Edifice of Trust: Recent Episodes
Victor C. Bolles
The Edifice of Trust is a podcast that provides discussion and analysis of today’s current events from the perspective of America’s Founding Principles. Based on Enlightenment philosophy as espoused by John Locke and economic freedom as described by Adam Smith, the host, Victor Bolles, provides listeners a path toward understanding current events from these timeless principles. Many Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, the podcast tries to point out a new course that everyone can support.
Amidst all the chaos swirling around us, all is calm in the eye of the storm. President Trump is at the center of this storm of activity announcing new policies and issuing executive orders while he remains calm and confident. In this commentary we discuss why maybe you shouldn’t be so calm and confident.
What kind of Post-Trump world do we want to live in? The MAGA-Republicans and progressive left Democrats are in a bitter fight for the vote of American citizens, one side offering tax cuts galore for wealthy citizens and favored industries (funded by massive and unsustainable increases in the public debt), the other side offering an avalanche of benefits for favored identities and favored industries (funded by massive and unsustainable increases in the public debt). In this commentary, we look at what we really need to do to navigate in a Post-Trump world.
There are many barriers to our goal of rejuvenating America in a post-Trump world. The first step in this rejuvenation effort is getting a government that works so that we have a solid foundation which can support our efforts. The US congress can’t pass a budget, can’t manage our finances and can’t get important policies approved with a bipartisan consensus. In order to get a government that works we must reform Congress. In this commentary we discuss some of the important reforms needed to set Congress on the right track.
Link to the Letter to Elected Officials can be found here: https://www.edificeoftrust.com/hidden-documents
Link to source material: https://www.edificeoftrust.com/single-post/the-first-step-toward-a-post-trump-world
Last week President Trump travelled to the M idle East with 60 CEOs in tow to be feted with parades and receptions galore and gifted a 747 airplane to replace his aging Air Force one. But amongst all the hoopla President Trump made a major foreign policy speech denouncing “interventionalists” who tried to impose Western values on Middle Eastern potentates to no avail. His speech asserted his position as a foreign policy realist. In this commentary we look at why his foreign policy may not be as realist as he thinks.
If we believe that the second Trump administration is the culmination of a vicious downward spiral that has afflicted the United States throughout the 21st century and we want to do something to break out of this malaise then we cannot replicate the same old politics of the past. We must do something different to change the slope of this spiral. In this commentary we look at four critical elements to create a virtuous upward spiral for America.
You may think it is premature to start thinking about what we need to do after Donald Trump leaves the White House. But it is not! In 2028, it is likely that the MAGA Republicans will nominate a Donald Trump clone and the progressive Democrats will nominate someone even further left than Kamala Harris recreating the divisive 2024 election all over again. In this commentary we will discuss why we need a plan to break America out of its populist death spiral.
President Trump’s tariff policies are roiling markets worldwide. But there is one Trump advisor who writings provide insight into the president’s thinking. Dr. Stephen Miran is the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in the new Trump Administration and he explains why there must be changes in the global trading system. But in this commentary we look at why tariffs are not the economic tools that everybody thinks they are.
President Trump claimed that he paused the implementation of his tariff program because of yippy investors. But when market fundamentals have become meaningless and trade relations developed over many decades, are thrown out the window, the movements of markets boils down to one thing, whatever President Trump last said. And even worse, no one has any idea what he will say next. I don’t know about you but that makes me pretty yippy.
Today we are going to continue to talk about the impact of Donald Trump’s new tariff regime on the US and world economy. Or in this case, the lack of impact. Because there is a reason that President Trump’s tariff policies will not recreate the blue-collar manufacturing paradise that existed in the 1950s.And included in this commentary is a chapter from my book, Edifice of Trust (published in 2016), that illustrates that the issues being raised right now are not new and will not be solved by magic bullets but will require a lot of hard work by all of us.
Commentators are pointing out all the obvious unintended consequences of President Trump’s tariff plan which he plans to announce on April 2nd, Liberation Day. But there may be other consequences in places you haven’t looked. In this commentary we look at the political consequences of a protectionist import substitution regime.
Academics in the ivory tower have an affinity for socialism because they presume, based on their academic qualifications, that they will be at the pinnacle of power in such a society. They are wrong! In this commentary we will look at where the real power lies.
Do punitive tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China have any chance of slowing the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the US? Nothing else has worked. But President Trump’s plan ignores one major factor. The insatiable desire of Americans for drugs, even at the risk of their own lives. In this commentary we look at the likely outcomes of this strategy and take a peek at the underlying motivations for punitive tariffs.
Antifragile is a concept created by Nasim Taleb, author of the Black Swan, to describe the ability to gain and prosper amid confusion and disorder. Certain people thrive in this environment and President Trump is a prime example of this ability. In this commentary we discuss how antifragility is this secret sauce that contributes to America’s greatness.
Why in the world would two world leaders invite reporters into a meeting to negotiate a vital agreement to end the war on Ukraine. President Zelensky was about as eager to sign that agreement as a tienda owner on the lower east side agreeing to pay some thug for protection against gangs (of which the thug was a member).In this commentary we look at the underlying causes why this meeting was such a disaster.
After Hoover Institute fellow Niall Ferguson criticized the Trump administration’s tactics in negotiating a peace agreement for the war in Ukraine, Vice President JD Vance called Ferguson’s critique moralistic garbage and accused Mr. Ferguson of being a globalist, apparently the lowest of the low in the MAGA world. In this commentary we try to understand the real reason for Mr. Vance’s heated response.
Today we are going to take a look at how economies function when domestic companies are protected by high tariffs and how this system called import substitution ripples through the lives of people on Main Street and well as Wall Street. When it comes to import substitution I speak from experience.
President Trump is constantly threatening to impose tariffs on countries that export more goods and services to the United States than they buy from us creating a trade deficit. He believes that a trade deficit is losing big time. But Mr. Trump’s economic thinking is old fashioned and wrong-headed, like thinking that foreign countries pay for tariffs. In this podcast we look at why trade deficits are a good thing for the United States.
Following up on my previous commentary about how President Trump views fairness and how he thinks America has been treated unfairly, we investigate the implications of what he intends to do and include an update on his recent actions of tariffs.
President Trump complained at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the United States is treated very unfairly by the rest of the world. Everyone wants to be treated fairly but not everyone agrees as to what is fair. But the real problem of fairness is that while it does not make good government policy it makes great politics. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at ways to build an acceptable consensus on policies rather than supposedly fair policies.
Referring to the infamous Nicaraguan dictator Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." It appears that lame duck President Biden applies the same type of differentiation to oligarchs circling around the presidency. In this last commentary about the Biden Administration we show how the dire warnings of his farewell address are refuted by his own actions.
When one of our myriad electronic devices isn’t functioning the way we think it should, we often shut it down and then restart the device to reboot the system. More often than not that solves our problem. I think that the 62% of Americans that believe the US is on the wrong path (according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls) would agree that America needs a reboot. The incoming Trump administrations is planning to make some big changes in Washington. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses whether Mr. Trump is planning a reboot or something more drastic.
Once again, I am publishing my list of the urgent priorities confronting our nation, most of which have been unmet and consistently ignored by both Democratic and Republican politicians. But in 2025 we will have a new Trump administration that is vowing to change how things are done in Washington. One can only hope.
Government budgets are the inflection point between governance and politics. And bad budgeting is bad governance. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at some of the consequences of bad budgeting and how that is going to impact American citizens.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy intends to save taxpayers trillions of dollars by making the government more efficient. But efficient systems are not robust, they are fragile and can breakdown. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the Founders’ efforts to preserve our Republic made the government inherently inefficient.
It is difficult to understand why President-elect Trump wants to make recess appointments to his cabinet when Republicans control the Senate 53 to 47. But then we saw some of his picks. But he also selected Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to improved government efficiency. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the hints in what direction he will take his new administration.
Kamala Harris and the Democrats took a beating in the 2024 elections, losing the White House and both houses of Congress. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at not only why the Democrats lost so badly but also why Donald Trump and the Republicans may be making the same mistakes as the Democrats.
Donald Trump scored a great victory in the 2024 elections and he has plans to make many changes in how America operates. But many of the changes he made in his first term as president were undone when Democrat Joe Biden replaced him. If Mr. Trump wants to make his changes permanent he needs to do things differently. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the things he needs to do to create a lasting legacy.
The Founding Fathers were part of an elite group that got a classical education at America’s early universities like Harvard and Princeton and they applied that knowledge into creating the United States but they also used their knowledge to try and protect the fragile new republic from the tragic fates that befell other republics throughout history. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the perils that confronted the new republic and shows how we face similar perils in the 2024 election.
Everybody has ideas on how to run the American economy but nobody seems to be very happy about the results. The Economist magazine across the Atlantic doesn’t think our economy is so bad. In fact, they think it is the envy of the world. Is our economy the envy of the world because our political leadership? In this the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will look at why the rest of the world thinks our economy is so good.
Income inequality seems to be getting worse every day in America, but whose fault is it? Greedy capitalists? Someone or something else? Or maybe inequality is inevitable? If we can’t identify the causes of inequality there is little we can do to prevent it. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some steps that we could take to slow the inevitable progression of inequality.
Have you ever thought about what would really make America great again? While there are people that believe that America was never great in the first place, most of us patriotically think America was pretty great. But most Americans don’t really know what would make America great again, primarily because they don’t know what made America great in the first place. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, explains whet he believes would really make America great again.
Note: After this podcast was scheduled for publication the longshoremen’s union (after meeting with members of the Biden administration) agreed to postpone their strike until after the election (surprise!). The also agreed to a 61.5% salary increase over six year. The primary sticking point is the automation of the port facilities. But my podcast might help you understand why the innovation and upgrading of port efficiency is so important.
A strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association on East Coast of the United States is creating shortages and rising prices as ships wait in the harbor to unload their goods. The Longshoremen are asking for a wage increase of 77% over six years and have rejected counteroffers of forty and then fifty percent. However in this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, is going to look at another demand of the ILA, a freeze on automation of port services.
We may think that the worst of inflation is over, but a changing world order means that inflation will be sticking with us. Globalization of international trade since the collapse of the Soviet Union has kept prices low for decades, but at a cost. But now that globalization is receding Americans must be ready to pay more. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at why prices will go up and also how we should spend our money to protect our future.
The Framers of the US Constitution conceived of a government that prevented the development of excessive power in any one individual or group. They created three branches of government with separate powers that acted as a check against the development of excessive power in any one branch. These checks and balances have frustrated the progressive left from implementing much of their agenda and they intend to change that. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at how the left wants to change the nature of our democratic republic that has lasted almost 250 years.
