Ford v Ferrari and the virtue of courage; New Acton Line podcast on how property rights save the planet
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Ford v Ferrari and the virtue of courage
By John Couretas • November 20, 2019
Ford racing team members gathered around a GT40 in Ford v Ferrari
There is a scene in the terrific new film Ford v Ferrari where Henry Ford II grills his lieutenant Lee Iaccoca about the failed bid to acquire Enzo Ferrari’s racing car enterprise. Ford learns that Ferrari has a message for him, and Iacocca dutifully delivers: “He said Ford makes ugly little cars in ugly factories.” And there the story takes off, following the key figures: legendary race team manager Carroll Shelby, (played with droll understatement by Matt Damon) and Ken Miles, the misfit British racing car driver (captured with total authenticity by Christian Bale). Their mission is to defeat Ferrari in the 1966 24 Hours of LeMans with a new purpose built Ford GT40. The classical and Christian virtues (arête in the Greek, or habitual excellence) are all over Ford v Ferrari. These are among others honesty (truthful at all times and lacking in hypocrisy) and faithfulness (faithful to a calling, to family, to friends). Miles is faithful to his wife Mollie – the civilizing force among the alpha competitors that inhabit her life – and to the son who accompanies him to the track and garage to learn by seeing. But prime among these virtues is undoubtedly courage.
Acton Line podcast: How property rights save the planet
November 20, 2019
environment_whanganui_river_AL
Panic surrounding climate change and the environment is on the rise and doomsday predictions abound. Most headlines about the environment only tell one story: that the environment is on the decline and that this decline is a result of economic development. In March, The Guardian declared that “ending climate change requires the end of capitalism.” But in the midst of calls for the Green New Deal and calls to overhaul our economic system, there’s another story unfolding. Holly Fretwell, Director of Outreach and a Research Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center, joins this episode to explain how the environment is being improved through market based approaches. What does free market environmentalism look like and how are conservation efforts helping the climate?
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