Cato Event Podcast

In an era of fiscal constraints and concerns about direct military involvement abroad, helping others defend themselves is an attractive option to address America’s global security concerns. Efforts to train, equip, and advise partner nations are elements of foreign internal defense (FID) policies. But when is FID a smart tool? Does FID produce more effective and self-sufficient partners, at lower political and financial costs to Americans? Or, does FID pull the United States into local fights, and risk outsourcing U.S. security interests to partners with limited capabilities and whose political interests may not align with ours? Please join us as the panelists discuss these and other questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Licensed to Lie, attorney Sidney Powell takes readers through a series of disturbing events, missteps, and cover-ups in our federal criminal justice system. According to Powell, the malfeasance stretches across all three branches of our government — from the White House to the U.S. Senate, to members of the judiciary. Even worse, the law itself is becoming pernicious. Americans can now be prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for actions that are not crimes. And if acquitted, there is no recourse against prosecutors who hid evidence vital to the defense. Join us for a discussion of these distressing legal trends and what might be done about them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George F. Kennan was the eminent U.S. foreign policy strategist of the 20th century. Kennan was the author of the famous “X” telegram, which outlined a policy of containment for dealing with the Soviet Union. Although once the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, Kennan would renounce the way his doctrine was applied, critiquing the Washington foreign policy establishment for its militarism and recklessness. Why did Kennan grow estranged from the foreign policy establishment? Why did his views diverge so widely from what would become the conventional wisdom? What would he say about the Obama administration’s foreign policy? Please join us for a discussion of what Kennan’s views tell us about the man and the Washington policy world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A unanimous Supreme Court recently declared that that our networked mobile devices merit the highest level of Fourth Amendment protection against government searches, since these devices often contain more sensitive information than even “the most exhaustive search of a house” would reveal. Yet increasingly, the vast troves of personal data they contain are synched to "the cloud,” where the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 allows many types of information to be accessed without a warrant.  The need to bring the law up to date has been recognized not only by privacy advocates, but major technology companies, more than half of the House of Representatives, and even federal law enforcement officials. Join us for a lively discussion of how and why to drag federal privacy law into the 21st century, with keynote remarks by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and a panel discussion featuring both policy experts and representatives of the tech firms we increasingly entrust with our most private data. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Launched in early 2013, “Operation Choke Point” is a joint effort by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the bank regulators to limit access to the bank payments system by various businesses. Initially targeted at small-dollar nonbank lenders, Choke Point has grown to cover a variety of legitimate, legal businesses that just happen to be unpopular with DOJ, such as gun dealers and porn stars. Initial responses from DOJ claimed such efforts were limited to illegal businesses committing fraud. A recent report by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reveals DOJ’s claims to be false. In today’s economy, almost any economic activity depends on access to the payments system; allowing DOJ, without trial or a right to appeal, to arbitrarily limit access represents an almost unprecedented abuse of power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Unstoppable, famed political activist Ralph Nader calls for an alliance of principled libertarians, conservatives, and progressives against a corrupt and overreaching Washington establishment. Although long an iconic figure on the political left, Nader here seeks to bridge ideological divisions by identifying opportunities for left-right cooperation. According to Nader, the possibilities for joint action include opposing unnecessary wars and bloated Pentagon spending, protecting endangered civil liberties, and combating corporate welfare and bailouts. Please join us for a lively discussion of this provocative book by a man cited by The Atlantic as one of the hundred most influential figures in American history. Prominent conservative writers Daniel McCarthy and Timothy Carney will offer their comments on the book and assess both the potential and limits of Nader's envisioned alliance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy, Steve Forbes and coauthor Elizabeth Ames explain how the lack of any anchor for the U.S. dollar after President Nixon closed the gold window in August 1971 has increased uncertainty and put us on a pure discretionary government fiat money system. The Federal Reserve, now in its 100th year of operation, has become a central bank that serves as the fiscal agent of a profligate government, not the guardian of sound money. The authors argue that the 2008 financial crisis would not have occurred under a true gold standard, nor would government have become the bloated Leviathan it now is. They advocate returning to the hallmark of a liberal economic order — namely, a stable-valued dollar convertible into gold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  On April 2, the Supreme Court issued its latest blockbuster ruling on campaign finance, McCutcheon v. FEC, striking down the "aggregate" contribution limits on how much money any one person can contribute to election campaigns (leaving untouched the "base" limits on donations to individual candidates or party committees). Within days of the decision, while pundits and activists were still battling in the media, two e-books were published about the case. One was by Shaun McCutcheon himself, an Alabama engineer who has quickly gone from political neophyte to Supreme Court plaintiff, thus providing a rare first-person layman's account of high-stakes litigation. The other was by two law professors specializing in the First Amendment, Ronald Collins and David Skover, who dissect the Court's ruling and put it in the broader context of campaign finance regulation. Please join us to hear about McCutcheon and its implications for our political system from authors with unique perspectives on the subject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Stewart once derided economists' prose as being so boring that “it turned my brain off,” but it doesn't have to be that way. Pioneers in academia, the creative arts, and nonprofits have found new and provocative ways to communicate the timeless ideas of economic liberty.Amity Shlaes, the bestselling author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, and Paul Rivoche, a professional illustrator whose portfolio includes Iron Man and Superman, have teamed up to produce The Forgotten Man Graphic Edition which introduces the Great Contraction of the 1930s to younger readers. Such history is vital to our time and to the future. The myths and half-truths of the 1930s remain a potent cause of current policy failures. The combination of ideas and images define much of the new media and should interest younger readers who increasingly turn to unconventional publications.Scott Barton directs LearnLiberty.org, an online education platform that seeks to be a resource for learning about the ideas of a free society. LearnLiberty has earned 19 million views from 300 videos in the past three years. In 2011 Learn Liberty earned a Templeton Freedom Award for Innovative New Media.Please join us on June 17 as we have a look at an intriguing effort to use new media to communicate free-market economics creatively and effectively. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a May 9 preliminary decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission determined "there is a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of sugar from Mexico that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value." As a result, antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into the questions of domestic injury, dumping, and subsidization will proceed with final determinations expected in early 2015.If duties are imposed on imports of sugar from Mexico, the decision will mark the latest U.S. government intervention on behalf of domestic sugar producers to ensure higher-than-world-average sugar prices in the United States. This raises costs of production for sugar-using industries and discourages domestic value-added activity.What have been the real costs of U.S. sugar protection? How has it impacted consumers, industrial users, and trade relations? What mechanisms exist to prevent the U.S. trade laws from enabling one U.S. industry to impose injurious costs on another? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United States, argues Barry R. Posen, has grown incapable of moderating its foreign policy ambitions. Since the collapse of Soviet power, it has pursued a grand strategy that has tended to overreach, generating a host of failures and encountering many unexpected difficulties along the way.In this new book, Posen explains why the dominant view among the nation’s foreign policy elites, what he calls “liberal hegemony,” has proved unnecessary, counterproductive, costly, and wasteful. His alternative — restraint — would resist the impulse to use U.S. military power, and focus the military’s and the nation’s attention on the most urgent challenges to national security. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice has faced much criticism in the past six years. From “Fast and Furious” to the surveillance of Fox News reporter James Rosen, Holder has attracted the ire of congressional Republicans, and even some Democrats. In 2012 Holder became the first sitting cabinet member in American history to be held in contempt by Congress. In their new book, Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation and John Fund of National Review argue that Holder’s Justice Department has become an enclave of radical progressive legal activism that serves as a heat shield to protect the Obama administration. In addition, argue the authors, Holder’s DOJ helps push the administration’s hidden agenda, from the war on Fox News to the targeting of Tea Party groups. Join us for a discussion of the book with Hans von Spakovsky and comments by former DOJ official J. Christian Adams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his new book Immigration Economics, author and noted immigration scholar George J. Borjas will discuss how immigrants affect the wages of American workers, government budgets, and virtually every other aspect of the American economy and workforce. Professor Borjas brings his years of research and his own voluminous work to bear on this issue–reaching some controversial conclusions along the way. Borjas will be joined by Amelie Constant, another well-known immigration researcher and economist, who will comment on Borjas’ new book and spark a lively discussion on immigration and the American economy. Join us as two of the most respected immigration economists discuss this timely issue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an article that went viral in 1989, Francis Fukuyama advanced the notion that with the death of communism history had come to an end in the sense that liberalism — democracy and market capitalism — had triumphed as an ideology. Fukuyama will be joined by other scholars to examine this proposition in the light of experience during the subsequent quarter