This so-called presidential debate was not as consequential as Mr. Trump’s previous confrontation with Mr. Biden but there was still consequences. Here’s my take on the so-called debate.
These confrontations between presidential candidates aren’t really debates. But they are informative and can be consequential. Here’s what to look for.
Today we are going to discuss taxes. I could go on and on about taxes but today we will just investigate some broad concepts and not the specific proposals of the presidential candidates. That comes later.
Replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris has not really improved the options we voters have in the 2024 presidential elections. The campaign promises of Trump and Harris run the gamut from dopey to scary. Most Americans do not support their radical agendas. Come this November we must vote wisely to protect America.
In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, explains why he recommends a vote for divided government to keep these radical policies at bay.
In her economic policy speech, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris blamed inflation on price gouging by greedy corporations. But Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman is famous for saying, “Inflation is made by Government and no one else.” Why does Ms. Harris and other progressives doubt that inflation is caused by government? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will investigate what is behind this belief.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. We were fooled by Barack Obama. We were told that Joe Biden was the centrist alternative. Now we are being told that Kamala Harris has changed her mind on her progressive policies such as banning fracking and Medicare for all. Amid all the excitement about her candidacy are we going to be played for fools again? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host Victor Bolles delves into her announced economic policy and its impact on Americans.
The little-known movement of National Conservatism rose to prominence after its recent conference featured many speakers from Donald Trump’s Republican Party including J. D. Vance who was named Trump’s vice-presidential running mate only days after his speech at the NatCon Conference. But what is national conservatism and what does it stand for? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles tries to help us to understand what National Conservatism is and how it will impact us in the future.
To better understand Trumpism we need to look at the policies he is proposing and how they will impact us after he is gone. In his rallies he proclaims a great new movement that will transform America and he has anointed a new acolyte to carry on this new movement after he is gone. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will look at how Trump’s movement will impact our lives after he is gone.
So why does he lie? I don’t know. We can only speculate. We have gone from George Washington saying, “I cannot tell a lie” (which is probably a lie because there is no proof he ever said it) to “I cannot tell the truth because I don’t know what is the truth.” Lying is so pervasive now that has been renamed “gaslighting.” In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, tries to understand why Donald Trump (as well as most other politicians) tell so many lies.
Americans reacted with shock at the assassination attempt on former President Trump. It was as if they had no idea that all the apocalyptic diatribes from the presidential candidates, all the belligerent rhetoric of other candidates and all the hateful social media posts would ever be translated into action.
The Democrats howl because the Supreme Court does not bow down to the popular will not realizing that the entire purpose of the Court is to frustrate the fickle and often irrational urges of the popular will. Constitutional change requires broad and sustained consensus not a slim majority that could change at a moment’s notice. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at recent decisions of the Supreme court and examines how they reflect the intent of the Framers.
The fallout from Mr. Biden’s performance at last week’s presidential debate has resulted in many calls for him to withdraw from the race. But who else is there that can replace him? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses some of the complexities in changing candidates at this late stage of the presidential campaign.
The results are in from last night’s debate and it doesn’t look good for Joe Biden. Here are the headlines.
Today we are going to talk about the upcoming presidential debates and what you should expect to see and what you shouldn’t.
After the Second World War the victorious allies created a series of international organizations designed to reduce conflict and promote peace between the countries of the world. These organizations worked pretty well for a while but now seem ineffectual and counterproductive. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at why these institutions are not working so well and suggests what we should do to reduce conflict and promote peace among nations.
The most recent of the many trials of former President Donald Trump by George Soros backed prosecutors will be going to the jury soon. But politically motivated show trials are usually associated with autocratic regimes, not with Western democracies. And if Democrats think that these trials have dampened the popularity of the former president, they need to need at the most recent polls. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will look at these trials and their impact on voters.
Civil disobedience is an activity unique to modern Western Civilization. But disobedience of the law has consequences and many people protesting unjust laws or unwise policies have had to make sacrifices. The anti-Israel protesters are not only defying the tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, they are trying to avoid the consequences of their actions. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the nature of civil disobedience and why the actions of the anti-Israel protesters do not meet the standard of civil disobedience.
City University of New York law professor Jeffrey Lax said it clearly in an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox Business news. He stated, referring to the anti-Israel protests, “This is not antisemitic, this is anti-American, this is anti-western culture, the jews are the low hanging fruit. Next is America, next is western culture.” In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, points out who is the real target of the anti-Israel protests.
Nationalism is on the rise across the globe – and Yoram Hazony thinks that’s a good thing. Mr. Hazony, Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation is a promoter of national conservatism and rejects the universal values such as the unalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence. In this podcast, the edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the tenets of national conservatism and how it could impact the world around us.
American youth are in a mental health crisis. Rates of anxiety, depression and suicide are soaring ever since the introduction of the smart phone as documented by Jonathan Haidt in his new book, The Anxious Generation. Even worse, the pathologies of smart phone addiction mirror the pathologies of a woke ideology that has tightened its grip on American institutions in recent years. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates how this mass psychosis has spread and shows how our leadership seems powerless to help us.
Slavery has existed throughout human history and prehistory. But why? It all comes down to energy. Ancient humans only had the energy of their own body. The energy of slaves gave the slaveholder more power to do things for the benefit of him and his family. But slavery in America was different. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, explores why there is much less slavery in the modern world and why slavery in America was so different from anywhere else.
President Biden’s State of the Union address was an angry, divisive campaign. He went on to propose massive increases in taxes along with massive increases in spending that combine for a massive deficit of $1.8 trillion. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how both of the presumptive candidates for president of the United States don’t really understand what America is all about. What really makes America special.
The Founders of America thought that democracy was the best tool to secure the blessings of liberty to its citizens. And, although not perfect, our democracy did a pretty good job of doing that while also providing prosperity. But right now America appears to be heading in the wrong direction and democracy does not seem to be helping. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how to make democracy a better tool to fulfill its intended function – securing liberty.
The No Labels organization is trying to get on the ballot in all 50 states for a presidential candidate yet to be named. Such a candidate might be able to save us from another Biden or Trump presidency but will do nothing to save us from the increasing divisiveness and extremism of our mainstream political parties. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses what it will take for No Labels or anyone to get this country back on track.
A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called the Michigan city of Dearborn a center of jihad and antisemitism. The mayor of Dearborn xed (tweeted) that the article was Islamophobic. The progressive left has changed the meaning of the word phobia and now uses it as a means to deflect criticism and avoid addressing the issues raised in the critique. In this commentary we examine the use of the word phobia as a tool of cancel culture.
A lot of people think that diversity is a good thing. But is it? People have to go out of their way to be diverse. Left to their own, people will self-segregate into groups with other people similar to themselves. Blue collar workers don’t want to hobnob with a bunch of chardonnay sipping, hors d’oeuvre munching intellectuals. They prefer to down a cold one with their buddies over at the bowling alley. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, delves into how diversity can actually benefit society.
Recent commentaries in the Wall Street Journal set forth competing visions on whether Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs can be saved or should be eliminated. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, compares the two viewpoints and draws conclusions on which viewpoint seems more valid.
Ian Rowe, an educator in the Bronx, writes that developing a sense of agency is essential in liberating poor and minority kids from a dreary future of poverty. More than that, he has been on the streets providing kids with liberating education and teaching them American values for more than a decade. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the strategies employed by Mr. Rowe and how we can use them to help our own kids and grandkids.
Once again, while our so-called political leaders are completely absorbed by their campaigns for reelection, they ignore the urgent national priorities that need to be addressed, or worse, use those issues as political levers to galvanize their base at the expense of the American people. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, revisits those priorities that have become even more urgent as we enter a tumultuous election year.
how mislabeling political beliefs and governmental policies creates confusion and contributes to the divisiveness wracking our country.
Why do so many people in America identify as victims, the victims of an oppressive system? What is the source of this feeling? Why do so many people believe that they have no ability to live their lives as they see fit but look to the power of government to solve their problems? In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the root causes of this spreading syndrome which runs against the most essential of American values – agency.
Scientific inquiry is the process where we learn more and more about our universe through experimentation to support or disprove our theories. But increasingly, we are asked to make drastic, expensive and irreversible decisions based on a consensus of scientists as if there were no more need for further inquiry or experimentation. In this commentary we discuss how political activists assert that the science behind their progressive policies is “settled” by which they mean unassailable and not up for further discussion.
If you call the swath of land east of the Mediterranean Sea the Levant instead of Israel and Palestine, you can see the recent conflicts in the region with a new perspective. The part of the Levant that is now Israel was settled by Jewish refugees from Europe who defeated Arab Muslims in the region that had defeated the Roman Byzantines who had defeated the Judeans who had defeated….I think you get the idea. In this commentary we look at the Israeli/Hamas war from a different perspective.
Politicians are always promoting new laws and government programs to make things more fair. But fairness is not a good standard on which to base laws and programs because fairness is subjective and different people have different, and often completely opposite, ideas on what is fair. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses an alternative standard that can unite people who have different concepts of what constitutes fairness.
To our Western minds the horrific attack on Israel by the Hamas terror group was irrational and incomprehensible. But even more irrational and incomprehensible have been the protests in support of the genocide espoused by Hamas across Europe and America. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, looks at the ideology willing to support an attempt to wipe an entire nation from the face of the Earth.
America has not been this divided since the Civil War. But poll after poll show that Americans left, right and center share many of the same values. So what is driving us apart. It is in the narrow self-interest of our political leaders to drive us apart for their political advantage. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles takes a closer look at the ubiquitous nature of self-interest and how it affects our lives.
From the dark days and widespread pessimism of the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s optimistic speeches gave American reason to hope for a better future. We are again living in dark days but today’s politicians give us little reason to hope for a better future. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles examines how today’s politicians are not leading the American people to a better future.
Is America suffering from a plague of psychic epidemics? Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote that man has no adequate protection from psychic epidemics which can be more devastating than anything in nature. The divisive nature of American politics is creating psychic epidemics on both the left and the right that will even more devastating than Dr. Jung predicted. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates some of the psychology behind the rage that is consuming American politics.
Climate activists, parroting Bernie Sanders, hold up signs declaring “BILLIONAIRES SHOULD NOT EXIST” to justify vandalizing the property of rich people. But if billionaires did not exist we would be lacking many of the modern products and services we have come to rely on, like smart phones, flat panel televisions and lens replacement surgeries. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at why the progressive left does not understand the role billionaires play in a free market economy.
