Capital Record

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Capital Record – your weekly reinforcement for the defense of capital markets. Financier and NRI trustee David L. Bahnsen hosts discussions on economics and finance in this National Review Capital Matters podcast, sponsored by National Review Institute. Episodes feature interviews with the nation's top business leaders, entrepreneurs, investment professionals, and financial commentators. The most recent ten episodes of this podcast are available on this feed. Full archives are available to NRPLUS subscribers at NationalReview.com.

National Review


    • Aug 28, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 44m AVG DURATION
    • 229 EPISODES

    Ivy Insights

    The Capital Record podcast is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of the economy and market dynamics. Hosted by David Bahnsen, this podcast offers intelligent speakers who share facts and engage in reasoned debates rather than resorting to rhetoric. The pacing is comfortable, striking a balance between being informative without feeling slow. The speakers thoroughly cover their points without beating them to death, making it an excellent podcast for those interested in strengthening their understanding of how the economy works.

    One of the best aspects of The Capital Record podcast is the knowledgeable guests that David Bahnsen brings on board. These guests, including experts in markets and humanity, contribute unique perspectives and insights that enhance the quality of each episode. Furthermore, Bahnsen skillfully facilitates these conversations, allowing his guests ample speaking time while still adding value to the discussions himself. This results in delightful and thought-provoking conversations that keep listeners engaged.

    However, one drawback of this podcast is occasionally poor audio quality during phone interviews or remote guest appearances. While Bahnsen's audio is usually clear and strong, it can be difficult to follow when the guest's audio quality is subpar. Improving technical aspects such as audio quality would greatly enhance the overall experience for listeners.

    In conclusion, The Capital Record podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in economics and capitalism. By providing approachable discussions with knowledgeable guests, David Bahnsen delivers insightful content that appeals to both novices and seasoned market veterans alike. Despite occasional technical issues with audio quality during phone interviews, this podcast remains an invaluable resource for individuals seeking informed discussions on economic policies and their effects on society.



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    Latest episodes from Capital Record

    Episode 253: What's New Is Old: Unpacking New Right Populist Economic Arguments

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2025 44:52


    David is joined by Richard Reinsch, the second guest to join Capital Record this year, for a discussion of the “new conservatives” and the “new right” movement toward populism. What you will hear in this discussion is that none of it seems very new at all.Notes:Reading the New Conservatives 

    Episode 252: Work-Life Balance Disorder

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2025 11:04


    David got very excited when a recent Wall Street Journal article said that “work-life balance will keep you mediocre.” He wrote a whole book tearing down the very concept of “work-life balance.” But this article's rationale might be just as flawed as that of those who use this deplorable phrase.Show Notes:'Work-Life Balance' Will Keep You Mediocre

    Episode 251: If You Can't Beat Em' Join Em'??

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2025 20:12


    David takes on the state-capitalism idea that the right has been rightly critical of in China for many years (market forces that are highly directed by the state), but takes this cogent criticism to the idea of Nvidia revenue shares, Intel equity ownership, CEO selection, and other mystifying things that if a leftist president were doing the right would be losing their ever-loving minds over.

    Episode 250: Howard Stern and the Unfree and Unvirtuous Society

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2025 13:43


    It appears from media reports that SiriusXM is done with their long-term, nine-figure (annual) relationship with Howard Stern, the former FM radio shock jock turned woke, politically correct bore. On today's Capital Record, David walks through how the two Howard Sterns were both perfect encapsulations of the undermining of a free and virtuous society, only each Howard Stern did this in a totally different way. This is an unconventional Capital Record with a perspective you're unlikely to hear anywhere else.

    Episode 249: Right Problem, Wrong Solution

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2025 16:49


    On today's Capital Record, David looks at the issue of housing affordability and walks through Rahm Emanuel's new op-ed in the Washington Post whereby a confused explanation of the financial crisis is given, and even more confused solutions are offered to a problem Rahm mostly identifies correctly. Few subjects in the American economy touch more people than housing, and if housing has become unaffordable for too many, the one thing we really cannot afford is to get this subject wrong.Show notes:What's Really Depressing America's Young Men 

    Episode 248: Murder in the Building

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 16:46


    David looks at the unspeakable recent murder of the Blackstone Real Estate CEO and those who have celebrated the murder. Highlighting their despicable lack of moral clarity is the easy part. But unpacking the inexplicable economic ignorance embedded in their murderous hatred is perhaps an equally important subject. Fortunately, most people do not condone horrific murders; but unfortunately, far too many do buy the rationale that a Blackstone Real Estate CEO was doing something bad for regular people. And that assumption is what we will take to the woodshed in today's Capital Record.