century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an article that went viral in 1989, Francis Fukuyama advanced the notion that with the death of communism history had come to an end in the sense that liberalism — democracy and market capitalism — had triumphed as an ideology. Fukuyama will be joined by other scholars to examine this proposition in the light of experience during the subsequent quarter century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When law in America can be made by executive “pen and phone” alone — indeed, by a White House press release — we're faced starkly with a fundamental constitutional question: Is administrative law unlawful? Answering in the affirmative in this far-reaching, erudite new treatise, Philip Hamburger traces resistance to rule by administrative edict from the Middle Ages to the present. Far from a novel response to modern society and its complexities, executive prerogative has deep roots. It was beaten back by English constitutional ideas in the 17th century and even more decisively by American constitutions in the 18th century, but it reemerged during the Progressive Era and has grown ever since, regardless of the party in power. Please join us for a discussion of the most pressing constitutional issue before the nation today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Financial history is characterized by a consistent fear of bank runs, especially during times of crisis. The financial crisis of 2007-09 was no exception. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission identified no less than 10 cases of runs. Those runs were a major consideration in the shifting policy responses that authorities employed during the crisis. In the early stages, troubled institutions facing runs were dealt with through a scattered blend of voluntary mergers, outright closures, and bailouts. By late 2008 and thereafter, panic had descended on the major financial agencies. That resulted in the decision to backstop the full range of large institutions, as government officials feared a collapse of the entire financial system. However, serious analysis of the risks facing the financial sector was sorely lacking. In a recent Cato Policy Analysis, Vern McKinley provides such an analysis, asking whether many of the crisis decisions were appropriate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 2012 voters in Colorado and Washington passed landmark measures to legalize the production and sale of cannabis for social use—a first not only in the United States but also the world. Medical cannabis is now legal in 21 states and Washington, D.C., and more than one million Americans have turned to it in place of conventional pharmaceuticals. Public opinion continues to shift toward policies that favor increased personal liberty on the issue of cannabis.In A New Leaf: The End of Cannabis Prohibition, investigative journalists Alyson Martin and Nushin Rashidian present an expert analysis of how recent milestones toward legalization will affect the war on drugs both domestically and internationally. Reporting from nearly every state with a medical cannabis law, the book features in-depth interviews with patients, growers, doctors, entrepreneurs, politicians, activists, and regulators. The result is a unique account of how legalization is manifesting itself in the lives of millions.Please join us for a discussion of this book and the changing tide of public opinion on prohibition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Public opinion polls show that, by overwhelming margins, Americans believe that the United States “has a unique character because of its history and Constitution that sets it apart from other nations as the greatest in the world.” However dissatisfied they are with the characters who run it, Americans take great pride in our system of government, with its separation of powers and independently elected president.Should they? That’s the question F. H. Buckley asks in his powerfully argued new book, The Once and Future King: The Rise of Crown Government in America. Buckley points out that “parliamentary governments, which lack a separation of powers, rank significantly higher on measures of political freedom” than presidential systems. There are good reasons for that, he argues, among them: parliamentary systems make executives more accountable to the legislature; they discourage political cults of personality by separating the roles of “head of state” and “head of government”; and they make it easier to “throw the bum out” if all else fails. Should we celebrate our presidential system, or, as Buckley suggests, count ourselves lucky that, for more than 200 years, we’ve “remained free while yet presidential”? Please join us on May 29th for a lively discussion of these foundational issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medicaid is already the largest item on many state budgets, and federal spending on the program is expected to increase dramatically in the next decade, putting additional strain on an already overextended national budget as well. As enrollment in the program expands under the Affordable Care Act, policymakers will face challenging decisions in how to best manage the program and its escalating costs moving forward. Please join us for a broad discussion of the economics of Medicaid and to hear ideas for reform from our diverse panel of experts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The president has a constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Previous administrations have been criticized for overreaching — that is, going beyond what the law expressly authorizes. But the Obama administration has pioneered a new way to shirk this duty: suspension of the law. In numerous areas — including Obamacare implementation, immigration law, education funding, and environmental regulation — the administration has carried out its policy objectives not by exceeding the law’s limits but by picking and choosing which provisions to enforce. In some cases it has relaxed legal requirements as an inducement for states