Cato Event Podcast

Four years after the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was signed into law, there are many open questions about what the Act has achieved and what lies ahead for the U.S. financial system. This two-day conference, hosted jointly by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Cato Institute, explores some of the most hotly debated aspects of financial regulation and policies to improve financial markets in a post-Dodd-Frank world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four years after the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was signed into law, there are many open questions about what the Act has achieved and what lies ahead for the U.S. financial system. This two-day conference, hosted jointly by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Cato Institute, explores some of the most hotly debated aspects of financial regulation and policies to improve financial markets in a post-Dodd-Frank world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.