    Episode 247: A Sober View of the Economy

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2025 47:47


    David is joined by his first podcast guest of 2025, and what a guest it is! The distinguished economist, Dr. Lacy Hunt, joins David to talk about a real assessment of the labor market; of economic growth; and of the second, third, and fourth order impact of tariffs. He transcends the mere first order inflationary impact to delve into the second order disinflationary impact. It is a fascinating conversation that is apolitical, objective, and vitally important.Quarterly Review and Outlook 

    Episode 246: Why I Will Always Be a Free Trader

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2025 56:18


    David responds to his National Review colleague Michael Brendan Dougherty's recent attack on free trade. David tries to be far more charitable in tone and content than protectionists appear willing to be, but seeks to hold the anti-free-trade crowd to the same thing all engaged in public argument ought to be held to, especially in an economic way of thinking: first principles, a limiting principle, and, most of all, the accountability of real life.

    Episode 245: Messing Up Capital Formation, Legally

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2025 16:01


    David takes a look at certain efforts to undermine the spirit of the law, whether or not the letter of the law is followed, and what it means for our financial markets. This is a golden issue for Capital Record, an optimal application of where freedom and virtue must be juxtaposed. 

    Episode 244: Manufacturing Properly Understood

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2025 15:57


    This week, David unpacks some really important lessons on the current state of U.S. manufacturing: why the electoral and the political cannot be confused with the economic, and why neither should be confused with the cultural. There is something in here for everyone to be bothered by, so jump on in to a reality check about U.S. manufacturing.

    Episode 243: What Could Go Wrong with 1 Percent Interest Rates, Mr. President?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2025 15:24


    Episode 242: When Millionaires Attack Billionaires

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2025 18:47


    How should we think about people who make billions of dollars managing the capital of others? Does a hedge fund manager like Bill Ackman add any value to society? Why would someone worth $50-100 million hate someone worth $9 billion? This week's Capital Record doesn't have time to get into dog-whistle antisemitism, but it does have time to get into class envy, the embarrassing error of believing capital allocation is a valueless exercise, and the merit of achievement embodied by someone like Bill Ackman.

    Episode 241: Not All Tax Cuts Are Created Equal

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2025 16:14


    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has been criticized for not doing enough to rein in deficits. It has been praised for extending tax cuts. And it is underrated for some of the pro-growth business measures the bill includes intended to promote supply-side business incentives. But what about the “promises kept:” In the new tax bill -- the “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime wages” -- are these pro-growth? What about the deduction for interest expense on auto loans? Or the special bonus standard deduction for senior citizens? David does a refresher in today's podcast on the principles of the supply side tax movement that have been front and center for almost 50 years. Tax cuts that incentivize production and tax cuts that appeal to a very specific voting block are rarely the same thing!Show Notes:A Referee's Take on the One, Big, Beautiful Bill

    Episode 240: Hayek Can't Get on the Wi-Fi

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2025 19:16


    The Biden administration spent $42 billion of taxpayer funds to bring broadband access to rural America, and people are shocked, shocked, that nothing has been done. As people on both sides of the aisle scream for government to “do more,” perhaps there is a lesson in this failure to create connectivity, and perhaps that lesson ought to be that incentives and knowledge matter.Show notes:https://x.com/geiger_capital/status/1905591976876990670?s=61https://www.ntia.gov/45-year-anniversary

    Episode 239: The Jeff Bezos Wedding and Some Life Principles

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2025 20:15


    The media may have obsessed over the extravagant Jeff Bezos wedding in Venice last weekend, but most regular people with jobs and a family probably couldn't care less. But in this week's episode, David takes note of who does seem to care about such things, and what principles can be learned from the whole affair that impact our understanding of economics in the 21st century. This is a seriously contrarian episode of the Capital Record!