to carry out its preferred policies, without any legal basis. In other cases, like immigration, it has established entirely new programs never authorized by Congress. And in every instance this approach has allowed the administration to avoid legal challenge by ensuring that no party suffers an injury sufficient to confer the legal “standing” necessary to bring suit. At least that’s been the working assumption — but it may not hold true in every instance. Please join us to learn about this new abuse of executive power and the prospects for challenging it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This panel will discuss various economic and developmental aspects of ISDS, debate whether ISDS is a necessary inducement for foreign investors, examine the costs and benefits of ISDS rules to various U.S. entities, and consider whether and how ISDS provisions may be impacting the trade agenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The federal regulatory code has become so voluminous that it now bewilders ordinary citizens. The web of rules and regulations is now so vast that people can become ensnared in circumstances where they meant no harm. Even when there is no infraction, it can be financially ruinous to mount a legal defense against powerful agencies that seem bent on coercing a plea deal or settlement. And what about the reputations, livelihoods, and civil liberties that are sacrificed in that process? Join us for a discussion of these troubling trends and what can be done about them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase BookSmoking is risky for smokers, but is it bad for the rest of us? Science says no. Those who die from smoking tend to die close to retirement age. Lifetime medical costs for smokers are less than for nonsmokers. The risk to others of secondhand smoke is impossible to measure and is probably negligible. In short, smokers are not a public cost. So why are they over-taxed, dissed, and discriminated against in so many ways? A good question, examined at length in Unlucky Strike by John Staddon, author of more than 200 scientific papers, with original illustrations by the renowned artist David Hockney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Obama recently declared that “the debate” over the Affordable Care Act “is over.” That may be wishful thinking given that the law continues to be unpopular and its implementation keeps hitting snags. Moreover, lawsuits challenging Obamacare are once again reaching the nation’s highest courts. On May 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in Sissel v. Department of Health & Human Services, which involves the claim that the ACA’s “tax” on people without health insurance—as the Supreme Court deemed it two years ago—still violates the Constitution. The Constitution’s Origination Clause requires all tax bills to “originate” in the House of Representatives, while Obamacare came from the Senate (recall how the House voted on the Senate bill after Scott Brown won a special Senate election in Massachusetts and deprived the Democrats of their filibuster-proof majority).  Please join us to hear about Sissel and its implications for limited government from the attorney who will have just argued the case, Cato adjunct scholar Timothy Sandefur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The debate over copyright seems to consist of two irreconcilable poles. One side dismisses copyright as a plaything of political forces, imposing illegitimate restraints on freedom of expression. The opposing side regards copyrights as fundamental property rights that deserve the fullest protection of the law—like rights to houses, cars, and other forms of property. Neither view, however, captures the essence of copyright.In his new book, Intellectual Privilege, Chapman University law professor Tom W. Bell reveals copyright as a statutory privilege that threatens not just constitutional rights, but natural rights as well. He proposes a new libertarian view of copyright that reconciles the desire to create incentives for creators with our inalienable liberties. From this fresh perspective come solutions to copyright’s problems and a path toward a world less encumbered by legal restrictions and yet richer in art, music, and other expressive works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The technocratic approach to ending global poverty favored by development experts often strengthens authoritarian governments and neglects or undermines the preferences and personal choices of poor people. William Easterly will explain why a different branch of economics emerged for poor countries and how it has served the interests of decisionmakers in powerful countries, political leaders in poor countries, and humanitarians in rich countries. Join us to hear Professor Easterly make a case in favor of liberty that has so far been disregarded by the experts: poverty can only be ended and development sustained by respecting the individual rights of the world’s poor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Italian law scholar Bruno Leoni was a champion of law over legislation. In his classic Freedom and the Law (1961), he presented the case for organic legal systems that adjust to human behavior and against legal systems that attempt to adjust human behavior to fit the needs and desires of the politically powerful. It’s a message still urgently needed today. Please join us for a discussion of Leoni’s contributions to classical liberal thought as we celebrate his 101st birthday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tumblr sits at the unique intersection between blogging and social media, presenting an unusual challenge for social media managers. What role should Tumblr play in your online marketing strategy? How can you find and engage supporters on the platform and what are some best practices for measuring ROI?Join Tumblr’s Liba Rubenstein for a live-streamed lunchtime presentation, followed by a private Q&A session.Come prepared to share your own experiences and join in the discussion with other digital strategy and new