Has China reached its peak of economic power as many talking heads and think tank fellows are writing and podcasting about? The reality doesn’t matter, only the perception of strength or weakness matters, and how that affects the thinking of Xi Jinping. And if President Xi believes that China has reached its economic peak, the countdown to confrontation with the West has begun. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates reports that China has reached a crossroad and discusses how we must prepare to meet that challenge.
The Declaration of Independence states that we all are endowed with the right to pursue happiness and the things that make us happy are usually in our self-interest. Government often makes policies that are supposed to serve the common good but that do not match the self-interest of everyone. It is not easy to find the correct balance between the common good and the liberties of citizens. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the current policies of our government to determine if it is unduly constraining the liberties we have an unalienable right to enjoy.
The world is changing, and if you are one of the billions of people who have benefitted from the Western rules-based world order, not in a good way. Change, of course, is inevitable. But countries that hope to survive in changing conditions, and possibly even thrive, need to prepare for a future that is not yet clear. But even as the world changes, the US seems distracted by divisive domestic issues that often seem trivial. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, reviews how the world is changing and suggests how to prepare for the future.
Many foreign policy experts have been recommending the armistice between North and South Korea as a model for the resolution of the war on Ukraine. The circumstances of these two conflicts are very different. The seventy years of relative peace on the Korean Peninsula has allowed South Korea to prosper but has required a continuing military commitment to South Korea by the United States to preserve that peace. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses whether the United States will be willing to make a similar guarantee to Ukraine.
A recent open letter from some leftist college professors urges President Biden to defy the recent Supreme Court decisions. The letter not only exposes how the progressive left views the US Constitution as an impediment to the implementation of their woke agenda, it also reveals what they really think about the American people. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will reveal their plans and show how they really think.
The welfare state was invented by German Chancellor Bismarck to placate the masses while he created an industrial empire to dominate Europe. The industrial empire envisioned by Bismarck has passed away but the welfare state remains. The never-ending welfare state is slowly debilitating Europe hastening its decline into irrelevance. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at some of the problems facing Europe and how these problems could also afflict America.
I really like Joe. I thought he would have made a good Vice President. What? No, I am not talking about Joe Biden. I am talking about Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman was elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 1989 but when the Democratic Party in Connecticut wanted to go further left, Joe Lieberman ran as an independent defeating the Democratic candidate and retaining his seat in the Senate. But as the Democratic Party veers even further left and Republicans veer to the right, Joe is thinking that America needs some new political animals. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at what Joe Lieberman and other patriots are doing to bring America back to its senses.
The left is mad at the Supreme Court. They are mad because the Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is refusing to endorse the social justice policies that have been imposed on the American public through executive orders, administrative policies and even faulty opinions of previous courts – all without the benefit of having been made law by our elected officials in Congress. They view the Court’s decisions as politically based rather than based on the Constitution. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at recent decisions by the Supreme Courts and shows how this Court is trying to reestablish Constitutional order.
Russian President Putin has a deluded vision of a Russian-led Eurasian civilization of which Ukraine is an integral part, justifying his invasion of that country. He lies a lot but it is hard to tell his lies from his delusion. But Putin is not alone. Many leaders around the world also suffer from delusions – and that includes in America. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the difference between lying and delusion and the impact those delusions may have on us.
In their recent book, The Dawn of Everything, Authors David Graeber and David Wengrow attempt to redefine human prehistory through the lens of their progressive left ideology using the analytical techniques of postmodern philosophy. Using narratives, feelings and a lot of guesswork they attempt to show that human can create complex societies without income or social inequality or hierarchy. The book was well received by many left-leaning periodicals. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, explains why the authors fail to make their case.
Historian Stephen Kotkin asserts that the War on Ukraine has evolved into a war of attrition. He further asserts that two key elements to continue such a war are the ability to resupply the unceasing casualties and the depletion of military equipment and munitions backed by the willpower to continue the fight. The Ukrainians are willing to fight but the essential willpower is not Ukraine’s but America’s. Now some Republicans are showing an unwillingness to support Ukraine’s struggle. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates why such unwillingness undermines America’s global leadership.
Who is Vivek Ramaswamy? When Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States everyone (including me) said, “Who the heck is Vivek Ramaswamy?” Since that announcement, Mr. Ramaswamy has been writing position papers and appearing with the Sunday morning talking heads in order to become better known. But he still has a long way to go. In this podcast, The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, tries to understand a little bit more about him and what he has to offer the Republican Party and the nation.
The bizarre and previously fringe philosophy that is postmodernism has become mainstream among US academics as the principal Counter-Enlightenment school of thought. It is the philosophical underpinning of the woke ideology that has infected the American left. But while postmodernism can be effective in pointing out the past transgressions of Western Civilization, it has little to offer for the future. Most progressive activists of woke ideology would like to keep that future vague. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates why progressives don’t want people to know what a woke future based on postmodernism would be like.
The progressive left has long desired that the US judicial system become more activist in promoting their progressive agenda unconstrained by an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution. They want the courts to forge ahead on abortion rights, gun control and many other controversial issues due to the inability of Congress pass meaningful legislation on these issues. But such actions would essentially give the courts the power to enact legislation as was the case in Roe v. Wade, but the Constitution reserves such power solely for Congress. Now Republicans are joining Democrats in attempting to capture the judicial system. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the political parties are pushing the judicial system to the brink of collapse in their battle to gain advantage over their adversaries.
To kids growing up in the 1950s, John Wayne was the symbol of what those kids should grow up to be. A bit gruff, but honest. Fierce, but protective of those in need. And from westerns to war movies, he represented what it was to be a patriotic American. But today’s kids don’t know who John Wayne was and they don’t aspire to be patriots either according to a poll by the Wall Street Journal. Why not? Was it Covid? Was it Trump. Or maybe it was “woke” ideology. In this the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the reasons patriotism is no longer popular and what we can do to reinspire patriotism in America.
Is Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg trying to indict former President Trump in order to incarcerate him or to assure that he becomes the presidential candidate for the Republican Party? And what is going through the mind of the former president as he announces on social media is coming arrest and arraignment calling on his loyal followers to protest, protest, protest. In this Podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, analyzes the impact of the former president’s legal woes and what it means for the forthcoming election.
Where will we all be in two decades? A better question is where should we be in two decades? Seventy percent of American think we are heading in the wrong direction. But what is the right direction? We need to think about where we want to be in twenty years in order to determine what direction to go. And then we need to start going in that direction - starting now. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, ponders these important questions and tries to discover some answers to guide us.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System have been put in charge of running the US economy. But it shouldn’t be this way. The Fed wasn’t created to run the economy, but only to manage a small part of the economy. The Fed has the tools and the expertise to manage the money and the interbank interest rate in order to assure the stability of the financial system. Beyond that it lacks the powers and expertise to run an entire economy. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses the causes and effects of this over-reliance on the Fed to manage the economy and make some recommendations on what steps should be taken.
Yale professor Timothy Snyder recently did a Ted Talk where he asserted that democracy should be a verb, something that you do. He asserts, “democracy has to be understood as a spirit.” He appears to believe that the more democracy the better. Then why did the Founders include limitations on democracy in the Constitution? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines what Professor Snyder asserted in his Ted Talk and investigates why the Founders had their doubts about democracy.
Despite heightened rhetoric about systemic racism and arguments about disparate outcomes, everybody from ordinary people to superstar quarterbacks are the blurring the lines that define racial and ethnic identity. There is a growing disparity between the world defined by diversity, equity and inclusion activists and the one we see around us. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the changing demographics of America and discusses how that affects the conversation about race.
Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 until 1990 incorporated the concept of junzi, the Confucian ideal of being a moral person, as a key element in his plan to raise Singapore from a swampy, corrupt backwater into a modern metropolis. Henry Kissinger describes how Mr. Lee accomplished this feat in his recent book on leadership. Twenty-first century America has a lot to learn from Mr. Lee’s accomplishments because we seem to have forgotten how we became rich and powerful ourselves. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles reviews Dr. Kissinger’s observations about his friend, Lee Kuan Yew.
Healthcare in the United States is a mess. And it is a mess because of people. Different people want different things. And powerful people and the institutions they lead have the ability to enact policies that primarily benefit themselves. All these different people and different policies have resulted in a healthcare system that is costly and inefficient and doesn’t serve anyone very well. But maybe we can take people out of healthcare policy. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the possibility of using artificial intelligence to create a healthcare system that actually works.
Gotchas, paybacks and vendettas do not make for a legislative agenda. They may appeal to the Freedom Caucus, but most Americans want Congress to address the important issues that affect their lives. Not raising the debt ceiling is another act of political theater that will not solve our public debt problem but only compound it. Speaker McCarthy needs to develop a plan to address perpetual deficits and unsustainable levels of public debt. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks into the causes of continuing deficits and what it will take to put America’s fiscal house in order.
Last year I published a podcast (Urgent Priorities, December 30, 2021) on the urgent priorities that America had to confront in the year 2022. Since many of those priorities were addressed very ineffectively or were not addressed at all, I was tempted to simply republish that commentary again this year. But the world is dynamic, and conditions change so I felt that America’s urgent priorities had to be updated to reflect those changes. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles will discuss the unfinished business of 2022 and the priorities of 2023 and beyond.
On a recent podcast, professors Glenn Loury and John McWhorter were discussing how slaveowners had used techniques to break a slave’s bond to their past (their history, their language, their religion, their culture) to make them easier to control and dependent on the slaveowner - a process called natal alienation. But this process seems very similar to the role of the government in the modern welfare state, replacing familial and community bonds with the tendrils of state control. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the welfare state undermines the values needed to escape poverty.
Many people may need public assistance from time to time but the structure of the American welfare state encourages behaviors that perpetuate impoverishment and increase the need for taxpayer paid welfare. The only beneficiaries of the US welfare state are the politicians, the welfare administrators and their union. The poor remain poor. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the impact of the welfare state on poor people and how government programs make sure they stay that way.
Labels can be confusing, especially when they keep changing. They are more like brand names than descriptors of political philosophy. When a candidate says “I am a strong conservative” or “I am very liberal” it is hard to tell what they really stand for. But they need to stand for something. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the differences between labels and principles.
Cultural changes have come to Central Texas in the form of competing Christmas/Holiday parades in the rural town of Taylor. Change is inevitable but not all change is good. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some ways that the people of Taylor can manage the impact of demographic, technological and cultural change.
