Cato Events Podcast

Welfare reform was not just one of the most important legislative achievements of its era, it continues to serve as the starting point for discussions of poverty and inequality today. The conference will look back at the goals of welfare reform and whether or not it has achieved them, as well as looking forward to next steps. We hope to answer such questions as the following: Did welfare reform achieve its goal of moving people from welfare to work? Did welfare reform improve economic self-sufficiency and mobility? How did welfare reform impact family structure, health, and child achievement? Did reformed welfare still provide an adequate safety net during the economic turbulence of the last decade? Is welfare reform still relevant today? How can we build on welfare reform to reduce poverty and increase opportunity? What should a safety net look like in the future?

Welfare reform was not just one of the most important legislative achievements of its era, it continues to serve as the starting point for discussions of poverty and inequality today. The conference will look back at the goals of welfare reform and whether or not it has achieved them, as well as looking forward to next steps. We hope to answer such questions as the following: Did welfare reform achieve its goal of moving people from welfare to work? Did welfare reform improve economic self-sufficiency and mobility? How did welfare reform impact family structure, health, and child achievement? Did reformed welfare still provide an adequate safety net during the economic turbulence of the last decade? Is welfare reform still relevant today? How can we build on welfare reform to reduce poverty and increase opportunity? What should a safety net look like in the future?

Welfare reform was not just one of the most important legislative achievements of its era, it continues to serve as the starting point for discussions of poverty and inequality today. The conference will look back at the goals of welfare reform and whether or not it has achieved them, as well as looking forward to next steps. We hope to answer such questions as the following: Did welfare reform achieve its goal of moving people from welfare to work? Did welfare reform improve economic self-sufficiency and mobility? How did welfare reform impact family structure, health, and child achievement? Did reformed welfare still provide an adequate safety net during the economic turbulence of the last decade? Is welfare reform still relevant today? How can we build on welfare reform to reduce poverty and increase opportunity? What should a safety net look like in the future?

Which state is the freest? Which state the least free? Which one has the most lightly taxed and regulated economy? Which states protect personal freedoms the best and the worst? How does your state fare? Is it among the freest or most coercive? Such questions have occurred to many people who care about limited government.

Now we have answers. The newly published 2016 edition of Freedom in the 50 States presents a completely revised and updated ranking of the American states based on how their policies promote freedom in the fiscal, regulatory, and personal realms. The authors have gathered data on more than 230 variables to measure freedom now and in the past. They go beyond describing policies and analyze why some states have smaller and better governments.

Freedom in the 50 States is an essential work for anyone interested in state policy and in advancing a better understanding of a free society. Join us to meet the authors and hear about the development of this remarkable research as well as which states policymakers should emulate, and which states need the most reform.

From Cato University 2016: Summer Seminar on Political Economy

The Cato Institute’s premier educational event, this annual program brings together outstanding faculty and participants from across the country and, often, from around the globe in order to examine the roots of our commitment to liberty and limited government, and explore the ideas and values on which the American republic was founded.

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

From Cato University 2016: Summer Seminar on Political EconomyThe Cato Institute’s premier educational event, this annual program brings together outstanding faculty and participants from across the country and, often, from around the globe in order to examine the roots of our commitment to liberty and limited government, and explore the ideas and values on which the American republic was founded.

Over the last decade and a half, the "most powerful office in the world" has grown even more powerful, thanks to two presidents in a row who repeatedly pushed the limits of executive authority. The Bush administration's mission, as described by Vice President Dick Cheney, was to "leave the presidency stronger than we found it." Mission accomplished: when Bush and Cheney left office in January 2009, they passed on to Barack Obama the vast new powers they'd forged in the War on Terror and the financial crisis of 2008.

As president, Obama in turn pushed those powers still further. Boasting that "I've got a pen and a phone," our 44th president increasingly governed by unilateral directive in areas ranging from education policy, immigration, and environmental regulation at home to military action abroad — ensuring that his successor will inherit a presidency with dangerously expansive powers. (Thanks, Obama.)

The two leading candidates for the job are also the most widely distrusted major-party nominees in the history of polling. Yet, barring a miracle, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will inherit all the weapons of the radically enhanced presidency: the pen, the phone and the drone. Hillary Clinton has said she'll go "as far as I can, even beyond President Obama" in ruling by decree; Donald Trump has said he's going to "do a lot of right things" with executive authority: like use the antitrust laws to silence his critics; create a database tracking Muslim citizens; and force Apple to make the iPhone in the United States.

The spectre of a Trump or Clinton presidency ought to concentrate the mind wonderfully: no one person should be trusted with the powers the modern president holds — least of all, either of the people most likely to be president in January 2017.

Can public distrust of Trump and Clinton help "counteract the Cult of the Presidency," as George Will recently suggested, and dispel "magical thinking about the wonders of executive power"? Does our current dilemma offer an opportunity for a congressional resurgence — a chance for Congress to relimit a presidency that's grown beyond its constitutional bounds? Join Cato vice president Gene Healy for a discussion about the dangers of executive overreach and the means for restraining it.

Libertarians and conservatives both claim to be advocates of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. Sometimes these shared values lead libertarians and conservatives to similar conclusions about public policy. As a result, American political discourse often conflates libertarianism with conservatism, and proponents of “fusionism” go so far as to regard a libertarian-conservative alliance as being both natural and politically useful.

However, the differences between the two political philosophies are at least as significant as the similarities. On matters such as national security and foreign policy, surveillance, immigration, criminal justice, drugs, gay rights, and the role of religion and morality in public policy, libertarians and conservatives often clash with one another. Despite whatever similarities they may have, libertarianism and conservatism are substantially different political philosophies—so which one provides better answers to today’s most important political questions?

We invite you to an election-year debate about the two philosophies and their associated policy implications. Interns from the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation will go head-to-head to answer the question: Is libertarianism or conservatism the superior political philosophy?

Online registration for this event is now closed. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

The mythology at the heart of the Star Wars motion pictures has become a powerful common language for talking about not just good versus evil, fathers and sons, and destiny and choice, but also foundational political ideas like the role of government, the nature of power, the decay of institutions, and the need for and permissibility of rebellion and revolution. In The World According to Star Wars, legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein offers insights on theses topics and more, showing how and why Star Wars resonates so deeply with so many and what it has to teach us about the most important questions we face today.

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

The mythology at the heart of the Star Wars motion pictures has become a powerful common language for talking about not just good versus evil, fathers and sons, and destiny and choice, but also foundational political ideas like the role of government, the nature of power, the decay of institutions, and the need for and permissibility of rebellion and revolution. In The World According to Star Wars, legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein offers insights on theses topics and more, showing how and why Star Wars resonates so deeply with so many and what it has to teach us about the most important questions we face today.