    Episode 238: What Barry Diller Can Teach Us About Business

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2025 23:17


    David walks through the new Barry Diller autobiography and extracts some key business lessons that speak to our own objectives here on the Capital Record. Barry may have been a Hollywood and media industry giant, and he may not care much for all of our ideological commitments, but he has a lot to offer in this week's episode.Show Notes:"Business Lessons from the New Barry Diller Book"

    Episode 237: YIMBYism Is the Lowest Hanging Bipartisan Economic Fruit Imaginable

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2025 11:21


    The YIMBY Movement Is for Conservatives, TooAbundant Housing Creates Abundant Opportunities

    Episode 237: The Good Life Versus Prosperity?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2025 9:46


    Does prosperity make for a good life? If not, does it stand to reason that prosperity works against a good life? Why is this issue so problematic for people still today, when the answers embedded in the alleged tension were so apparent to men and women of wisdom so long ago? In this foundational episode, David discusses the recipe for the good life, where prosperity fits in, where it does not, and how stupidity can work to undermine both prosperity, and the good life so many claim to aspire to.

    Episode 236: Bond Vigilantes, Bad Chart Readers, and False Prophets

    Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2025 17:48


    Is the U.S. bond market rejecting the fiscal state of the country? Is it declaring doom and gloom? Is it begging us not to do this “big, beautiful bill”? Or, is the fiscal state of the country deeply troubled? Is the new bill a big disappointment, but the bond market is saying no such thing (for reasons you deserve to understand)? In this very important Capital Record, David makes the argument that those wrongly declaring some form of bond market revolt are hurting the cause of fiscal reform, undermining credibility, and making it harder for the real needs we have to be addressed. This rejection of crying wolf comes at a very important time for this woefully managed country!

    Episode 235: SPAC Attack and Market Basics

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2025 18:45


    Financial innovations are demonized all the time, and perhaps David should be grateful because a low regard for capital markets is what motivated the creation of this podcast. But today he looks at SPACs and the criticisms of them as an example of how fallacious defense of central planning works. He makes the case that protection against fraud is one thing, but protection against loss is another. And ultimately, he makes the case that a system of robust financial markets has gains and losses, and that is a good thing.

    Episode 234: Markets Are Not Imposed by Politics

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2025 13:02


    There was a time conservatives all knew this, but the new right's fatal flaw is not just in the application -- the perpetual desire for more state intervention -- but rather in the very nature of things that they get wrong. Markets are not created by the state, but rather by voluntary, organic human interaction. David unpacks the relevance of this basic creational, economic, and yes, moral message, in today's Capital Record.

    Episode 233: Conservative vs. Libertarian Economics

    Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2025 19:18


    Populism seems to be the driving force of the new right's economic philosophy. The new right has said that they want to take on “libertarian” economics and “free market orthodoxy.” Others have said that “libertarian economics is the same thing as conservative economics” (i.e., laissez-faire, low tax, low regulation, etc.). David suggests the need of the hour is not just more precise definitions, but a truly robust understanding of conservative economics -- one that goes where libertarianism didn't, and goes where populism simply can't.

    Episode 232: Protectionism vs. Free Enterprise

    Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2025 23:38


    David takes on the idea that protectionism and globalization are chief rivals, and instead suggests that the chief rival of protectionism is free enterprise itself. He critiques Joe Nocera's recent Free Press article suggesting that the protectionists have been vindicated, and instead suggests that the entire protectionist agenda is essentially the plight of the central planner. A careful critique of the tariff dogma, combined with a non-revisionist view of what has transpired in trade and culture over the last few decades!

    Episode 231: When Engagement Is Enjoyable and Valuable

    Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2025 17:08


    How One Family Aims to Break Liberals' Corporate Voting Power

    Episode 230: Transparency for Thee but Not for Me

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2025 14:38


    As the Trump administration and Amazon/Bezos almost duked it out over the “shocking” idea of disclosing the impact to prices from taxes on imports, those of us seeking to understand economic application out of cogent economic theory were given a great chance to relearn some lessons from master himself, Friedrich Hayek. It turns out price discovery is important in economics for the same reason transparency is important in political theory -- and this ought to be a very non-partisan belief!

    Episode 229: Two Ways to Hurt the Working Class

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2025 16:41


    Veronique De Rugy's phenomenal article

    Episode 228: Moving the Wrong Way with the Fed

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2025 11:09


    If our goal is a monetary policy that minimizes interventions and distortions in the marketplace and most optimally allows capital to find its most efficient use, the last thing we should want is a Fed that is less independent and more captive to political whims and desires. David explains his various criticisms of Jerome Powell this week, but points out how we make things much worse, not better, if we believe it a good idea for the Fed to be a pawn of the president. In this case, it is counterproductive; for future precedent, it is downright dangerous.

