Cato Event Podcast

The Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives invites you to join us at CATO’S 34TH ANNUAL MONETARY CONFERENCE. Leading experts will address the risks inherent in the unconventional monetary policies of the world’s leading central banks and the steps that need to be taken to restore long-run economic growth.The lack of any monetary rule to guide policy decisions has created great uncertainty and increased financial volatility. Zero or negative interest rates and quantitative easing have created severe distortions in asset markets by increasing risk taking and politicizing credit allocation while failing to bring about robust economic growth. Attend Cato’s Annual Monetary Conference to find out why. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The optimism that followed the end of the Cold War has been replaced by fear and pessimism. Russia is reasserting itself on the world stage, China continues to increase tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, and North Korea is inching toward a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the U.S. homeland. All of this has led many to believe that the world is more dangerous than ever before.Meanwhile, the growth of U.S. defense spending has slowed, leading some to conclude that America’s military has been “gutted” and is unprepared to meet today’s challenges, including its role as protector of the global order.Is the world more dangerous than ever? Have funding constraints degraded the strength of the U.S. military? Should we revisit U.S. grand strategy, including the missions that we assign to the American military? Join us for a conversation on the myths and misperceptions that cloud a clear discussion of U.S. foreign policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For-profit colleges have been accused of deceiving students, fueling debt, and producing atrocious outcomes. Many big chains—most notably Corinthian Colleges and ITT—have gone out of business under heavy scrutiny from public officials. Are for-profit schools truly miserable, or are they being targeted for political reasons? And what do the election results bode for them? Join us for a free-flowing exchange about for-profit higher education. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the Franklin Roosevelt administration, the vision of U.S. trade policy has been to expand global commerce by reducing government-imposed barriers. Ambassadors Kantor and Schwab played significant roles in that effort. Ambassador Kantor finalized the NAFTA, and also the Uruguay Round negotiations that established the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ambassador Schwab concluded trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.Unfortunately, positions espoused in 2016 by major party presidential candidates indicate little or no support for trade liberalization. Have decades of U.S. leadership toward a more open global economy come to an end? What could be done to improve public understanding of trade’s benefits? Will the political focus remain largely on protecting existing jobs, or will broader societal gains from trade be recognized? What might supporters of trade reform do to advance their cause? Please join us for this timely discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2008 collapse of Iceland’s grossly overextended banks added fuel to the conflagration in global financial markets and wreaked havoc with the country’s economy, which at one point saw its stock market lose 95 percent of its value and its unemployment rate rise above 25 percent.Since then the economy has recovered, the country’s unemployment rate today stands at just 2.5 percent, and the government recently paid back a $2.5 billion IMF loan.However, last spring the government announced it would impose a haircut on its foreign bondholders, threatening its access to financial markets and endangering its strong economic performance of the last few years.The island’s October 29 election solidified the Pirate Party’s presence in government and may result in a new ruling coalition that is ambivalent — or hostile — towards market economics as well as any commitments made by its predecessors to investors or trading partners. Our panelists hope to shed some light on what Iceland’s future will hold and what that means for U.S. policy and global finance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bleak prospect of living in a country governed by one of the major-party presidential candidates seems to bolster arguments against voting. Declining to participate in this year’s deeply unsatisfactory election may signal a preference for “none of the above” while denying personal sanction to the many wrongs and injustices governments mete out in our names. Not voting is a time-saver, too. But non-participation in the vote may be an unwise option. Voting doesn’t just elect a candidate: it may signal to a variety of important audiences what direction the electorate would like the country to take. Perhaps voting is the best option available, even if other candidates and other systems of government would provide more liberty and prosperity. Failing to vote may waste personal power.Is the best choice to vote one’s conscience, vote strategically, or not vote at all?Join us for a debate on the merits of voting, followed by a convivial reception to pre-mourn the outcomes of the forthcoming election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scapegoating trade for problems real and imagined is nothing new. Blaming foreigners for domestic woes ingratiates politicians to excitable elements of the electorate and helps them direct voter anger away from their own records. But this year the rhetoric has been especially disparaging, with candidates from across the spectrum perpetuating noxious fallacies about trade, its purpose, and its beneficiaries.Among the prominent myths in circulation this year are that trade is a national competition between Team USA and the foreign team; trade destroyed U.S. manufacturing; the trade deficit means the United States is losing at trade; outsourcing hurts the U.S. economy; and, trade agreements only benefit big corporations and the rich.Join us for a special presentation where we will set the record straight and take a clarifying look at the many misconceptions swirling around in conversations about U.S. trade policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent events in Oklahoma and North Carolina continue to draw the nation's attention to the combustible relationship between police and the communities they serve. Yet despite the national focus, important facts are getting blurred as partisans on both sides square off in an increasingly divisive national debate.Join our panel of Cato scholars to sort out and clarify a broad range of issues, including pretextual stops, police militarization, the use of body cameras and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every day we’re bludgeoned by news of how bad everything is—financial collapse, unemployment, poverty, environmental disasters, disease, hunger, war. Indeed, our world now seems to be on the brink of collapse, and yet: We’ve made more progress over the last 100 years than in the first 100,000. Some 285,000 more people have gained access to safe water every day for the last 25 years. In the last 50 years world poverty has fallen more than it did in the preceding 500. By almost any index you care to identify, things are markedly better now than they have ever been for almost everyone alive. Examining official data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, Johan Norberg traces just how far we have come in tackling the issues facing our species. While it’s true that not every problem has been solved, we do now have a good idea of the solutions and we know what it will take to see this progress continue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.