{"podcast":{"title":"Minor Issues","slug":"minor-issues-6016417","podcast_index_feed_id":6016417,"rss_url":"https://cdn.mises.org/itunes/en_129227.xml","website_url":"https://mises.org/podcasts/minor-issues","image_url":"https://mises.org/sites/default/files/minor-issues_v3_2400_20230127.jpg","author":"Mises Institute","episode_count":150,"summary":"Succinct economic commentary by Dr. Mark Thornton, senior fellow at the Mises Institute.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-20T10:20:14.339536+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/minor-issues-6016417"},"episode":{"title":"Government Intervention and Economic Inequality","slug":"government-intervention-and-economic-inequality","published_at":"2026-08-15T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/minor-issues-6016417/government-intervention-and-economic-inequality","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/minor-issues-6016417","url":"https://mises.org/podcasts/minor-issues/government-intervention-and-economic-inequality","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.mises.org/2026-08/190_Minor-Issues_Thornton_20260815.mp3","summary":"Mark Thornton revisits his Mises University lecture on government intervention and economic inequality, arguing that intervention does not merely shrink the economic pie: it changes who gets the biggest slices. Drawing on Rothbard’s distinction between specific and general factors of production, Mark also shows how regulations, subsidies, tariffs, licensing, healthcare rules, and monetary policy reward protected firms, specialized capital, and politically favored workers while forcing everyone else into less productive, lower-paying alternatives. On Side B, Mark joins the David Lynn Show to discuss tariffs, the Fed, the business cycle, the Skyscraper Curse, AI data centers, war risks, diesel and fertilizer shortages, and why today’s boom may be approaching its breaking point. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar through August 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler . Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues","meta_description":"Mark Thornton revisits his Mises University lecture on government intervention and economic inequality, arguing that intervention does not merely shrink t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":null,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/minor-issues-6016417/episodes/government-intervention-and-economic-inequality/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/minor-issues-6016417/government-intervention-and-economic-inequality.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}