    Episode 227: A Crisis of Responsibility About the U.S. Dollar

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2025 19:39


    With so much talk circulating that Americans need to be deathly afraid of a “strong dollar,” David takes on recent comments from Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, suggesting that a strong dollar is really unfair to Americans. Underlying some of these recent allegations about dollar supremacy is a familiar crisis of responsibility. It is time to set the record straight.

    Episode 226: The Stock Market vs. The Real Economy?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2025 16:29


    David talks about all the things that are right in the dichotomy between the “stock market” and the “real economy,” but then goes into all the things that are wrong – namely, that 99% of the time someone is making this distinction, they are doing it wrong, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong way. Understanding what public equity prices measure versus what broad economic data measures is a good thing, but pitting capital against labor is called “Marxism” – and it can be deadly wrong.

    Episode 225: The Morality of Trade Deficits vs. Central Planning

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2025 10:21


    David looks at the wildest week in global financial markets in the last five years in the context of first principles – how the administration's choice to lump allies in with adversaries hurt their cause – and how the need to properly define terms and understand basic economic concepts matters.

    Episode 224: Liberation Day, Bernie Style

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2025 12:08


    David unpacks the economic message of President Trump on so-called Liberation Day.

    Episode 223: Chaos as Policy

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2025 11:34


    David takes on tariffs today in advance of the big April 2 announcements everyone is expecting from the Trump administration. David's expectations? No clarity at all -- an ongoing chaos -- and a fever swamp dream for lobbyists.

    Episode 222: The Business of Business Is Business

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2025 9:57


    Time for businesses to return to their essential purpose

    Episode 221: From Frying Pan to Fire

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 21:24


    Episode 220: The Tyranny of Where the Chair Goes

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2025 15:24


    David chimes in this week on the U.K. tribunal ruling that an employee was constructively terminated by having their desk moved, but more importantly, on the absurdity of the whole thing. When we ask disinterested third parties like the state to mediate disputes over furniture between employees and employers, we are doing great damage to another party not involved in chair-gate -- and that party is the subject of today's Capital Record.

    Episode 219: Be Good Bankers

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 12:08


    Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew's Gospel, with a Fresh Translation

    Episode 218: Why Make a Cogent Argument When You Can Yell ‘Globalism'?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 17:58


    David makes the case that there are some arguments that are better than others for protectionist economic policy, even if none of them are persuasive, but there are none so counterproductive and misguided as merely calling your ideological opponents “globalists.” If the argument in classical economics against government intervention via protective tariffs is that they hurt American exporters, they hurt American importers, and they hurt American consumers, then the vocalizing of opposition can hardly be connected to “globalism.” For those who play this game, the intent is not to make a coherent argument at all, but to obfuscate, poison the well, and substitute innuendo in place of argument. For those who care for the American worker, we must do better.

    Episode 217: Business Is a Legacy

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2025 15:40


    Does one need to convert their business success to charitable endeavors to create a “lasting Kingdom legacy”? Or can we say with conviction that our efforts in the marketplace are lasting, are meaningful, and, in fact, are vitally important? David goes after a well-intentioned but deeply misguided sentiment about business vs. philanthropy, and in so doing lays out a vision for economics that gets to the heart of what this podcast is about.

    Episode 216: The Dumb Kind of Class Warfare

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2025 14:04


    David sounds off on class warfare targeted at private equity firms daring to buy 0.06 percent of homes, and how counterproductive it is to the cause of a free and virtuous society to be going after the wrong people, for the wrong things, all the time.

    Episode 215: Good Things and Bad Examples

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2025 9:44


    David wants the CFPB dismantled, and he thinks Russ Vought's philosophy at OMB about deregulation is the right one. But did Vought use a really bad example of “weaponization” this weekend, and are some bad actors bad examples for good deregulation? David unpacks this dilemma of freedom and virtuousness in a quick, needed diatribe.

    Episode 214: Freedom and Virtue in Bank Interest Rates

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2025 16:20


    This is a remedial course in how banking works, the tension between deposit rates and borrowing rates, and the way in which freedom and virtue are cultivated by true relationship banking. An episode you won't want to miss!

    Episode 213: Zooming Out to Zoom in on Real Work

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2025 20:32


    https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgan-ceo-dimon-derides-in-office-work-pushback-demands-efficiency-2025-02-13/https://www.barrons.com/articles/jamie-dimon-leaked-audio-jpmorgan-return-to-office-7064ee64

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