Cato Event Podcast

When President Barack Obama signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) into law on July 21, 2010, he promised that "because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes." Three years on, the implementation of Dodd-Frank has turned out to be more costly, lengthy, and complex than most proponents anticipated. As of July 1, 2013, nearly 63 percent of the rulemaking deadlines under Dodd-Frank have been missed. To mark Dodd-Frank's third anniversary, panelists will discuss whether Dodd-Frank really addressed the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis, the implementation progress to date, and the way forward.

The 2012 Supreme Court decision in NFIB v. Sebelius held that the threatened loss of all federal Medicaid funds made ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion unconstitutionally coercive. However, Secretary Sebelius has continued to hold federal Medicaid funds hostage in order to limit the effect of the decision in NFIB and coerce states into implementing elements of the Medicaid expansion that the Court rendered optional.

Purchase book Lewis E. Lehrman, President Ronald Reagan’s gold commissioner and co-signer of the iconic commission minority report, The Case for Gold, will make a rare Washington, D.C., public appearance to debut his latest work, Money, Gold, and History. In his new book, Lehrman, founder and chairman of the Lehrman Institute, compiles many of his key writings from almost 40 years of publications and complements them with new and important essays on the classical gold standard. Among the works included are his testimonies at the request of former representative Ron Paul before the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy, his address before the Parliament of France, and many essays in leading publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the American Spectator, and the Weekly Standard. Lehrman, a student of iconic French economist Jacques Rueff, and author of the critically acclaimed book The True Gold Standard, is a preeminent advocate of restoring a modern classical gold standard.

Liberty and virtue are values that both conservatives and libertarians tout as components of their philosophies. Historically, disagreements about the definitions of and balance between liberty and virtue have taken a back seat to other more pressing conflicts, causing the distinct philosophies to often be lumped together. As times have changed, elements of the old "fusionism" alliance have dissolved, and new conflicts have emerged that impose a strain on the formerly functioning, though imperfect, ideological partnership. Recent policy issues have highlighted disagreements in areas such as the War on Drugs, national defense, welfare, immigration, marriage, foreign policy, and many others. These topics represent important reasons to discuss the similarities and the differences between the two worldviews. We invite you to a timely debate about the two philosophies and their associated policy applications, as interns from the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute go head-to-head to answer the perennial question: Is libertarianism or conservatism the better political philosophy?

Although it has been studied intensely by political scientists, the relationship between public opinion and U.S. foreign policy remains murky. Today, pundits argue about whether an "Iraq syndrome" among the public is inhibiting the Obama administration from going to war with Syria. Public anxiety about the debt and deficit has led to increased support for cutting military spending. In this context, a growing number of scholars and academics are calling for Washington to adopt a grand strategy of restraint. Does the public support the existing strategy, or is it more in alignment with restraint? What does the public believe America’s role in the world should be? Should presidents listen to public opinion regarding foreign-policy decisions? Must they?

The Senate recently passed the most significant overhaul of U.S. immigration laws in a generation. But will it lead to increased economic growth and human freedom? What are the bill’s downsides? Where does the legislation go from here? Cato’s Alex Nowrasteh, co-author of the upcoming Cato Policy Analysis “Building a Wall around the Welfare State, Instead of around the Country,” has been at the center of the debate in Washington and will provide an on-the-ground update. His new study will present analysis and a practical guide on limiting immigrant access to welfare.

Purchase bookWhy do millions of people continue to risk their lives, sometimes losing them, in the pursuit of a chance to establish themselves in a foreign land? Alvaro Vargas Llosa will describe who immigrants are and why they move, and he will compare the immigrant experience today to that of previous eras, identifying far more similarities than differences. By reviewing such topics as religion, education, entrepreneurial spirit, and attitudes toward the receiving society, Mr. Vargas Llosa will assess whether critics are justified in pointing to a major cultural shift. Taking into account economic factors, including the role of the welfare state, the author will outline a pro-immigration agenda for the United States and other rich countries that minimizes costs and harnesses the benefits of globalization.