An endorsement from former President Donald Trump was magic for his chosen candidates in the Republican primaries, but the results of the 2022 mid-term elections have shown that his endorsements are toxic in the general election. Mr. Trump plans to make a major announcement on November 15th that is widely expected to affirm his candidacy for president in 2024. He can probably win the nomination with the support of his base, but his run for a second term is doomed to fail and is likely to drag down other Republican candidates across the country – handing the control of government to the Democrats. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses what Mr. Trump could do, however unlikely.
Joe Biden and the Democrats have a problem with profit. Not just the “outrageous” and excessive profits that the oil companies are reaping now. All profit. Because they think profit comes from exploitation. But profit is much more than that. Profit is a great motivator and change agent, and the Democrats fear the power of that motivation. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust Host, Victor Bolles, examines the power of profit and why governments seek to control it.
The proponents of the Woke progressive-left agenda appear resistant to logical argument and react with outrage at any criticism of their movement. They reject analyses based on empirical evidence and doubt that the scientific method can discover objective truth. They react with fury at any criticism of their movement. This resistance perplexed me until I came to the realization that the Woke movement has more in common with a religion or cult than it does an ideology. In this podcast, I discuss some of the things that led me to this conclusion.
Noble Prize winner Daniel Kahneman explained in his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, that the human brain can be viewed as being divided into two separate brains, the fast thinking instinctual brain that we inherited from our hominid ancestors and our slow thinking cerebral cortex that sets us apart from those ancestors and all other animals. Politicians on the left and right direct their campaign ads to the fast thinking side of our brains, but it is our slow thinking brains that are the solution to our current divisive politics. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, look smore closely at this phenomenon.
Many people think social justice is synonymous with democracy, that you can’t have true democracy without social justice. But they are wrong. The Soviet Union fought for social justice but there was no freedom or democracy in the USSR. And Mao fought for social justice but there was no democracy in Communist China. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how the fight for social justice is taking us down a dark and dangerous path.
As exploding pension costs cause state and local governments to cut back on services, citizens are fleeing rising crime, failing schools and increasing taxes leaving only the most vulnerable residents to shoulder the financial burden and their worsening predicament. These financial burdens have been created by public sector unions working in collusion with the politicians who gladly accept their political donations. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines this growing problem and make some recommendations for reform.
Pollsters report that American citizens are very worried about the state of our democracy in the run-up to the 2022 mid-term elections. It is true that left-wing and right-wing extremists are trying to manipulate democracy to meet their own partisan ends, but part of the problem is that many people do not understand how democracy relates to our liberty or how the Founders tried to limit democracy and well as government. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how too much democracy can be a threat to our liberty.
The White House recently released the Biden-Harris Economic Blueprint that lays out what the Biden administration wants to do and what it envisions for the American economy. The Blueprint is based on the premise of rewarding work and not wealth. But this is a false premise based on Marxist thinking. Work and wealth are not opposed but are complementary to each other. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines the proposed Blueprint and suggests some alternative solutions.
In a recent speech, President Joe Biden accused ex-President Trump and his MAGA-Republican followers of following a semi-fascist philosophy that, “threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” But fascism has more in common with socialism than with the American founding principles. Fascists and socialists use the same tactics to control a country and its people. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust hist, Victor Bolles investigates how semi-fascists and semi-socialists do, indeed, threaten our country.
This podcast is an excerpt about energy policy from my 2015 book, Principled Policy. As Saudi Arabia announces a cut-back in production and Russia the shut-off of the Nord-Stream pipeline, some of the events described in my book may seem a bit dated but the underlying concept is still relevant today. Perhaps even more relevant as oil prices fluctuate and natural gas prices soar, portending a winter of super high prices and power outages here and in Europe.
Almost everyone agrees that President Biden’s plan to forgive billions and billions of dollars of student debt is a bad idea. But it not a bad idea just because it does more economic harm than good. Nor is it a bad idea because it ignores the causes of the student debt problem, does nothing to solve the problem and, therefore, virtually guarantees that the problem will continue and grow even worse, necessitating additional forgiveness in the future. It is wrong on moral and ethical grounds because it sends the message that people have no agency and must look to government for the solution of all their problems. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the reasons we have these debt problems.
Citizens of the United States have many civil rights, but they also have duties and responsibilities. Duties and responsibilities beyond voting and paying taxes. Citizens must be productive members of society. Many of the benefits and entitlements provided to citizens by the government discourage citizens from being productive members of society. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses the duty citizens owe to society.
Former President Donald Trump is the dominant figure in the Republican Party and aspires to be its candidate for President in the 2024 elections. To implement his plans, he is attempting to remake the Republican Party by backing candidates that are loyal to him and his agenda and ousting traditional Republicans whose loyalties lie elsewhere. But his scheme might fail because the candidates he is backing are not faring well against their Democratic opponents in a year when Republicans were expected to well in the midterm elections. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the implications of Mr. Trump’s plans for the future of the Republican Party.
The Inflation Reduction Act concocted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic maverick Joe Manchin is being rushed through Congress in the hopes of a quick passage before people realize what is actually in the bill and what it means in terms of reducing inflation. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the underlying causes of inflation and why the Inflation Reduction Act has little chance to actually reduce inflation.
First, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador snubbed President Biden’s invitation to the recent Summit of the Americas by refusing to attend unless the dictators from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were also invited. At a White House meeting the following week, he chided President Biden about US inflation saying that Americans were crossing the border to buy gasoline in Mexico. After these insults, President Biden journeyed to the Middle East to beg a potentate who previously had refused to receive his calls, in order to beg him to pump more oil. This lack of respect for the US and its president is a result of a slavish adherence to the progressive left agenda that has left the US weakened and vulnerable. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, look sat what lies behind this contempt for the US and its president.
Institutions that are intended to foster professionalism and civic responsibility have been taken over in order to promote progressive ideology. Membership in institutions such as the American Bar Association has declined to only about 14% of practicing attorneys allowing a small minority to realign an esteemed 140 year old institution into a platform for progressivism. And the American Medical Association is using critical race theory to attack systemic racism in medicine. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the hollowing out of vital civic and professional organizations and their transformation into something unrecognizable.
The left is always coming up with new words or redefining the meaning of old words to make their progressive ideas more palatable to the American public. Freidrich Hayek called them weasel words. Words designed to deceive, not inform. One example of weasel words that Professor Hayek highlighted in his book, The Fatal Conceit, are the words “social justice,” which are intended to sound morally superior to regular justice. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the claims of the moral superiority of social justice and also some of the newer weasel words and phrases being pushed by the left.
Extremists on the left and right are fighting a culture war to transform America into something unrecognizable. And while they are fighting each other, they demand ideological purity or cult-like loyalty among their supporters, leaving regular Americans stranded and lost. We have seen this before, in the 1930s. And it did not turn our well. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, calls on regular Americans to reject these partisan attempts to hijack our country.
Financial markets are nearing capitulation, interest rates are rising, inflation is roaring, and recession is looming. The American people, along with investors, are hunkering down for a really rough patch. Everybody is adjusting their lives to cope with these new circumstances. Everybody, that is, but the Biden Administration. They insist that their progressive agenda would be on track except for Putin’s invasion, price gouging energy companies and intransigent Republicans. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates the implications of the Biden Administration’s response to these events.
In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith used the example of a simple pin factory to explain the benefits of the division of labor. He went on to show how this division of labor created a supply chain of economic actors making decisions in their own self-interest that supply all the economic necessities of the country. In America, progressive leftists are pushing social justice goals on US companies that will disrupt this dynamic free market economic system. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, analyzes why social justice goals, while well intended, are incompatible with America’s free market economic system.
An open letter to Senator John Cornyn regarding his efforts to build a bi-partisan consensus on gun reform amid rising concern that current gun laws provide inadequate protection to the American people and their children.
Our Politicians Are Driving Us Crazy. I do not mean this figuratively. I mean this literally. They are driving people crazy and making America a hellish place in which to live. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at what politicians are doing that are literally making people go crazy.
Tragedy follows upon tragedy and the cause is linked to hate speech, disinformation or fake news. It is a natural instinct to want to suppress these sick ideas and hateful concepts. But these evils thrive in the darkness. Their weakness is exposure to light. Free speech carries a high price, but the lack of free speech has an unbearable cost. In this podcast, the Edifice of trust host, Victor Bolles, continues our investigation into the continual high cost of free speech.
I am quite certain that as we get closer to the November off-year elections abortion, inflation and the war in Europe will dominate the campaign rhetoric and the issue of freedom of speech will be pushed to the sidelines (again). But as Elon Musk recently tweeted, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.” We are already being inundated with hackers, trolls, bots, foreign actors, fake news, conspiracy theories and all sorts of nonsense. And now the Biden Administration wants to create a Disinformation Governance Board. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust Host, Victor Bolles, looks at the assault on free speech being perpetrated by these malevolent characters and now our own government.
A stolen draft Supreme court opinion that might overturn Roe v. Wade has set off a firestorm of tweets, op-eds and protests across the country. The Republicans and Democrats are facing off for a Battle of the Century. However, the American public has held a very durable consensus for many years that would allow abortion in the first trimester with increasing restrictions, thereafter. The political parties ignore this consensus that would be a viable basis for policy in favor of divisive politics. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust Host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at why partisan politics is blocking a compromise solution that would allow us to redirect our energies to addressing the consequences of these policies.
President Biden’s poll numbers are in the tank and a lot of people are blaming record high inflation for the poor numbers. But inflation pressures began building long before he became president, only awaiting a trigger to set them off. We got multiple triggers with the Covid pandemic, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain problems. But instead of changing course to address inflationary pressures, the Biden administration is doubling down on its imprudent progressive spending plans. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the underlying causes of inflation and why it will not be easy to tame this beast.
What if the differences between central planning, social justice loving progressives and free market, liberty loving conservatives were not ideological but biological? There is mounting evidence that there may be such a link, which means that rational discussion has little chance of changing the minds of those in these two camps. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates some of the evidence pointing in this direction and discusses some of the implications of this revelation.
President Biden has just released his proposed budget for 2023, projecting trillion dollar deficits and mounting public debt far into the future. The rapidly expanding welfare schemes are a far cry from the sentiments President John F. Kennedy expressed in his inaugural address. And to pay for even more entitlements of dubious value, President Biden is proposing a wealth tax on greedy billionaires. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at how far the progressive left has taken the Democratic Party from the values expressed by JFK.
