Season 5 Episode 30: Debate with Tibor Rutar on Marx's Theory of History + Nordic Model vs Socialism

Tibor Rutar is the author of a book called "Capitalism for Realists: Virtues and Vices of the Modern Economy" in which he argues that the best system is a moderate, social democratic form of capitalism. In making that case, he heavily relies on "economic freedom" rankings. In the book, Rutar criticizes an article Ben Burgis wrote for Jacobin arguing that such rankings are worthless and tell us nothing:

https://jacobin.com/2021/10/economic-freedom-rankings-frasier-institute-peter-leeson-socialism-capitalism

Rutar also wrote an article for Areo magazine called "Marxism: The Idea that Refuses to Die":

https://areomagazine.com/2023/06/27/marxism-the-idea-that-refuses-to-die/

....which Ben wrote about in last Sunday's Substack essay, "Why I"m Still a Marxist: A Response to Tibor Rutar":

https://benburgis.substack.com/p/tibor-rutars-flawed-critique-of-marx

In this episode, they finally sit down to. talk out the differences in their worldviews! Before that, Ben and the crew play a new Billy Bragg song (responding to "Rich Men North of Richmond"), and play a bit of Ben's recent appearance on the Left Reckoning postgame where he talked to Matt Lech and David Griscom about Marxism. In the postgame for GTAA patrons, they preview an in-person debate that Ben is going to be doing in-person in Los Angeles and watch a bubbly conservative pundit who seems to be deeply confused about how, as a conservative, she's supposed to feel about the French Revolution.

Check out Tibor's book:

https://www.routledge.com/Capitalism-for-Realists-Virtues-and-Vices-of-the-Modern-Economy/Rutar/p/book/9781032305929

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