Live July 15, 2026 | Yaron Brook Show
(Season 12, Episode 124)
Iran; ICE; Jones Act; DST; Data Centers; Recycling; Dugin; PayPal; Achievement | Yaron Brook Show

Iran Escalates, America Stalls, AI Booms—Why the Biggest Threat May Be Our Own Bad Ideas

Is America making the right strategic choices—or is it being undermined by bad economics, bad politics, and even worse philosophy?

This Yaron Brook Show connects the dots between the biggest stories shaping our future—from Iran and ICE to AI, energy, PayPal, data centers, and the ideas driving today's political movements.

Yaron examines America's strategy toward Iran, the debate over immigration enforcement, why the century-old Jones Act continues to damage Puerto Rico and the U.S. economy, and how Congress manages to ignore exploding national debt while obsessing over daylight saving time.

The conversation then shifts to artificial intelligence, New York's proposed data center moratorium, ASML's outlook, California's latest recycling regulations, and why abundant energy—not government restrictions—will determine America's technological future.

Yaron also explores Alexander Dugin's strange celebration of "success," Stripe's reported interest in PayPal, encouraging new research showing declining dementia rates, and what these stories reveal about innovation, achievement, and the moral foundations of a free society.

The live Q&A tackles CIA involvement in Iran's 1953 coup, the disturbing normalization of extremist politics, the future of the New Right, the economic lessons of Hong Kong and Singapore, the absence of Objectivism in universities, altruism's cultural dominance, entrepreneurship, philosophy, and much more.

If you enjoy deep analysis of politics, economics, philosophy, technology, and current events from an Objectivist perspective, subscribe and join the conversation.

Watch now: https://youtube.com/live/1vg0_HzRexA

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction • England vs. Argentina & World Cup preview
05:39 Iran strategy: Is America getting it right?
15:01 ICE, crime, and policing in America
21:07 The Jones Act's hidden economic costs
29:15 Natural gas exports and Puerto Rico
35:39 Daylight Saving Time debate
45:15 Congress, spending, and the national debt
47:12 New York's data center moratorium
49:43 AI's future and the U.S. economy
53:41 California's recycling crackdown
58:44 Alexander Dugin on "success"
1:01:59 Stripe, PayPal, and fintech disruption
1:06:20 ASML, AI chips, and global demand
1:09:04 Why dementia rates are falling
1:14:19 Upcoming events & show schedule
1:17:35 Alex Epstein, energy & data centers

Live Audience Questions
1:17:51 Was the 1953 Iran coup justified—or built on fabricated intelligence?
1:23:29 Why would Hunter Biden interview Nick Fuentes?
1:30:04 Does the New Right have a future after James Fishback?
1:31:03 Why did Hong Kong and Singapore succeed despite limited political freedom?
1:35:04 Is Objectivism disappearing from universities?
1:35:15 Why haven't Africa and South America produced major philosophers?
1:36:17 Why is altruism treated as beyond criticism?
1:36:52 Where are today's Objectivist entrepreneurs?
1:39:00 Are Americans becoming more altruistic?
1:39:27 How can irrational people become enormously successful?

#Iran #ArtificialIntelligence #ICE #Economics #Capitalism #Objectivism #EnergyPolicy #PayPal #Politics #Immigration #Inflation

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Yaron is the executive chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute and a world class speaker. He is the coauthor of the national best-seller Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government, Equal is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality and In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance. He speaks around the world on a variety of topics including the morality of capitalism, Ayn Rand and her philosophy, finance and economics, and the value of inequality.