Eight days after Hitler’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop, signed the infamous pact that bears his name along with his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, Germany invaded Poland, starting World War Two. Twenty days after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued, along with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a Joint Statement declaring a new era of international relations, he invaded Ukraine. The new era promised by Putin and Xi does not bode well for free people around the world. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the implications and challenges raised by this new version of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t going as planned. The reason may lie in the fact the invasion was planned and implemented vertically, from the mind of a single person, Vladimir Putin. The defense of the nation, although inspired by the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is being fought by everyone from grandmothers giving sunflower seeds to Russian troops (so flowers will grow where their bodies are buried) to students and office workers heaving Molotov cocktails at tanks. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the different forms of social organization in Russia and Ukraine.
Just as America was wallowing in woke divisiveness and populist conspiracies, and while the other countries of the West sank into self-indulgent complacency, Vladimir Putin has sent a wake-up call. Europe in their desire to save the planet, had put their future in the hands of Russia. Americans, focused on rancorous partisan politics hardly had the time to concentrate on anything outside its borders. Putin has changed all that. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the reinvigorated solidarity of the West and discusses the leadership that will be needed to survive the coming difficult decades.
I never thought Vladimir Putin would invade Ukraine. It didn’t make any sense. It was irrational. I was wrong – but right. He did invade. But I was right because he has not achieved any of his strategic goals and he (and Russia) are in a much worse situation than before the invasion. In this podcast, I analyze Putin’s disastrous military misadventure and look at its implications for the future.
Primary elections were intended to improve democracy in America. So was the inclusion of administrative positions such as attorney general or railroad commissioner on the ballot. However, as it often is with good intentions, the unintended consequences are often worse than the problem and increasing democracy has resulted in increasing divisiveness. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust hoist, Victor Bolles examines some of the problems presented by upcoming primary elections and makes some recommendations on how to reduce the divisiveness that confronts us.
To our Western eyes, the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin are not just dangerous, they are incomprehensible, which only makes them more dangerous. But he is not a madman. There are reasons behind his recent provocative actions. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles engages in some thought experiments to try and better understand Mr. Putin’s motives and use those insights to guide future measures to preserve our security.
Ray Dalio, billionaire hedge fund manager and author, has written a new book describing his theory of why nations succeed and fail. He has used artificial intelligence and big data to identify the key determinants in the rise and fall of great powers and his theory reveals why the United States is a declining power and China is a rising one. But the real utility of his theory is as a roadmap of how America can avoid, or at least delay, such a fate. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines Mr. Dalio’s theory and identifies the determinants essential to block America’s decline.
In a recent letter, former president Trump implies that Democrats are not real Americans and urges fellow patriots (his words) to elect Trump Republicans. Not Republicans but Trump Republicans whose loyalty is to Donald Trump and not the Republican Party. Not to be out done, President Biden accuses those opposed to his legislation of being on the side of rebels and slavers like Jefferson Davis. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines the reasons for this hyperbolic divisiveness and suggests some alternative approaches to resolve differences.
On January 5, 2022, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards pardoned Homer Plessy for committing the crime of riding in a whites-only railcar in 1892. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Plessy’s appeal of his conviction in the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision that set the stage for “separate but equal” treatment under Jim Crow laws. But that decision had placed public opinion over the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The progressive left objects to an originalist interpretation of the Constitution by justices that impedes their efforts to make sweeping changes to the form and function of the federal government. In this podcast, The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the issues being raised by vaccine mandate cases currently under review by the Court.
In the year 2022 the United States will be challenged to address urgent priorities of national importance, but our political leaders will be distracted by political priorities as we approach the upcoming off-year elections. As citizens, we need to make sure that our elected representative focus on issues of national importance and not on ideological agendas or the egos of political leaders. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, identifies some of these urgent national priorities as well as the distracting political priorities that we need to put behind us.
Joe Manchin’s decision to vote no on President Biden’s Build Back Better plan has earned him the enmity of progressives across the country who are calling him every sort of vile and hateful name they can think of. They accuse him of endangering American democracy by his disloyalty to their progressive agenda. But in a democracy, unlike a totalitarian state, a person can vote their conscience and not be held in contempt. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the reaction to Joe Manchin’s decision and what we should learn from those that vilify him.
Proponents and opponents of a Mississippi law banning abortion after fifteen weeks recently argued before the Supreme Court. Many fear, or alternatively hope, that the Court will overturn the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that has governed abortions since 1973. The court will not announce its decision until the middle of 2022. But whatever the Court decides will not end the controversy surrounding abortion. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the ethical issues that dominate this controversy and discuss what steps are necessary to make progress on this issue.
Because his pleas to OPEC to increase oil production fell on deaf ears, President Biden recently authorized the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with the hope of curbing the rising price of gasoline. But the purpose of the SPR is to give the United States strategic options in the face of foreign policy challenges around the globe, not to be used for political purposes so that the Biden Administration can be seen as doing something to fight rising inflation, inflation that has been exacerbated by the administration’s exorbitant spending plans. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some of the consequences of this action.
Ibram X. Kendi asserts that all humans share 99.9% of their DNA and that, because we are so alike, racial disparities in social and economic outcomes would not exist except for racism. But the 0.1% that we do not have in common must then account for all the wide variations of the human species we see around the world. Charles Murray asserts that based on evidence from intelligence tests there is a cognitive gap between the races that explains much of the differences in social and economic outcomes. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles examines the possibility that both Kendi and Murray might be wrong.
Democrats are still reeling from the disastrous election results from the 2021 off-year elections. They lost the governorship and the state house in blue Virginia. They almost lost the governorship in very blue New Jersey, however, a neophyte Republican with a shoe-string budget took down the second most powerful Democrat in the state. Progressive initiatives failed while conservatives were ousting progressives from school boards across the country. In response, Democrats seem intent to keep pushing their progressive agenda. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at the Democrat reaction while offering some advice to Republicans on how to win in 2022.
Progressive Democrats and the Biden White House continue to work on hashing out the details of the American Families Plan along with increases in the tax rates for corporations and wealthy individuals to pay for it. But in the real world (compared to the ideal but unattainable world envisioned by progressives) most corporations pass on the increased costs of higher taxes to consumers and workers while corporations that cannot pass on such increased costs will suffer from reduced competitiveness against other companies around the world. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how corporations are likely to react to the progressives plans in the real world.
The progressive left continues to push for passage of President Biden’s $3.5 trillion (which in reality is more than $5.0 trillion) spending plan and Socialist Bernie Sanders touts the bill as a “compromise” insisting that the real amount should be more than six trillion. How can the left justify such massive spending since no one believes that the proposed tax hikes to accompany the spending will cover more than a fraction? Conveniently, economists of the progressive left have a theory (they have a lot of theories in lieu of facts) that says government can spend all they want. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the rationale behind Modern Monetary Theory and some of the dangers application of this unproven theory would create.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial (The Entitlements of U.S. Decline, October 7, 2021) remarked that the Biden Administration’s claim that higher taxes and more social welfare spending were “the path to national revival” was startling and audacious “especially when the global evidence is the opposite.” The assertion flies in the face of reason just as the President’s claim the cost of his programs is “zero” because of his tax hikes. Europe’s social welfare system has dragged down the continent’s economic growth for decades. But excessive social welfare spending can cause even greater harm than just slower economic growth. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the impact that cradle to grave entitlements can cause.
Many of the Founders had grave doubts about the long-term viability of the American experiment in democracy, as documented in a recent book by Dennis Rasmussen, Fears of a Setting Sun, The Disillusionment of America’s Founders. Democracies did not have a very good reputation in 1776. But here we are. And as fractious as our twenty-first century politics are, Dr. Rasmussen’s book shows that many of the vicious disputes that wracked those first years of our country are eerily similar to the division and rancor we face now. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses some of the origins of those disputes and why, even after two centuries of fighting, there is cause for optimism.
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The modern era has ended the geographic isolation that created different characteristics among people that were classified as different races. As a result, people from different parts of the globe are meeting and eventually intermarrying with each other, blurring the concept of race beyond any measure. This trend was highlighted in the recent U.S. Tennis Open which featured rising young stars that were a mix of people from around the world. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates this trend and its implications in America.
Closing the black-white academic achievement gap is an important problem that America needs to solve. But the way to solve this problem is not to lower academic standards to the lowest common denominator. This would be a disservice to black kids and to the nation. We need to raise the academic achievement of black kids, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it will also help us to close the real achievement gap, the one between American kids and Chinese kids. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses the achievement gap that will most affect the liberty of our kids and grandkids.
The Enlightenment based Western Civilization that we live in did not arrive in this world in full bloom the moment John Locke put down his pen. It has evolved slowly and sometimes painfully over the centuries. The greatest achievement of this civilization has been the liberation of human capital through the participation of millions and millions of people in our Western systems of governance, economics and knowledge. In the twenty-first century, these great systems have come under attack. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, analyzes the source of Western power and the nature of the attacks against it.
A new woke ideology of egalitarian idealism is spreading out from academia and into our public schools, corporations and government institutions like a lab-leaked virus. This ideology rejects the Enlightenment principles and ideals on which America was founded. It rejects universally accepted concepts like reasoned discussion and rational discourse believing that they make up part of a socially constructed web of power meant to oppress minorities. This makes debate that could lead to an acceptable compromise impossible. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at this mutated ideology and discusses methods to preserve our American heritage.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced last week a continuation of the Fed’s policy of purchasing government bonds in order to stimulate economic growth and reduce unemployment despite an uptick of inflation above the Fed’s target. This move prompted the Wall Street Journal to speculate that the Fed might also view inflation as a mechanism to cut the enormous size of the public debt; a mechanism recommended by the Marxist economist Thomas Piketty and other progressives. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses at the efficacy of this strategy and the dangers it breeds.
Leftwing progressives seem intent on using razor thin majorities in Washington to permanently transform the United States into their vision of a Europeanized social democratic state or worse. They are pushing multitrillion dollar spending plans, taking over public schools to indoctrinate children on anti-racism and changing election laws to permanently entrench the left in power. But why now and why the rush? In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses why progressives are so desperate to restructure America before a growing backlash takes the reins of government power from their hands.
Fox News likes to pick on Chicago’s murder rate, using anecdotal evidence instead of statistics. But increasing violence and murder is spreading across the country and this spread isn’t limited to just the big cities. It is coming to a city near you. Police departments are being defunded by left-wing mayors and city councils. Police officers, citing low morale, are retiring or resigning in droves leaving departments understaffed and citizens exposed to rising violence. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at some of the causes of this increasing violence and traces it back to its roots.
