Cato Event Podcast

2,247 episodes — Page 31 of 45

NSA Surveillance: What We Know; What to Do About It: Lunch Keynote

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 9, 201336 min

NSA Surveillance: What We Know; What to Do About It: Press Panel

Oct 9, 20131h 2m

NSA Surveillance: What We Know; What to Do About It: Morning Keynote

Oct 9, 201352 min

Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution's Promise of Limited Government

Purchase BookThe Constitution was designed to limit government power and protect individuals from oppressive regulation and the tyranny of majorities. But those protections are meaningless if judges aren't committed to enforcing them. America's judges have largely abdicated that responsibility. Instead of judging the constitutionality of government action, courts too often simply rationalize it. The problem lies not with the Constitution but with courts' reflexive deference to the other branches of government. From the abandonment of federalism to open disregard for property rights and economic freedom, the Supreme Court consistently protects power at the expense of liberty. Terms of Engagement combines real-world examples of the harm wrought by judicial abdication with a rigorous case for a more engaged judiciary, offering both an indictment of the current system and a guide to reform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 8, 20131h 25m

The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves

Purchase BookAfter its release in 2009, The Beautiful Tree drew widespread praise. The book tells the remarkable story of author James Tooley's travels from Africa to China, and of the children, parents, teachers, and others who showed him how the poor are building their own schools and learning to save themselves. Publishers Weekly declared it "a moving account of how poor parents struggle against great odds to provide a rich educational experience to their children." Writing in The Claremont Review of Books, John Blundell called it "a masterpiece." In conjunction with the release of the book's paperback edition, James Tooley will discuss the extraordinary changes in educating the poor that have occurred since The Beautiful Tree was published, as well as his experiences as a cofounder of both Omega Schools, a chain of low-cost private schools in Ghana, and Empathy Learning Systems, an educational service company that runs a chain of inexpensive private schools in Hyderabad, India.We hope that you will join us to hear James Tooley discuss what's going right in some of the world's poorest nations and communities. The entrepreneurial spirit, Tooley makes clear, and the love of parents for their children, can be found in every corner of the globe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 7, 20131h 25m

Common Core: The Great Debate

What is the Common Core? Supporters assert that it is a high-quality, voluntarily adopted set of national mathematics and language arts standards that will help transform American education by aiming all students at uniform, lofty goals. Opponents argue that adoption of the Core was federally coerced, the standards are of dubious quality, and one size simply cannot fit all. Meanwhile, polling shows that the large majority of Americans know nothing about the standards, despite the fact that they are being implemented in 46 states. We hope you'll join us for a freewheeling debate that promises to be not only highly engaging, but highly informative. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 3, 20131h 30m

Crisis in Syria: Can U.S. Intervention Solve Anything?

Only a few weeks ago, President Obama seemed set on intervening militarily in Syria. He asked Congress for a vote authorizing the use of force, despite polls showing Americans were overwhelmingly against intervention in Syria. He then made his case in a primetime address. That, too, fell flat. Luckily for Obama, something strange happened leading up to the speech: diplomacy. Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons. But will this U.S.-Russia accord work? How long before the calls for the United States to “do something” begin again? And did the president respect Congress’s war powers? Cato scholar Christopher Preble has followed developments closely since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011. He’ll provide a much needed update on the situation and take your questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 2, 201354 min

The WTO and the Uncertain Future of Multilateralism

The World Trade Organization has been a pillar of the global trading system since its inception in 1995, serving an especially important role in the adjudication of trade disputes and, ultimately, helping to subdue protectionism. But the failure of multilateral negotiations to achieve broader and deeper reductions in global trade barriers, while bilateral and regional agreements have flourished, raises important questions about the WTO and its future. Will large agreements that establish new rules in new areas, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, relegate the WTO to insignificance, merely lower its profile, or provide a much-needed jolt by suggesting best practices that will ultimately strengthen the multilateral system?Additional Resources Speaker Biographies Washington Trade Report, Volume XXIX, Number 37, September 30, 2013. "Saving Multilateralism: Renovating the House of Global Economic Governance for the 21st Century," by Jennifer Hillman, Brussels Forum Paper Series, March 2010. "An Emerging International Rule of Law? The WTO Dispute Settlement System's Role in its Evolution," by Jennifer Hillman, Ottawa Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2010-2011. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 2, 20131h 35m

A SAFE Way Out of State and Local Pension Woes? - Panel 2: Experiences from the States: Successes, Failures, and What Comes Next

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Oct 1, 201353 min

A SAFE Way Out of State and Local Pension Woes? - Panel 1: State and Local Pensions: The Problem and the Scope for a SAFE Solution

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Oct 1, 201358 min

Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems

Purchase Book A leading justification for the growth of government is the supposed need to control the power of big business and to spread the benefits of the liberal economic order to the greatest possible number of beneficiaries. However, according to Randall Holcombe and Andrea Castillo, the expansion of government results in a different concentration of power: cronyism, in which some people — typically the wealthy and the politically well-connected — have access to privileges that are denied to the rest of the population. Please join us for a discussion of real-world manifestations of big-government cronyism, ranging from central planning to environmentalism and industrial policy, and an exploration of how they invariably enable small groups of individuals — the cronies — to gain at the expense of everyone else. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 27, 20131h 24m

The Trans Pacific Partnership: Race to the Finish, or Long Slog Ahead?