and social media professionals. You can also follow along the conversation on Twitter using #NewMediaLunch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Soaring tuition and student debt, the rise of high-tech alternatives, and a persistently sluggish economy have provoked a startling question: "Is college worth it?" It's a question that raises many others: Must I go to college to learn skills I'll need for my career? Is just getting a degree — any degree — the key to my future prosperity? Should higher education be about marketable skills, or is it about personal fulfillment and expanding human knowledge? These questions disconcert students, parents, and taxpayers alike. We hope you'll join us to hear intriguing answers to such difficult questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The advent of wearable tech creates huge new opportunities for liberty advocates to engage in innovative strategies for changing policy. At the same time, the inherently invasive nature of the technology invites a number of serious privacy and legal concerns. Google Glass has particularly stirred up controversy, with several high profile confrontations between users and skeptics making national headlines. How can this exciting technology best be used to advance liberty, without harming individual rights to privacy?Join three freedom fighters doing hands-on work with Google Glass for a live-streamed lunchtime presentation, followed by a private Q&A session.Come prepared to share your own experiences and join in the discussion with other digital strategy and new and social media professionals. You can also follow along the conversation on Twitter using #NewMediaLunch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American higher education is being swept by two potentially irresistible waves of change. The first is intense scrutiny of academia’s costs and benefits, driven by soaring prices, student debt, and the ensuing public anger. The second is the emergence of postsecondary models that threaten to replace traditional colleges and universities on a major scale. In this special forum, we’ll look at the threats to accreditors — and through them, schools — stemming from federal reactions to public unhappiness, and at ways to foster quality in the many postsecondary options coming our way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American higher education is being swept by two potentially irresistible waves of change. The first is intense scrutiny of academia’s costs and benefits, driven by soaring prices, student debt, and the ensuing public anger. The second is the emergence of postsecondary models that threaten to replace traditional colleges and universities on a major scale. In this special forum, we’ll look at the threats to accreditors — and through them, schools — stemming from federal reactions to public unhappiness, and at ways to foster quality in the many postsecondary options coming our way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, concerns have been raised about the potential market risks associated with high frequency trading and algorithmic trading in general. Proponents of high frequency trading suggest the practice is a contemporary tool that facilitates informational market efficiency and is capable of being regulated by the market and market participants. Opponents have argued that these practices create risk and require aggressive regulation. This discussion takes place against a backdrop of heightened regulatory scrutiny given the recent push by the Securities and Exchange Commission to monitor high-frequency trading and related practices, such as the creation of dark pools, more closely. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the doctor’s office to the workplace, the federal government is taking on ever more responsibility for managing our lives. At the same time, Americans have never been more disaffected with Washington, seeing it as an intrusive, incompetent, wasteful giant. In this book, lawyer and political scientist Peter Schuck lays out a wide range of examples and an enormous body of evidence to explain why so many domestic policies go awry. Economist David Henderson, research fellow at the Hoover Institution and coeditor of EconLog, lauds the book as full of “gems” and “juicy” insights: “Schuck does a beautiful job of laying out all the problems with government intervention.” But can the state get better results by pursuing more thoughtfully conceived policies designed to compensate for its structural flaws? Schuck believes it can. Many libertarians will disagree — and that debate will enliven our discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase bookOne of the most contentious ethical issues surrounding transplantation today is the question of organ selling. Given the shortage of donated organs, should people be able to sell their organs either directly or indirectly? Today, organ selling is illegal in nearly all industrialized countries. One of the few that does allow it is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Until recently, that country’s experience has gone largely unreported. But Sigrid Fry-Revere, a leading medical ethicist, traveled to Iran and observed how the market in organs functions in practice. Now in her new book, The Kidney Sellers, she describes her experience. Please join the Cato Institute for a discussion of the book and how it can inform the ethical issue of organ selling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The immigration reform debate is increasingly polarized and has policymakers looking for new and innovative reform options. State- or regionally managed guest-worker visa programs, in addition to federal visas, should be considered as part of any immigration reform. Under such a system, individual states could manage and experiment with different guest-worker visa systems designed to suit their particular economic circumstances. Canada and Australia have regional visa programs that have worked well, aided economic growth, and slowed population decline in some areas. Their approaches could be adapted