CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM: According to the instructor what were the primary causes of the housing boom and bust and subsequent economic collapse? Why is it a bad explanation to blame "greed on Wall Street,"unbridled capitalism" or "speculators"? Why reasons did the instructor give that the repeal of Glass-Steagall (which separated out lending and investment banking) was only a catalyst and not a cause of the global recession?

Why does Milton Friedman say that no one on earth can make a pencil? What is this statement intended to illustrate? What is the Penn & Teller video meant to say about wealth "redistribution."

Define collectivism (socialism/communism) and capitalism.  According to Steve Forbes, what events in the 20th Century gave rise to the idea that collectivism works? Why is this a misinterpretation of history? How did the election of Ronald Reagan affect attitudes in the U.S.? How does Forbes defend capitalism against the charge that it is immoral? How does he argue that philanthropy and capitalism are flip sides of the same coin? According to Forbes, why is it necessary to let capitalism's inherent disruptiveness run its course? Why does he argue that capitalism is the friend of the environment? What are Forbes' three collectivist myths and five principles of prosperity?

What is the point of Bill Burrows' "Taxing Parable"?

What is money? What is the market? How is the price of an item determined in a market system? What did Adam Smith mean by the "invisible hand of the markeplace?" Rather than fine tune the machinery of the economy and make it run more efficiently, how do governments more typically create market distortions and depress production? How does the instructor argue that corporations have no power over you unless it is actually given to them by the government? Who in society does he suggest is most guilty of "greed?" Why? Why does he warn to beware of college professors? What did Founding Fathers such as Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison believe about property rights? Do the wealthy inherit most of their wealth or earn it in some way? Why is inequality the natural consequence of freedom? Who pays most of the income taxes in America? Who doesn't pay?

What were Karl Marx's criticisms of capitalism? What is the communist slogan which describes how economic goods should be distributed? What is class struggle? Who are the proletariat and bourgeosie? Why didn't the worldwide violent revolution of the working class take place as Marx suggested, but only isolated worker's revolutions in countries like Russia, China, Cuba, Spain and South America? What does the instructor mean when he suggests that communism is not "scalable?" Which, if any of the major goals of the communist manifesto have been implemented in America today? What did the instructor mean when he said socialism and capitalism exist on a continuum? What does the Russian writer in Pravda ("American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper") have to say about current U.S. Economic Policy under Obama?

What is laissez-faire capitalism? What is "crony" capitalism? Why is crony capitalism phoney capitalism? Why is it more accurately called "crony socialism" or "crony fascism"? How is it different from what Walter Donway describes as "making money"? What are the three ways government can fund its spending? What effect does each have on the economy? What is the Federal Reserve? Why are economic issues moral issues?

What's going on in Greece, Portugal and Spain and other European countries, and how might this activity is a harbringer of things to come in this country? What brought on Greece's problems and how is the U.S. emulating them? What was the point of the whimsical Clarke & Dawe video about the sovereign debt crisis? To whom is this money owed?

THE MORALITY OF CAPITALISM

How does Palmer define capitalism? Does he think of it as merely an economic system? What alternative definition did the instructor suggest? What does he suggest Palmer is confusing the term capitalism with (or redefining capitalism as?)

What does John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods, say about self-interest being the basis for capitalism? What does he mean by "conscious capitalism?"

How does David Boaz answer the charge that capitalism encourages a "dog eat dog" mentality, where everyone is out to beat the competition. What does he say to the contention that it fosters a society of isolated individuals who refuse to cooperate with others?

According to Dierdre McCloskey?What is the "Great Fact" to which capitalism is the best explanation?

What conclusions does Palmer derive from his experience with his back problem after using the services of both a for profit and non-profit hospital?

According to What is the "Land of Gentlemen" story mentioned by Mao Yushi, and what is it meant to represent? What was the result of the Maoist "struggle against selfishness"? How does the price system help allocate resources in a way that serves peoples' interests?

As quoted by Palmer, what did Adam Smith say about self-interest? Why is it a myth that he naively believed that greed would create a prosperous society?

According to Kelly, what false choice does altruism present us with? What is the trader principle? What is benevolence and how is it different from altruism?

According to Temba Nolutshungu, what is the link between political freedom and economic prosperity? When he visited Russia in 1991, what was the joke making the rounds? What was the result of economic freedom in one place and the lack of it in an adjoining area in East Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong?

According to Vernon Smith, Ireland's rise from third world poverty and massive emigration to surpassing many European countries in per capital GDP is due to what? According to Frederick Bastiat (as quoted in Smith), when goods don't cross borders, what happens?

AFTER THE WELFARE STATE

How does the welfare state replicate the "tragedy of the commons" problem?

According to Palmer, the welfare state policies have resulted in what consequences?

According to Piercamillo Falasca, what killed the massive Italian economic boom of 1956-65?

According to Aristides Hatzis, Greece's economic problem are due to what?

Where did the Welfare State emerge in the world, in the U.S.? Were the Nazis capitalists or socialists?

According to Palmer in After the Welfare State, how and why did the welfare state emerge?

According to Green, before the welfare state, what happened to the poor?

According to Beito, who joined mutual aid societies? Was it mostly white, middle class, native born Americans, or did other populations join?

What does Michael Tanner compare the structure of government health and old age systems to?

According to Norberg, how did the mantra of affordable housing crash the world economy?

What are there components of the classical liberal tradition, according to Palmer? How are levels of poverty related to the classical liberal philosophy?