The rise of the West can be understood only as a result of an ideological change that occurred in England in the 17th century and of the emergence of a “bourgeois deal” through which entrepreneurs were let free to engage in innovation and creative destruction, so argues Deirdre McCloskey in her forthcoming book, The Treasured Bourgeoisie: How Markets and Innovation Became Ethical, 1600-1848, and Then Suspect. Please join us for a discussion that will link culture, ethics and rhetoric with entrepreneurship and economic development.

The Social Security disability program has seen a significant increase in costs and enrollment in recent years. The Trustees project that the program will be insolvent as early as 2016. This recent growth and the program’s looming insolvency have brought it increased attention and added urgency to calls for solutions. Cato senior fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale, Social Security Administration chief actuary Stephen Goss and leading scholars David Autor from MIT and Harold Pollack from the University of Chicago will provide their insights into the problems with the program’s current structure, causes of recent program growth, and prospects for reform.

Congress needs to reauthorize the federal gas tax and decide how to spend federal surface transportation dollars in 2014. Unfortunately, argues Cato’s Randal O’Toole, too much spending in the past has gone to obsolete transportation technologies. Author Scott Beyer argues that the federal government’s role in funding infrastructure has stripped both money and decision-making power from localities, particularly major cities. Emily Goff, of the Heritage Foundation, will present ways reauthorization can embrace future technologies rather than be stuck in the past.

Purchase BookThe greatest reduction in mass poverty in human history has occurred during the current era of globalization. The world’s poor are now catching up with the rich at a rapid pace in terms of human well-being. Deepak Lal will discuss how, despite those achievements, confusion about poor countries abounds: the World Bank exaggerates the extent of poverty; the benefits of new development fads including microfinance or randomized testing of projects, are vastly oversold; and discredited theories, such as the need for massive foreign aid to save Africa, have been resurrected. Marcus Noland will draw from his experience working in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to comment on the book and its view that increased liberalization in the developing world is decreasing the influence of the West’s advocates of dirigisme.

While many members of Congress claim to support free trade, Cato’s congressional trade votes database tells a different story. Rather than simply noting support or opposition to trade liberalization, Cato’s Free Trade, Free Markets methodology distinguishes between trade barriers and trade subsidies. As a result, the database allows researchers to evaluate members of Congress more precisely. In particular, voting patterns during the 112th Congress shed light on the relative importance of ideology, regionalism, and partisanship in setting trade policy. Many members who consistently support lowering barriers also consistently support expanding subsidies. So who are the real free traders in Congress? And what do the voting records of the 112th Congress tell us about the prospects for trade policy in the current term?

In Halbig v. Sebelius, four individual taxpayers and three employers are challenging a seemingly obscure IRS decree. The IRS claims the authority to issue hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to health-insurance companies, and to impose penalties on individual taxpayers and employers, in the 33 states that have refused to establish a health insurance "exchange" under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Halbig plaintiffs assert this decree would penalize them in violation of the clear, consistent, and unambiguous language of the PPACA, as well as congressional intent. The Congressional Research Service writes that Halbig "could be a major obstacle to the implementation of the Act." Law professor Michael Greve writes, "all of ObamaCare hangs on the outcome." The lead attorney in Halbig, Michael Carvin, and three other panelists will discuss the legality of the IRS's decree and the implications for the PPACA.

In 1920, in Missouri v. Holland, the Supreme Court seemed to say, contrary to basic constitutional principles, that a treaty could increase the legislative power of Congress. That issue is now back before the Court in Bond v. United States, a case with deliciously lurid facts involving adultery, revenge, and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Cato has filed an amicus brief in the case, written by Nicholas Rosenkranz, based on his Harvard Law Review article on the subject. Please join us for a discussion of this fundamental constitutional question.

Purchase bookClint Bolick argues in his new book, written with Jeb Bush, that the three broad components of immigration reform—better immigration enforcement, a lawful pathway for future migrants, and the legalization of current unauthorized immigrants—must work together to produce a viable immigration policy. The 1986 Reagan amnesty failed because it was a partial reform that increased immigration enforcement but did not increase legal opportunities for lower skilled immigrants. The 2007 immigration reform bill failed to even pass the Senate for a similar reason—its guest worker visa program was eviscerated. Immigration reform must produce an easily enforceable law that allows the world’s best, brightest, and most industrious a chance to contribute to the American economy.