to the United States. This panel will address the potential economic, political, and legal issues that come with regionally managed visas. Please join us for an in-depth discussion of the costs and benefits of state and locally managed guest-worker visas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase bookNo country is as misunderstood as North Korea, and no modern tyrant has remained more mysterious than the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. In his new work, DEAR READER: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il, Michael Malice pulls back the curtain to expose the life story of the "Incarnation of Love and Morality." Taken directly from books spirited out of Pyongyang, DEAR READER is a carefully reconstructed first-person account of the man behind the mythology, as well as a stranger-than-fiction history of this unique country. Please join us Friday, March 21, at 4:00 p.m., as Malice separates the fact from fiction and explains what life is really like in the least-free nation on earth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On March 19, 2011, the United States and nineteen allied states launched an air assault against the Libyan military. President Obama and other leaders argued that military action would protect Libyan civilians, aid the progress of democracy there and across the region, and buttress the credibility of the U.N. Security Council, which had passed a resolution demanding a cease fire. By October, local rebel militias had killed Libya’s long-time ruler, Muammar el-Qaddafi, and overthrown his government. Three years later, it is time to ask whether the intervention worked. Did it protect Libyans or, by prolonging the civil war and creating political chaos, heighten their suffering? Is Libya becoming a stable democracy, a failed state, or something else? Did the intervention help other revolutions in the region, heighten repression of them, or was it simply irrelevant? Should the United States help overthrow other Middle Eastern dictators? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Ticket: The Many Faces of School Choice, is a new documentary film that takes viewers on a whistle-stop tour across the United States, asking: “What is school choice?” As the film illustrates, various forms of choice are proliferating around the country, from charter schools to scholarship tax credits. The film finds one simple premise underlying these different models: parents and children deserve the freedom to choose the schools that work best for them. Please join us for a screening of this highly informative documentary, followed by questions and answers with director/producer Bob Bowdon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twitter has certainly come a long way since it first launched in 2006. While it may seem obvious that Twitter deserves a central position in every social media manager's online strategy, the specifics of what those tweets should look like remain hotly debated. Are unsolicited tweets uncouth or par for the course? How many hashtags are too many hashtags? When IS a retweet an endorsement? The latest updates to Twitter's interface, coupled with their gradual roll-out, further complicate things.Join Twitter's Sean Evins for a live-streamed lunchtime presentation, followed by a private Q&A session.Come prepared to share your own experiences and join in the discussion with other digital strategy and new and social media professionals. You can also follow along the conversation on Twitter using #NewMediaLunch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“What do you think of burglarizing an FBI office?” That was the question a mild-mannered physics professor at Haverford College privately asked a few fellow antiwar activists in late 1970. Soon, as part of an unlikely band calling itself “the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI,” he did just that. On March 8, 1971, the group broke into a Bureau branch office outside of Philadelphia, seeking evidence for what they’d long suspected: that Hoover’s FBI was engaged in a secret, illegal campaign of surveillance and harassment of American citizens. The documents they found revealed massive abuses of power and helped lead to new legal checks on domestic surveillance.As a young Washington Post reporter, Betty Medsger was the first to receive and write about the secret files. Now, 43 years later, in The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI, she reveals the never-before-told full story of that history-changing break-in, bringing the activists into the public eye for the first time. It’s a riveting story, and one that, in the wake of last summer’s Snowden revelations, could hardly be more relevant today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For four years, the Obama administration has been engaging in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations with 11 Pacific Rim nations, and last year initiated similar talks called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union. These negotiations offer the promise of significantly reduced barriers to international trade and investment, which would be an important source of economic dynamism and growth. But Congress is not on board with the administration’s trade policy agenda, and the president’s effort to secure fast-track trade promotion authority has been derailed, in all likelihood, at least until after the 2014 mid-term election. What are the strengths and shortcomings of the administration’s trade agenda? What are the major concerns of Congress, and what should we expect from trade policy in 2014 and beyond? