Borderless

For years, elected state officals hid their states' pension and retiree healthcare debt from taxpayers for political gain. Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting, exposes bad accounting practices used by state politicians to hide massive amounts of debt in an effort to get re-elected. Truth in Accounting works to compel politicians to report hidden liabilities and hold state governments accountable.

"If not me then who?" John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability (CEA), shares his entrepreneurial journey of starting his own think tank. Mozena discusses the honest truths behind building a think tank from the ground up. By utilizing Atlas Network's Leadership Academy and surrounding himself with a community of liberty-minded individuals, Mozena has become a successful think tank entrepreneur. 

Ron Manners has lived quite a life. He’s gone from running one of the most successful businesses in Australia to becoming an accomplished author and leader of the Mannkal Foundation, which provides young Australians with the opportunity to learn about classical liberal principles from leading experts across the world, to being named an official member of the Order of Australia. In today’s special episode, Ron shares a little bit of his life story (including his time as an unintentional expat and a crazy conversation with Fredrick Hayek), his perspective on the next generation, and his predictions about the future for freedom in Australia.

Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute discusses the Alberta Prosperity Initiative; a Fraser Institute project that is nominated for the 2020 Templeton Freedom Award. Veldhuis discusses the Fraser Institute’s strategic approach when addressing policy change. By shifting the research focus from the politician to the average Albertan, the Fraser Institute was able to produce policy prescriptions that successfully helped revitalize liberties that have been lost over time in the Canadian province. Listen to hear about how the Fraser institute combatted special interests that hinder success in the political marketplace and fought for the best interests of the citizens of Alberta through consistently sharing research and data that supports free market ideals.

Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner 202 begins this Wednesday—register now!

Dr.  D. Dhanuraj, the chairman of the Center for Public Policy Research in India (CPPR) discusses the institutionalized discrimination against women that is a direct product of the Kerala Shops & Establishments Act in Kerala, India. CPPR worked tirelessly with the communist-led government of Kerala to implement significant policy reforms that allow women more freedom in the market. CPPR’s policy prescriptions dismantled discriminatory measures in the Kerala Shops & Establishment Act by providing an amendment that allows shops to remain open all hours of the week, introduces shifts for employees, allows women to work beyond the previously described hours of 6am-7pm, and establishes an online business registration platform that will allow businesses to act more freely in the market.

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More than one million Costa Ricans live in poverty, so how do its leaders justify the “luxury pensions” of a few thousand people who receive, on average, nearly forty-five hundred U.S. dollars a month?  Luis Loria, president of Ideas Labs in Costa Rica tells of their success in educating the general public on how luxury pensions infringe upon the freedoms of every tax-paying Costa Rican. Two out of 10 of Ideas Labs reforms have been passed into law through Costa Rica’s congress. Ideas Labs is nominated for the 2020 Templeton Freedom Award for their commitment to educating Costa Rican citizens about the injustice embedded within the highest ranking members of society.

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PERC, “The home of free market environmentalism”, is nominated for the 2020 Templeton Freedom Award. PERC, a trailblazer of innovative policy solutions to the Endangered Species Act, focused on advocating for positive, market based, incentives that reward U.S. Citizens for participating in private conservation. Brian Yablonski tells of PERC’s groundbreaking findings that drastically changes the way citizens and politicians view environmentalism.

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Severe import restrictions have drastically increased the price of staple food in Indonesia. As a result, a quarter of all children under five are malnourished. Rainer Heufers, the co-founder and executive director for the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), discusses the negative, unintended consequences that abed protectionist policies such as the quantitative import restrictions in Indonesia and how CIPS is working to change public opinion and make the Indonesian government more accountable for the food crisis. CIPS Affordable Food for the Poor program is being recognized for the 2020 Templeton Freedom Award. 

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State governments are aggressively reducing the ability of healthcare providers to freely provide their services in the marketplace in 36 states in the United States of America. Thomas Stratmann from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University spearheaded the Equity Initiative for American Healthcare, which exposed government imposed certificate of need laws as harmful to both healthcare providers and patients. Since 2014, the Mercatus Center has developed nine academic papers and dozens of short papers explaining how certificate of need (CON) laws, in the name of increasing access, improving quality, and reducing healthcare costs, consequently create situations where patients do not have access to services. The Mercatus Center is recognized as the 2020 Atlas Network Liberty Award winner and is nominated for the 2020 Templeton Freedom Award. 

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What is the freedom movement? Brad Lips, Atlas Network's CEO discusses his new book, modern day heroes of liberty, and his personal journey from Wall Street to the non-profit world. Brad also explains how Atlas Network's Templeton Freedom Award continues a legacy of advancing freedom and highlights this year's six finalists. Our special TFA finalist interview series kicks off tomorrow so, stay tuned!