My Fourth Victor C. Bolles July 6, 2021 I wasn't too enthused by the Fourth of July specials on television so I created my own patriotic show. I thought you might enjoy some of the videos I watched as well. Happy Fourth of July.
Progressive political activists and social justice warriors are attempting to capture competitive sports as another way to bludgeon us into accepting their left-wing agenda. But sports have always been a respite from daily cares and should not become another mechanism of political division. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the current state of sports and analyze how it has deviated from its traditional purpose.
A recent Internet meme about Pablo Picasso prompted me to wonder about how many unsold paintings and other art objects he still had when he died. This thought came to me because Democrats are proposing all sorts of new taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and I wondered how Picasso’s estate might have been affected had he been subject to these taxes. That led me to wonder why the Democrats were so obsessive about taxing the wealthy. It could not be because they are suddenly fiscally responsible, because they aren’t. And it is not because they are worried about the mounting public debt, because they aren’t worried about that either. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the real motives behind the Democrats’ raising taxes. (Hint: Its politics)
President Joe Biden has just returned from his first overseas diplomatic mission attempting to repair the damage wreaked by the Trump administration to our relationships with G-7 and NATO allies. But America’s role as global leader had been in decline long before President Trump arrived on the scene and the world is not better off as a result. The United States must not only revamp its foreign policy it must also rebuild its economic, industrial and military strength and power to be in position to provide the needed global leadership and to inspire other nations to emulate our democratic and free market principles. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at what the United States must do to regain the prestige and authority to be the global leader it once was.
Donald Trump’s intervention in the 2020 Senate election in Georgia was a disaster that propelled two Democrats into the Senate, paving the way for the Biden administration and far-left progressives to attempt to make a generational change to transform America. Mr. Trump and his fervent base of supporters are conducting a purge of any Republican deemed insufficiently loyal to him personally to remake Republicans into the Party of Trump. Americans are not happy with the leftward lurch of President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer but Mr. Trump will strengthen the Democrats position as he tightens his grip on the Republican Party. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, analyzes the potential impact of the Party of Trump.
President Biden is proposing a $6 trillion budget in order to begin the implementation of his American Jobs Plan and his American Families Plan thinking, apparently, that attaching the word “American” to his progressive agenda will blind the American people to its true intent. But the process to make America more like Europe will make us more vulnerable at a time of rising authoritarianism and his budget shortchanges our defense. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, scrutinizes the problems with his progressive agenda and the existential threats it ignores.
Antiracism is like antimatter. It is the opposite of racism, but it is not better than racism, just opposite. And the combination of the opposing forces is explosive. Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to an Antiracist tries to make the case for antiracism and the success of the book and the incorporation of its ideas into diversity, equity and inclusion training indicate the influence of this ideology in America. But reading the book convinced me that an America based on antiracist ideology would be a horrible place in which to live, for blacks, whites and everybody else. In the podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a critical look at some of the key tenets of the antiracist ideology.
Amazon recently stopped selling a book because it disputes the progressive vision of transgender theory. But transgender issues make up only one front in the battle of ideas that dominates political discourse in America. Free speech is under attack in this country. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks more closely at the transgender controversy and its implications for the progressive agenda sweeping America.
President Joe Biden has given his first speech to a joint session of Congress recounting his accomplishments in the first 100 days as president and, in the speech, he promised to give trillions of dollars to just about everybody and make big corporations and greedy one-percenters pay for it all. Will it work? Is it a good idea? In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, examines some of the implications of what the president is proposing might look like.
The Center for Disease Control has recently re-approved Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after a brief pause stating that the benefits far outweigh the harmful side effects. Similarly, America’s free market economic system (sometimes called capitalism) has been accused by the left of many harmful side effects including the exploitation of labor, income inequality and other social justice shortfalls. Leftists recommend that the economy be cured with socialism. But like J&J’s vaccine, socialism has gone through its own clinical trial, but unlike J&J, socialism failed to cure the patient. In this commentary we examine more closely the harmful side effects of free markets.
Critical Race Theory is coming to a school near you. Soon! Very soon if it is not already there. Many people don’t understand Critical Race Theory, just like they don’t truly understand the Black Lives Matter organization or the 1619 Project. Most people see it as part of a good faith effort to improve diversity, equity and inclusion that will lead to the healing our nation’s racial wounds. That is not the goal of the proponents of these malevolent ideas. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a closer look at one of the premier textbooks on Critical Race Theory that is being taught in our universities and high schools.
Business school taught me that it is okay to finance long term assets like plant and equipment because those assets will be generating revenue for many years to service that debt. But President Joe Biden wants to finance long term infrastructure assets with current taxes. At the same time rapidly increasing non-discretionary spending (i.e., transfer payments to pay for immediate needs) are financed with long term debt. That’s backwards and makes no sense. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the real reasons for this tax hike and also points out some shortcomings in the infrastructure plan.
A recent book, The Politics Industry, describes American politics as a multibillion-dollar industry made up of not only politicians but also advisors, think tanks, pollsters, PACs and many others that functions as a duopoly that benefits those in the industry at the expense of its customers, the American people. The two parties have structured politics and government to exclude competition and innovation from third parties or independents. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some ways to shake up this industry for the benefits of its customers, us.
The stock market is going crazy with Tesla trading at a price/earnings ratio of over a thousand and GameStop spiking to $269. But the craziness isn’t limited to the stock market. Americans are doing a lot of loony inexplicable things. It’s not the coronavirus that is causing everything from the banning of Dr. Seuss to the sale of a non-fungible token for $69.3 million. It is us. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some examples of this craziness sweeping our country and makes a clarion call for sanity.
In this era of outrage against inadvertent utterances and unknowing micro-aggressions, there is little tolerance of even the most minute human error. Ancient tweets and withdrawn Facebook posts come back to haunt, If not innocent, at least contrite people. The anger and outrage of the woke generation seems totally out of proportion to the alleged offenses. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates this phenomenon and ponders where it might lead.
The search for systemic racism continues. Anti-racist academics and progressive politicians know it exists because the black/white outcome gap in areas such as housing, health care, employment and criminal justice proves it exists. It is just that it is hard to find because, as Stokely Carmichael said, of its less overt, more subtle nature. It must exist, because if it doesn’t there must be a different explanation for the Black/white outcome gap. And a lot of people are not going to like that explanation. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles seeks to uncover the real motivation for all the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training that the Biden administration and the progressive left is promoting.
A Gallup poll conducted in February 2020, well before the presidential elections, that 59% of the respondents said they did not trust US elections. If people who lose an election believe the process was trustworthy, they will regroup and try to a new strategy to woo voters. But if they believe they were cheated, they will burn with anger and harden their positions. We can only hope to unify the country if we can rebuild the people’s faith in our elections. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses what politicians must do to restore that trust.
The Congressional Budget Office has come out with a study of a bill in Congress to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour that forecasts some good outcomes (reduced poverty) and some bad outcomes (increased unemployment). But forecasts are usually very inaccurate and when governments try to force free markets to generate politically determined outcomes, the unintended consequences are often worse than the expected benefits of the policy. If the minimum wage was the cause of people’s poverty than raising it would alleviate the problem. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the fact that low wages are not the cause of the problem but the result of the problem.
Three old black men, Walter Williams, Bob Woodson and Thomas Sowell, have a different perspective about the problems afflicting the black community than do many modern black economists that cite systemic racism and white oppression as the cause of what is holding the black community down. But these old men grew up before the Civil Rights Act and the War on Poverty and they know what it takes for blacks to be successful. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles examines some of their thoughts during this time of heightened racial tension.
President Joe Biden has called for unity in his inaugural address and has backed up this call name a very diverse group of people to senior positions and in his cabinet. And there have been some recently published books about the current divisions of our country due to excessive individualism and making recommendations about how to reunite us back into “We the People.” But how do we do it. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at two books aimed at rebuilding the concept of “we” but the authors, Harvard professor Robert Putnam and Rabbi Lord Sacks, have very different ideas on what creates unity.
A week after the attack on the Congress by hordes of fanatic Trump supporters, threats of even more violence by this mob roil the entire nation. The FBI has issued warnings to law enforcement officials in Washington, DC and all 50 state capitals that Trump zealots will try and disrupt the inauguration of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. President Trump has said nothing to dissuade his followers from these seditious and treasonous actions. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the next stage of America’s descent toward autocracy.
President Trump’s obsession with overturning the results of the 2020 election have driven him to the edge of madness. But the riotous attack on the US Capitol that was incited by President Trump’s words at a MAGA rally in Washington, DC may have freed the Republican Party from the grip of Trump and his fanatical followers. As a result of his rash actions and deranged behavior, his core supporters, which gave him the power to hold the Republican Party in thrall, will be much reduced in size and will become even more extreme. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust Host, Victor Bolles, will look at what the Republicans must do to regain the trust of the American people.
After a week of chaos caused by his own actions, President Trump signed the COVID relief bill along with the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress with bipartisan support. But his rash actions only compounded the grief and anguish of millions caused by months of delays in congress. Georgetown University professor Jason Brennan asserts in his book, Against Democracy, that incompetent elected leaders are the only possible result when the electorate, itself, is incompetent. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at the implications of Professor Brennan’s assertion and also why those same supposedly incompetent people have created an economic miracle in America’s free market economy.
Now that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel as vaccinations are set to begin before the end of the year, new cases of COVID-19 are spiking across the country. People are tired of wearing masks and not going to movies and bars. The Thanksgiving travel weekend saw the most passengers flying since before the pandemic struck. Pollster Frank Luntz believes that the war of words between the right and left are making the problem worse. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at a study prepared by Luntz that shows how certain words and phrases in the messaging of public health officials and politicians affect how people react to the protocols to slow the spread of the virus and save lives.
Argentina went from being the tenth wealthiest country in the world in 1913 to 69th now, and it all started with the rise of the populist Juan Perón. Argentina has vacillated between Perónism, dictatorships and democracy for most of the 20th century and the result has been nationalizations, confiscations and multiple debt defaults. America is entering a period of political and economic instability. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the sources of this instability and attempts to find a way for America to avoid being the Argentina of the 21st century.
Progressive left notables are staking their claim to the administration of the Biden presidency, but do they have a valid claim to that stake? Joe Biden won the presidency by being the nice guy alternative to President Trump and promoting unity to attract centrist Democrats and independents, not by being a socialist revolutionary. There was no blue wave. Republicans did well down ballot. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles analyzes the election results and gives some advice to Republicans and Democrats.