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our children are in constant danger from — to quote Lenore Skenazy's list — "kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape." Or so a small army of experts and government policymakers keep insisting. School authorities punish kids for hugging a friend, pointing a finger as a pretend gun, or starting a game of tag on the playground. Congress bans starter bikes on the chance that some 12-year-old might chew on a brass valve. Police arrest parents for leaving a sleepy kid alone in the back seat of a car for a few minutes. Yet overprotectiveness creates perils of its own. It robs kids not only of fun and sociability but of the joy of learning independence and adult skills, whether it be walking a city street by themselves or using a knife to cut their own sandwich. No one has written more provocatively about these issues than Lenore Skenazy, a journalist with the former New York Sun who now contributes frequently to the Wall Street Journal and runs the popular Free-Range Kids website where she promotes ideas like "Take Your Kids to the Park and Leave Them There Day." Her hilarious and entertaining talks have charmed audiences from Microsoft headquarters to the Sydney Opera House. Please join her and Cato's Walter Olson for a discussion of helicopter parenting and its unfortunate policy cousin, helicopter governance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intellectual property has been a focus of U.S. trade policy for many decades, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations include an especially ambitious effort by the United States to strengthen international intellectual property laws. At the same time, however, there is serious debate within the United States over the proper scope and level of intellectual property protection. Is it in the interests of the United States to seek to harmonize intellectual property rules around the world, or is the U.S. position overly influenced by special interests hoping to export bad policy abroad and to lock it in at home? Come hear our panel of experts discuss why trade agreements cover intellectual property law, whose interests are served, and what, if anything, should be done about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the IRS quietly proposed major changes to the rules governing nonprofit social welfare groups, or 501(c)(4)s. For years, pundits and politicians have attacked (c)(4)s as so-called “dark money” groups that are illegitimately trying to influence elections. Last year, Congress heard testimony that the IRS had targeted conservative (c)(4)s with demands to answer onerous questions and to fill out endless forms, purportedly in order to assess the scope of a (c)(4)’s “political activity.” Now, with the proposed rules, the IRS seems intent on codifying many of those practices and thus greatly limiting what (c)(4)s can do. Get-out-the-vote initiatives, candidate scorecards, and voter registration are just some of the activities that, under the proposed rules, will be considered “candidate-related political activity,” even though no candidate is directly supported or opposed. The proposed rules have both frightened and baffled people from all over the political spectrum, and the IRS has received a record number of public comments. Why has the IRS decided to heavily regulate political activity via the tax code, how do the proposed rules work, and how will the political landscape change if these rules are codified as proposed? Ideologically diverse panelists will be discussing these questions, as well as the broader issue of outside election spending. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law on December 23, 1913. It was designed to provide an elastic currency and prevent banking panics. The Great Depression, the Great Inflation, and the Panic of 2008, however, seriously mar the Fed’s record. In particular, the Fed’s failure to detect and prevent the 2008 financial crisis needs close public scrutiny. Moreover, the Fed’s vast expansion of its balance sheet during the last five years and its suppression of market interest rates have failed to generate robust economic growth and full employment. Those issues will be addressed by our speakers and a case made for creating a Centennial Monetary Commission (HR 1176) to explore alternatives to the current pure discretionary government fiat money regime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There has been an explosion of partnerships, exchanges, and programs between U.S. institutions of higher education and those in China. While made in the spirit of intellectual and scholarly collaboration, these relationships have proceeded without serious consideration of the practical and moral/ethical issues posed by dealing with authoritarian regimes. This presentation focuses on the case of Wellesley College's relationship with Peking University as it unfolded in light of the persecution and dismissal of Chinese economist and dissident Xia Yeliang. This case illustrates the pressure that authoritarian-controlled universities can exert on universities in a free society to overlook human rights violations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase bookNobody likes to fail, yet failure is a ubiquitous element of our lives. According to Megan McArdle, failing often — and well — is an important source of learning for individuals, organizations, and governments. Although failure is critical in coping with complex environments, our cognitive biases often keep us from drawing the correct lessons and adjusting our behavior. Our psychological aversion to failure can compound its undesirable effects, McArdle argues, and transform failures into catastrophes. Please join us for a discussion of how “failing up” allows us to reinvent ourselves and our institutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this sequel to Gold: the Once and Future Money, Nathan Lewis describes the theoretical basis of gold-standard monetary systems. Lewis argues that the pre-1913 world gold standard system was perhaps the most successful monetary system the world has ever seen, enabling high levels of economic growth. Descriptions of both Britain’s economic rise under the gold standard and the United States’ rise to economic prominence under gold are also discussed. Lewis offers the technical details necessary to implement and maintain a gold-standard system. Join us for a lively discussion of monetary history and a glance into one possible monetary future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.