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have just completed their 19th round, and there is talk now that they are nearing the "end game" and a deal might be reached by the end of the year. However, there are reportedly still many unresolved issues and a fair amount of work ahead. Is a 2013 completion date realistic? If not, when will the TPP countries reach agreement? And if they do, what will the U.S. Congress think about the deal? Please join us for a discussion of these and other issues related to the TPP. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 20, 20131h 26m

America's Longest War

America's Longest War is a new documentary from the Reason Foundation about the federal government's 40-year war on drugs. It chronicles the history of drug prohibition from President Nixon's declaration of war in 1971 through President Obama's broken promises on medical marijuana. After more than $1 trillion taxpayer dollars and thousands of paramilitary raids on American homes and drug arrests each year, the prisons are overflowing with drug offenders.Is the drug war working? According to the documentary, drug usage rates have not declined and illegal drugs are more available — and cheaper — than ever before. America's Longest War examines how a policy escalated from a relatively small domestic program that focused on treatment to the multi-billion dollar international war it is today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 19, 201341 min

America's Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution

Purchase bookHow can America find its way back from economic stagnation, fiscal calamity, and national "malaise"? In his new book, American Conservative Union vice chairman Donald J. Devine argues: the same way it has before, through "a restoration of the constitutional synthesis of freedom and tradition" at the heart of the American experiment.In America's Way Back, Devine makes "the case for 21st century 'fusionism'" — a reinvigoration of the Cold War–era conservative-libertarian alliance that employed "libertarian means for traditionalist ends."But the politics of the new century have strained that alliance significantly. In the gay marriage and immigration debates, conservatives decry libertarians' rejection of "traditionalist ends," while libertarians point to the Bush years as depressing evidence of conservatives' lack of commitment to "libertarian means."Have the differences become too vast to bridge, or can libertarian-leaning Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Justin Amash breathe new life into post–Cold War fusionism? Join us for what promises to be a lively discussion of these issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 19, 20131h 26m

Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father — and How We Can Fix It

After the needless death of his father, business executive David Goldhill began a personal exploration of a health care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. In Catastrophic Care, Goldhill shows the U.S. health care sector is not worth preserving in anything like its current form — and President Obama’s health care law is likely to exacerbate its failings. Goldhill proposes a different and radical solution to these agonizing problems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 18, 20131h 28m

12th Annual Constitution Day: Annual B. Kenneth Simon Lecture: Freedom of the Press: A Liberty for All, or a Privilege for Some?

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Sep 17, 20131h 0m

12th Annual Constitution Day: Panel IV: Looking Ahead: October Term 2013

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Sep 17, 20131h 14m

12th Annual Constitution Day: Panel III: Patents and Class Actions

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Sep 17, 20131h 9m

12th Annual Constitution: Panel II: Property, Money, and International Human Rights

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Sep 17, 20131h 12m

12th Annual Constitution Day: Welcome Remarks, Introduction, and Panel 1: Equal Protection

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Sep 17, 20131h 23m

Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare

Purchase BookIn 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court became the center of the political world. In a dramatic and unexpected 5–4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts voted to save the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Unprecedented tells the inside story of how this constitutional challenge raced across all three branches of government and narrowly avoided a collision between the Supreme Court and President Obama. The book offers unrivaled inside access to the key decisionmakers in Washington, based on interviews with over 100 of the people who lived this journey — including the academics who began the challenge, the attorneys who litigated the case at all levels (and their allies at Cato and elsewhere), and the Obama administration attorneys who defended the law. It reads like a political thriller, providing the definitive account of how the Supreme Court almost struck down the president's "unprecedented" law. It also explains what this decision means for the future of the Constitution, the limits on federal power, and the Supreme Court. Commenting on this book will be Randy Barnett, who has been called the "intellectual godfather" of the Obamacare constitutional challenge, and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 13, 20131h 33m

The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

Purchase BookIn the conventional wisdom, conspiratorial thinking lurks mainly on the fringes of American politics — the "preferred style only of minority movements," as Richard Hofstadter put it in his influential 1964 essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." In his new book, The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory, Jesse Walker begs to differ.Walker insists, contra Hofstadter, that "the Paranoid Style Is American Politics." From the colonial era, through sundry Red Scares, militia scares, and post-9/11 panics, he writes, "the fear of conspiracies has been a potent force across the political spectrum, at the center as well as the extreme." What’s more, some of the most dangerous forms of political paranoia are "the kinds that catch on with people inside the halls of power." Please join us for a lively and timely discussion of political paranoia Right, Left, and Center. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 13, 20131h 3m

Rising Costs of Social Security Disability

The two main federal disability programs have experienced rising enrollment and soaring spending in recent years. Indeed, combined outlays on Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income have roughly doubled over the last decade to more than $200 billion annually. The programs distort the economy and are adding to the federal government’s fiscal crisis. Cato senior fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale and budget analyst Tad DeHaven have published recent studies on the programs, and they will discuss the causes of recent spending growth, distortions created by the programs, and prospects for reform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 20, 201335 min