Matt Kibbe sits down with Patrick Mardini, founder of the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, to talk about the recent explosion that rocked the port of Beirut, killing hundreds. It turns out that a big part of the problem was mismanagement by the Lebanese government, which at the same time has created a massive recession, incurred huge amounts of debt, a ... Show More
Oct 8
Ep 353 | Privacy Still Matters More Than You Realize | Guest: Naomi Brockwell
In an era when most Americans have put so much of their lives online, it’s easy to be complacent about online privacy. We’ve been told that as long as we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to fear. But in fact, an increasingly powerful surveillance state is a major threat to i ... Show More
45 m
Oct 1
Ep 352 | Is It Rational to Be Pessimistic? | Guest: Matt Ridley
Author Matt Ridley is well known for his book "The Rational Optimist," which argued that the world is consistently getting better year after year. In the 15 years since that book was published, however, world events have convinced many people that the opposite is actually true. M ... Show More
38m 15s
Sep 24
Ep 351 | How Do We Make America Love Again? | Guest: Warren Farrell
In a divided America where various groups, including men and women, are increasingly at each other’s throats, is there a way to set aside hatred and judgment in order to love one another? Matt Kibbe sits down with author and educator Warren Farrell to talk about his new book, “Ro ... Show More
1h 8m
Aug 2020
What’s gone wrong in Lebanon?
The massive explosion that tore through Beirut on August 4th left more than 200 people dead, 6,000 injured, and as many as 300,000 homeless. The explosion was caused by a fire that ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. When the blast hit, Lebanon was already ... Show More
23m 56s
Jun 2023
How Lebanon’s economy collapsed
Protests, power cuts and bank hold-ups – Lebanon was already struggling before the 2020 port explosion that devasted its capital, Beirut, but now it’s in a desperate economic collapse. The Lebanese people are struggling to buy basic food and medicine. And the country also hosts t ... Show More
18m 56s
Dec 2023
The ‘Ponzi scheme’ behind Lebanon’s economic collapse
For years, Riad Salameh was praised for his revolutionary financial policies as head of Lebanon’s central bank. But suddenly, the country plunged into an economic crisis. And Salameh left the central bank with a disgraced reputation and, investigators believe, a massive personal ... Show More
21m 39s
May 2020
Episode 81 - Lebanese industry
Discussion of Lebanon's industry begins at 17:00.
Ben and Nizar are joined remotely this week by Paul Abi Nasr, member of the board of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists and CEO of Polytextile, to discuss the Lebanese industrial sector over the past few decades, the impac ... Show More
50m 3s
Aug 2020
The aftermath of the Beirut explosion
The explosion near Beirut’s port on Tuesday killed 135 people and injured thousands more, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Officials say 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was the cause. According to public records, the chemicals were held at the port for six years, despite ... Show More
20m 23s