escort petroleum and food shipments.
00:13:04.580 Don't send them out because there's a noise complaint.
00:13:07.580 What else? You certainly have the social workers. 0.91
00:13:13.580 All of our governments are completely bloated right now.
00:13:18.580 And you're going to hear all these screaming and crying from the government employees about their contracts
00:13:26.580 and how they, you can't let them, you can't fire them during a depression, they'll starve.
00:13:30.580 Well, nobody deserves a government job.
00:13:37.580 If the government doesn't have the money to employ these people, it should not be employing them.
00:13:45.580 Social workers, the guys patrol for cars that are parked somewhere too long, you know, bureaucrats, teachers.
00:14:00.580 You don't need teachers during a depression.
00:14:02.580 If people need to learn a skill, they will learn the skill on the job.
00:14:07.580 We do not have the luxury for teachers right now. We are in a depression.
00:14:12.580 Rome is burning. We need to rebuild it right freaking now.
00:14:17.580 We don't need to spend four years in school learning about poetry.
00:14:20.580 Poetry is wonderful, but we don't have time for that right now.
00:14:26.580 All unnecessary services should be cut.
00:14:31.580 And, of course, you have major projects.
00:14:36.580 This is the worst time to start a major project.
00:14:41.580 And there's going to be such an urge for it.
00:14:44.580 So many people are going to be demanding work and it'll be so tempting.
00:14:47.580 We're going to build a bridge to nowhere and, you know, that will solve all our problems.
00:14:52.580 Well, let's put it this way.
00:14:59.580 When times are good, when economic times are good, you have some money in the bank, that's when you build a veranda on your house.
00:15:05.580 That's when you install a new heater.
00:15:09.580 When things are going poorly, you ride out the stuff as long as possible.
00:15:16.580 When you're in debt, you don't pull out the credit card and buy a new furnace because it increases the value of your home.
00:15:27.580 It doesn't matter. You're now more in debt.
00:15:30.580 Building a bridge might be wonderful for your country, but it's going to put you deeper in debt.
00:15:35.580 The people working on that bridge could have been satisfying more immediate wants.
00:15:40.580 They could have been working for lower wages on a farm making food.
00:15:44.580 Yes, it sucks, but this is how you get out of it.
00:15:51.580 And eventually, one of your priorities is going to be regulation. 0.93
00:15:57.580 And now, people misunderstand this word now.
00:15:59.580 They hear regulation, they think ordinance. 1.00
00:16:01.580 They think this stupid rule that everybody's supposed to follow, 0.97
00:16:05.580 as opposed to the original root meaning of the word, which is to make business regular. 0.97
00:16:12.580 Having a universal set of measurements is a form of regulation.
00:16:17.580 So ignore all the fun stuff that we love to do with society and government,
00:16:24.580 major projects, social work, education, and focus on the fundamentals.
00:16:31.580 Make sure people can predict what you're going to be doing with their property in the future.
00:16:38.580 Protect their private property.
00:16:40.580 Allow them to switch to a different currency if they want to.
00:16:43.580 Gold, silver, mules. Let them do that. 1.00
00:16:46.580 Next, ensure that the critical services, power, water, and food, are able to operate.
00:16:57.580 And finally, make sure that people are able to operate.
00:17:02.580 That they are not afraid of leaving their apartment.
00:17:06.580 That they can get to work.
00:17:08.580 And eventually, allow some regulation, some normalization of business, so people know what to expect.
00:17:16.580 So that's the first step. Get your priorities in order.
00:17:27.580 Too many politicians. Typically, what does a politician do? 0.52
00:17:30.580 Do they worry about the roads? No. The roads take care of themselves.
00:17:32.580 Do they worry about the cops? The cops take care of themselves.
00:17:34.580 They worry about big projects. About ambition. About moving towards the future.
00:17:39.580 And so they double down and try and do more and more of that during a depression.
00:17:44.580 That is the exactly wrong thing to do.
00:17:49.580 They're worrying about the cart when the horse is sick.
00:17:52.580 Normally the horse is healthy. You don't worry about the horse.
00:17:55.580 It just keeps trotting along and the cart follows it.
00:17:59.580 Now the cart stops moving. You don't build a fancier cart.
00:18:03.580 You find a new horse. You help the horse get healthy again.
00:18:09.580 So once you've got your priorities straight, next you need to establish leadership.
00:18:15.580 Because everybody is going to be desperate and screaming for their piece of the pie.