Wang Qishan, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China as well as the friend and mentor of Xi Jinping, has recommended the communist party cadres read the Ancien Regime and the Revolution by Alexis Tocqueville. The Chinese clearly believe that there are lessons in the collapse of the monarchy that China needs to heed. But there also lessons for America in de Tocqueville’s book. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at some of the things that we can still learn from Alexis de Tocqueville.
At this moment, there is still no clear winner of the 2020 presidential election. And the court battles and accusations will continue for some time. The people have spoken. But what did they tell us? In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at the election results and tries to determine what course we should take going forward.
New political parties on the fringes of the left and right have been growing around the globe and forcing traditional political parties out of power. In the United States, instead of new outlier parties rising, it is the traditional Republican and Democratic parties that have become radicalized. But these moves to the outlier extremes have abandoned many centrist and independent voters. In France, a new centrist party arose and quickly displaced the Socialists and the National Front. In this commentary, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates what it would take to form a new political party in the United States.
The confirmation process for President’s Trump nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, begins this week and the Democrats are on the warpath. They have their own plans for the Supreme Court. Many powerful Democrats are urging presidential candidate Joe Biden to pack the Court with activist progressive justices if he is elected. They want an activist court so that the Court can reinterpret the Constitution because they lack the broad consensus necessary to amend it. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks more deeply at the implication of such action on the checks and balances placed in the Constitution by the Founders.
Negotiations between Donald Trump’s White House and Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives for another COVID-19 relief package have broken down and with them the hopes of many millions of Americans who are getting more desperate every day. Even Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says that the risks of spending too little money on relief are greater than the risks of spending too much. We are at war with COVID-19 and we must spend whatever it takes to survive this pandemic. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses what needs to be done in the aftermath to get our fiscal house in order and to prepare for the next catastrophe that will surely happen.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture asserts that self-reliance, hard work, deferred gratification, rational thought and a nuclear family are the essence of white culture in America. Immigrants from across the globe have come to America and have had great success by adopting these attributes, even black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. Is this cultural domination of white people over people of color or is it simply that adopting these attributes works well for all people? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigates some of the reasons why African-Americans lag behind other groups in America.
Covid-19 has thrown education into array. And the New York Times ‘1619 Project, that portrays America as an inherently racist country, is being promoted as a school curricula beginning in elementary school. With all this turmoil, E.D. Hirsch, professor emeritus in education and humanities at the University of Virginia, asserts that much of the turmoil is an outcome of the switch in the philosophy of teaching children from shared-knowledge teaching to child-centered teaching in the twentieth century, resulting in a precipitous decline in reading and SAT scores. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates Dr. Hirsch’s claim that a return to shared-knowledge learning would not only raise reading scores, but that it would help to unify a fractured nation.
Identity politics plays to a powerful primal human instinct, tribalism. But the progress of civilization has been built by an expanding circle of trust that can overcome the divisiveness of tribalism. Democratic nation states like America rely on this common bond of trust. The only alternative is oppression and force. The purveyors of identity politics are unraveling the fabric that holds America together. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles investigates the science behind identity politics and searches for real solutions that work for all Americans.
As the long hot summer of 2020 winds its way into autumn, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests seem unending. Crime and violence are spiking as police retreat back into their precincts. And the widespread calls to end systemic racism appear more and more focused, not on ending racism, but on ending the system that we call America. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles takes a look at the Critical Race Theory that defines what many of these calls to end systemic racism really mean.
The Nexstar Media Group believes that there is a thirst for fair, unbiased, non-partisan news across this country and is launching later this month a new cable news network, NewsNation, to take the middle ground away from Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and the mainstream media. But for NewsNation to be successful, there must be a large portion of this country that not only rejects all the partisan news coverage, but also all the partisan politics behind the coverage. The major political parties have abandoned these citizens and have left them without a voice in the upcoming elections. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at strategies these abandoned citizens can employ to make themselves heard.
Sheltering in place for fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, city workers have traded the deli around the corner from their office for the Chick-fil-A near their suburban home. But just as they were timorously beginning to think about venturing back into the city, protests, riots and looting are convincing them to stay put in their home office. And upscale city residents are beginning to join them. Small business owners and landlords that cater to the less upscale residents have their businesses looted and their buildings destroyed. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at the implications of unending protests that quickly degenerate into riots on the most vulnerable people within those cities.
The saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is a truism that is not true. Things have been changing in America and mostly for the better. This year, America has been wracked, not only by the COVID-19 pandemic, but by nationwide protests that systemic racism is the cause of the problems in the black community. But there has been change over the years, and much of it good. Legal barriers like segregation have been thrown down and civil rights laws to protect minorities have been passed and are enforced. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses the events of the long, hot summer of 2020.
Left-wing economists have hailed French economist Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital and Ideology, as “the economics book…of the decade”, stating that its analysis is “breathtaking.” But while the scope of his analysis of “inequality regimes” is extensive, he fails to adequately explain why there are so few examples of “equality regimes” or why the few existing examples are all unmitigated disasters. His analysis exposes a psychological blindness to the validity of other viewpoints that may be shared by many progressives. Piketty’s influence has been prominent in the Democratic presidential campaign and their proposed 2020 platform. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles takes a look at how progressives view the world and what they are proposing to do about it.
Between the pandemic, Black Lives matter protests, antifa rioting and the most divisive election in US history (except perhaps the 1800 election), I have been wondering what kind of world my kids and grandkids will inherit after I am gone. The Democrats are veering far to the left, but socialism doesn’t offer a better future, just an egalitarian future. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, considers what a sweep of the upcoming elections by the progressive left might look like.
The State Department's draft Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights draws a clear distinction between unalienable rights and other so-called positive rights, prompting a New York Times editorial touting the supposed long standing belief that "all rights are created equal." Nonsense. In fact, like many other things in life, different rights have different values to different people. The creation of a just society is a complex negotiation that requires flexibility between people that have different moral axes. In this commentary, we look at how increasing inflexibility in the assertion of various rights is the root cause of many of the problems we face today.
French economist Thomas Piketty has recently published a new book, Capital and Ideology, to follow up on his previous best seller, Capital in the Twenty-first Century. The new book goes beyond socialism, where the state owns the means of production, to recommend the abolition of private property because private property creates inequality. The influence of Piketty's ideas is a threat to our way of life because his student, Gabriel Zucman, and his collaborator, Emmanuel Saez, were economic advisors to the Sanders and Warren campaigns and likely influenced the platform recommendations of presidential candidate Joe Biden's "unity task force" that were prepared with the help of Sanders. In this episode the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how peoples' lives will be affected if these economic proposals are made into policy.
For all you clueless ones out there, a Karen is a snooty white woman going off on innocent black folks for some minor transgression of the woman's "safe space," most recently of a woman yelling at a black man in Central Park and captured on the man's smartphone. Time Magazine calls these outbursts "shameless displays of entitlement, privilege and racism." But these Karens have a lot in common with today's college students who are demanding "safe spaces" where they won't be subjected to hate speech, otherwise known as reasonable conservative thought. In this commentary, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the sense of security of many Americans has been shattered by an ever present media barrage of tragic events.
In a recent video, Hoover Institute fellow Peter Robinson spoke with Wall Street Journal editor Jason Riley about his recent book, False Black Power. Mr. Riley explains that, after the Civil War, the black community made great strides by developing the human capital of the community in spite of the barriers of racism, Jim Crow laws and segregation. But in the 1960s, black leaders began to focus more on developing political capital over developing human capital and, while the effort has been largely successful, the black community has not benefitted very much from their access to government power. In this commentary, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the current political protests are focused on building political capital instead of human capital.
Republicans must begin to prepare for the post-Trump era, which polls indicate is coming faster than many anticipated. Between real crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests of the killing of George Floyd and the crises of his own making on Twitter, President Trump is sinking in the polls against Joe Biden who doesn't have to do anything but stay in his basement to move up in the polls. But President Trump will not easily give up his strangle hold on the Republican Party. In this episode, the edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some things that Republicans can do to bring the party back into alignment with America's Founding Principles and the traditions of the party.
There has been a lot of progress in reforming the police and lowering the levels of police violence. Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute has plenty of statistics to back up this point. But statistical evidence and civil discourse are impotent in the face of brutal killings of black men by white cops. Videos of these killings are caught on ever-present smartphones and blasted repeatedly on our television screens and over the Internet. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how the transformational change being sought by outraged protestors can endanger the slow but incremental progress we have been making in police reform and in reducing racial bias.
When I saw protestors at the recent marches in reaction to the murder of George Floyd carrying signs that read, “Defund the police,” I just thought they were crazy. But when progressive governors, mayors and city council members began supporting the concept I was shocked. I think we can all agree that many police departments are in need of reform but defunding or dismantling the police will be a very risky experiment with the lives of black people on the line. In this episode we look at what happened when police reduced community involvement and also what other consequences the experiment could produce.
The protests in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder by a Minneapolis cop have continued for many days and have often descended into looting, arson and murder. The peaceful protestors are demanding justice and the end to systemic racism in police departments across the country. But are the charges true? Is there systemic racism in our police force that has resulted in many killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white cops? In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses scientific evidence that indicates these charges are overblown and that the institutions in our society have been making incremental progress in reducing racism. He also looks at one of the demands of protestors to defund police departments that is a bad idea.
Increasingly, I am gaining more insight to our economic and political problems from science books than I do from books on economics or political theory. I was started on this journey by Daniel Kahneman's book, Thinking, Fast and Slow that led to additional books on behavioral economics. I followed up by reading Jonathan Haidt's book, The Righteous Mind, that explores the psychological foundations of our moral precepts. Most recently, I read Richard Wrangham's book, The Goodness Paradox, where he explains how evolutionary forces have shaped our concepts of virtue and violence. In this episode I try to begin to bring these varied ideas and theories together to make sense of current events.
Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham theorizes in his new book, the Goodness Paradox, that Homo sapiens (us) is a domesticated species and, lacking ancient aliens as seen on the History channel or divine intervention, that we are self-domesticated. He believes that the domestication process was accomplished by our egalitarian hunter/gatherer ancestors by killing off potential leaders that would create a hierarchical society and eliminated their aggressive tendencies from the gene pool - thus creating a domesticated species. In this episode, the Edifice of trust host, Victor Bolles looks at evolutionary consequences this process has created and how humans have coped with them.
The author of a book about how the physical brain creates consciousness was explaining how brain architecture strives to make the brain robust rather than efficient. The efficient brain can outperform the robust brain within certain parameters but cannot survive outside those narrow limits. Evolution favors systems that can survive. Many of the factors that make human brains robust are similar to the factors that make the free market economic system robust as well. In this week’s episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how free market economies appear to be custom made for human beings.
Our unthinking enemy acts on only one principle, replicate its DNA as much as possible. Its relentless culling of the human race focuses on those that are most vulnerable, those that have other underlying health problems such that over 89% of the deaths in New York state are people that have these so-called comorbidity factors. America is also vulnerable to crises like the Coronavirus pandemic because our country also suffers from existential comorbidity factors such as an enormous public debt, debilitated military and legislative gridlock. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, looks at these comorbidity factors and discusses how to confront them.
Congress will soon begin discussions about another round of legislative stimulus in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. And Senator Elizabeth Warren has some proposals that she will try to include as she enumerated in her New York Times op-ed on April 8, 2020. But her proposals are not intended to address the current crisis. In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles examines the progressive agenda she is trying insert into a bill that should focus on temporary emergency steps to mitigate the economic and societal damage of Coronavirus pandemic. An agenda she would not be able to get approved on its own.
The economy is being horribly damaged by the steps the federal and state governments are taking to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. But it is not the state of the economy that will determine the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The election will be determined by how the Trump administration handles the pandemic and its aftermath. And it will be determined by the leadership shown by President Donald Trump to calm the fears and concerns of an anxious nation. In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how the early indications are not very promising.
This week Congress will be passing legislation to deal with the economic devastation our struggle with the Coronavirus has caused. Some of the proposals are dopey, some are self-serving and some represent left-wing or right-wing political agendas. Many will be ineffective or poorly focused. In this episode the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at some proposals would more squarely address the problems created by the shutdown of the American economy. If you agree with these proposals you should pass them on to your elected representatives.
The coronavirus is coming and coming fast. Thanks to jet airplanes and giant cruise ships, the virus could not be contained in China and has spread rapidly to over 149 countries around the world. When it becomes time for the blame game, modern civilization will be in the crosshairs. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, discusses how the Enlightenment values that gave us the technology that helped spread the virus across the globe, also hold the hope of quickly finding a cure.
Russian election meddling has tarnished President Trump’s 2016 elections and the resulting investigations have dogged his administration for most of his term. As he prepares to run for reelection the Russians appear to be up to their same old tricks. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses what President Trump should do (instead of what he is likely to do). It is to heed the words of one of his predecessors, George Washington.
After several boozy trips to socialist and formerly socialist countries, two irreverent (and beer loving) economists wondered about the rise of socialism in America. Millennials and Gen Z have a positive opinion of socialism and would be willing to vote for a socialist in upcoming elections, as evidenced by the popularity of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primaries. Why is that? Libertarian economists Bob and Ben infiltrated a socialism conference to find out. In this episode the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses what they found out.
The most recent book of the infamous Dr. Charles Murray (Human Diversity, The Biology of Gender, Race and Class) paints a picture of genetic determinism that highlights the differences between people and debunks the left's notions that these differences are social constructs created by white privilege. In this commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses what these ideas imply for public policy.
The first students of the generation raised since the invention of the smart phone began entering the university in 2013. Soon after, students began requesting trigger warnings and safe spaces to protect them from bias incidents and from speakers or textbooks that made them uncomfortable. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff analyze this problem in their new book, the Coddling of the American Mind. The problem, as discussed by the Edifice of Trust host Victor Bolles, is that this type of thinking, called safetyism by the authors, is spreading out from universities like a coronavirus.
Golf is simple – until you take into account all the Newtonian physics that can affect the flight of the golf ball. And you have to add in the physical abilities and psychological quirks of the golfer that further complicate the game of golf. Good governance should also be simple. But governance is not based on physics but on psychology. And while the golfer must contend with the physical challenges on the golf course and the weather, government must contend with the psychological interaction of millions of citizens. In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at ways to cope with these challenges.
Many unions such as the National Nurses United are endorsing socialist and progressive presidential candidates despite the fact that independent trade unions have not fared well under socialist and leftist regimes. In this episode the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at what is the appropriate relationship between labor and capital.
Identity politics is a potent weapon because it paints people within certain identity groups (mostly minorities) as victims of the dominant group. It is potent because the feeling of victimization creates neurological reactions that motivate people with this feeling to seek redress of their grievances, real or imagined. But the use of victimization as a political tool has side effects and unintended consequences that the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles reviews in this episode.
Have you received any email messages recently requesting that you make a donation on Giving Tuesday to a college, charity, symphony, think tank or other not-for-profit organization? The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, sure has. Here is his take on this recently created Christmas institution.
Is is possible to have too much democracy? The Founders thought so. They feared that too much democracy could destroy liberty. They realized that people needed government to protect the social order but that too much government became a tyranny. So they created checks and balances to limit the power of government. Likewise, they believed that an unchecked and fickle majority could also create a tyrannical regime. Increasing democracy increases the risks to the social order. In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles looks at some evidence that we may have increased democracy to the point that it endangers our republic.
In this world there are actors and reactors. There are political actors that run for office and there are political reactors that vote for them. There are economic actors that start up businesses or create new products and there are economic reactors that work for them and consume their products. The American system has been successful because it creates a lot of actors and these actors dynamize our politics, our economics and every aspect of our lives. The progressive policies of the Democratic presidential candidates want to hobble these creative actors and take their wealth. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, takes a look at the differences between actors and reactors.
Recently, presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren said, “I'm running a campaign from the heart.” And if you have seen her on the campaign trail, you know that she shows a lot of emotion while campaigning. But usually that emotion is anger. She is mad as hell. Her proposal for Medicare-for-All seem more intended to kick the butts of big corporations and fat cat billionaires than it is to solve our healthcare problems. In this week's episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses governing from the heart as well as about all the people that have been paying into Medicare for years.
Recently, presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren said, “I'm running a campaign from the heart.” And if you have seen her on the campaign trail, you know that she shows a lot of emotion while campaigning. But usually that emotion is anger. She is mad as hell. Her proposal for Medicare-for-All seem more intended to kick the butts of big corporations and fat cat billionaires than it is to solve our healthcare problems. In this week's episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses governing from the heart as well as about all the people that have been paying into Medicare for years.
On August 19, 2019 the CEOs making up the Business Roundtable issued a statement redefining the purpose of a corporation to add new stakeholders such as employees and consumers to the corporation's loyalty in addition to shareholder returns. Expecting praise from the left they got instead a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren demanding tangible proof of the implementation of their intentions and a pledge to support her legislation to change the structure of capitalism in the United States. The free market has a self-correcting mechanism for when companies make mistakes. The government lacks such a mechanism and government mistakes are embedded in the administrative state with unintended consequences that last for decades. In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses the unintended consequences of well meaning legislation.
The impeachment inquiry and subsequent votes are more than just about removing Donald Trump from office (which it is unlikely to accomplish anyway). The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses that how incumbents vote in the House and Senate will become a litmus test that the extreme wings on the right and left will use to oust moderates from the party ranks.
In his recent book (co-authored with Bing West), former Secretary of Defense and Marine Corps General Jim Mattis writes about his military career and the key factors for battlefield success. An important element is what he call the commander's intent. It is vitally important that all the troops under his command understand and act in concert with this intent. In this commentary, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how understanding the commander's intent relates to the political turmoil we currently face in the United States.
After forty plus years of economic expansion and growing prosperity, Chinese Present Xi Jinping finds himself in a dilemma. Economic growth has allowed China to regain much of its stature as a world power but only because the Chinese rejected communist ideals and principles to create a form of state capitalism with private companies and private property providing much of the dynamism of the economy. Creating an industrialized capitalist society was supposed to propel China from a weak, impoverished backwater incapable of the transformation to communism into an industrialized power ready to convert to communism. But conversion to communism would put China at a disadvantage to the dynamic and capitalist West. So President Xi must continue to guide China on a capitalist course in order to keep up with the West. In this episode the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at China's options and how that affects American foreign policy.
America's decades long policy of engagement with China has been a failure. China has used our engagement and that of other developed countries to become, not only prosperous, but a formidable military power, a predatory mercantilist economic power and a technologically advanced oppressor of the Chinese people. The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how America and its friends and allies (if it has any left) must come up with a new strategy to protect our freedom and make the world a safer place.
Thomas Sowell's 1999 book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice, addresses many of the issues we face today including identity politics, social justice and entitlements, income inequality, personal truth more important than reality (sometimes called being woke) and the rejection of American principles. The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses how Thomas Sowell may not be "woke," but twenty years ago he identified of the issues that are tearing us apart in the run-up to the 2020 elections.
Thomas Sowell points out in his book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice that constitutional rights and cosmic social justice are mutually exclusive and like matter and antimatter cannot coexist. In this week's episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles speculates what would happen if social justice principles were applied to the NBA?
The Democratic presidential candidates are calling President Trump a racist and a white supremacist. But is he? I think he is a Trump supremacist. But others are attacking the basic principles upon which America is founded as racist and the product of white supremacy. Can these assertions be true? Is the ideal of America just a sham?The Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses.
In a recent tweet, President Trump not only accused China of currency manipulation but also pressured the Federal Reserve to lower interest rate in order to weaken the dollar. But tariffs and currency manipulation are just part of the mercantilist tool kit that the president is using to create an import substitution regime in the United States. In the weeks episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles discusses how import substitution is an outmoded economic system that has been rejected by most advanced economies.
What is the American Dream? Americans want the opportunity to achieve it. Foreigners clamber over our borders to get it. Politicians promise to give it. But what is the American Dream? In this week's episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discuss what the American Dream really is. And it may not be what you think.
Two black economic professors are advising several of the Democratic presidential aspirants about how to close the affluence gap between black and white Americans which they ascribe to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. But will these costly progressive programs do any better than the War on Poverty to solve this intractable problem? In this week's commentary the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will examine the evidence.
In this episode, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses Stanford Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky who in his 2017 book, Behave, writes that human behavior is a reaction to chemicals and hormones produced by the human body in response to external stimuli and goes further to state that a number of neurobiologists believe that free will is an illusion. He is joined by other scientists who have written that human beings are not the rational, intelligent species that we have thought we are. If true, this has an important impact on our politics and economics. Or does it?