00:18:23.580 Things are falling apart. People want to rip out the wires out of the wall.
00:18:29.580 The copper from the wall. Try and celebrate. They're scared.
00:18:33.580 They want to grab a piece as quickly as they can.
00:18:35.580 You need a strong leader.
00:18:37.580 You as governor need to be a strong leader.
00:18:41.580 And you need to...
00:18:43.580 This goes into the whole theory of leadership.
00:18:45.580 Put your foot down. Do not accept any BS from these people.
00:18:47.580 If the teachers union comes in and is complaining that they're getting a pay cut and it's illegal and it's...
00:18:53.580 Kick them out of your office.
00:18:55.580 We don't have time to pay people to babysit children, whatever they're getting a year.
00:19:01.580 Establish that there is...
00:19:05.580 This is going to be no BS.
00:19:07.580 This is not going to be some huge long debate where everybody is trying to rip a piece out of the pie.
00:19:11.580 No. We are going to work at rebuilding these things.
00:19:15.580 Make contacts with industry.
00:19:17.580 Presumably you already have good contacts.
00:19:19.580 Talk to them.
00:19:21.580 Get them into a room and explain what you're going to do.
00:19:25.580 What the big things to worry about are in your area and how you're going to fix them.
00:19:32.580 Get these people behind you and community leaders.
00:19:37.580 Let's not forget about the churches.
00:19:39.580 You need to get all of the leaders in the community and get them on board with you.
00:19:45.580 You need to work in tandem on this.
00:19:50.580 And finally, the last thing you need to do.
00:19:57.580 And I'm going to use C.S. Lewis as a metaphor here.
00:20:02.580 C.S. Lewis in Near Christianity talked about how he hears all these Britons saying that,
00:20:09.580 well, won't the church take some leadership on this issue?
00:20:14.580 He mentioned, for instance, credit banking.
00:20:19.580 Is that usury or not, according to a Christian opinion?
00:20:22.580 And he said, you know, technically these people are right.
00:20:26.580 But they're asking the priests to take leadership.
00:20:31.580 Priests are not experts on medical science.
00:20:34.580 They're not experts on banking.
00:20:37.580 They're not experts on a lot of things.
00:20:40.580 Experts on theology is what they're experts at.
00:20:43.580 And so C.S. Lewis said that what we need is the church to take leadership.
00:20:49.580 And the church is the people sitting in the pews.
00:20:52.580 That's who's going to get us out of it, is not a messianic government figure.
00:21:05.580 It's going to be the people that get us out of this.
00:21:11.580 So yes, we have people starving in the streets during this depression.
00:21:16.580 What do we do?
00:21:18.580 Do we confiscate all the farms, rip up all the crops and feed the people for six months 0.94
00:21:23.580 and then have nothing in the future?
00:21:26.580 Or, do you start help organizing the people that do have resources?
00:21:36.580 Organizing charity.
00:21:38.580 Building civic virtue.
00:21:41.580 Instead of having everybody try and rip the furniture and the furnishings off the walls
00:21:48.580 and run away to the countryside, develop civic virtue.
00:21:55.580 Get the people that do have resources to start helping others.
00:21:59.580 Put pleas on television that if you can help out a guy that's down on his luck,
00:22:07.580 if you can offer them a job, do that.
00:22:11.580 Get people involved through their local communities, their churches, their whatever.
00:22:21.580 Civic virtue is going to get us out of this.
00:22:24.580 And if you as governor can engender the civic virtue,
00:22:30.580 that will kill the depression faster than anything else.
00:22:35.580 It will enable people to be great, to help one another.
00:22:40.580 The funny thing about leadership is that you don't really do anything as a leader.
00:22:50.580 And a good leader knows that.
00:22:53.580 A good leader enables his subordinates to work to the best of their ability.
00:23:00.580 You give them the confidence that there is a structure and a sense to everything in the society.
00:23:07.580 To the whole organization.
00:23:09.580 That yes, we will actually get through it by these messes.
00:23:13.580 But I'm not going to do it for you.
00:23:16.580 You're going to do it for yourselves.
00:23:20.580 That's what leadership is.
00:23:21.580 That's what leadership is.
00:23:25.580 And depressions call for top notch excellent leadership.
00:23:35.580 And then help them go.
00:23:36.580 For yourself, let's get your priorities in order.
00:23:37.580 For yourself, let's get your priorities in order.
00:23:39.580 Establish a support base, from all the important people in society.
00:23:44.580 And then, help the public help themselves.