Dear Investors and Friends of Liberty,
I just returned from the “one of a kind” conference, FreedomFest, where more than 2,000 investors and concerned citizens heard from over 150 speakers, including Sen. Rand Paul, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, Steve Forbes, John Mackey, Peter Schiff, Alex Green, Robert Kiyosaki, and a host of other financial gurus. One comment overheard: “FreedomFest is wall-to-wall excitement!”
It was electrifying, beginning with standing a room-only (SRO) crowd, listening to Dinesh D’Souza talk about his latest film “2016: Obama’s America,” and ending with Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” speaking on “Be The Fed: Gaining Your Unfair Advantage in an Unfair System.” The exhibit hall, “the trade show for liberty,” was abuzz with more than a hundred think tanks, freedom organizations, and financial services. C-SPAN was there to interview over a dozen authors (to be aired soon).
Our “emergency session” focused on the out-of-control debt crisis in Europe and the United States, with experts from the around the world identifying ways to survive, protect and profit. Wayne Allyn Root warned that capitalists and entrepreneurs were going on strike against wasteful, big government along the lines of Ayn Rand’s novel, “Atlas Shrugged.”
European expert John Browne emphasized that Europe, with a combined GDP of $17 billion, is the world’s largest economy and cannot be ignored. Tom Palmer of the Atlas Foundation said that Egypt is the “big prize” in the Middle East and has just fallen into the hands of the radical Islamic Brotherhood. Keith Fitz-Gerald, editor of Money Map, offered an optimistic note that China won’t collapse like many doomsdayers are predicting (including Bert Dohmen and Ty Andros). David McAlvany reported that debt has been growing at a 16% rate since 2001 — an unsustainable rate — and long-term unemployment has doubled in the United States. And Peter Schiff said the Fed (or the Treasury) can’t afford to raise rates and will do everything possible to avoid it.
Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal said that the Supreme Court’s upholding of ObamaCare was “the most important and worst decision in the last 40 years.” And Steve Forbes went so far to accuse President Obama of being a “hardcore socialist” who plans to nationalize 16% of the economy (healthcare). These are scary times indeed.
In the closing panel, I asked the panelists to respond to John Stossel’s comment to me last week that “We are toast.” He said this after both of us heard Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker talk optimistically about his recall victory (sponsored by the Manhattan Institute). All of the panelists, including Steve Forbes, Grover Norquist, and Sen. Rand Paul, strongly disagreed. They all thought we could turn things around, just as Canada turned things around in the mid 1990s. They were especially optimistic about the November elections. “We are at freedom’s crossroad,” concluded Steve Forbes. “Libertarians have more power inside the Republican Party,” stated Sen. Paul.
When the moderator Chip Wood asked Sen. Paul if he would like to come back to FreedomFest next year, he replied emphatically, “Absolutely!” He told me he considers FreedomFest the single most important event of the year and wants to be a part of it. Next year, we move to Caesars Palace and our theme is “Are We Rome?” Mark the dates, July 10-13, 2013. We showed a special 2 ½ minute video.
Also, if you would to buy the audio recordings (CD or MP3) of this year’s FreedomFest, go to www.miracleofamerica.com.
This week, Jo Ann and I are flying to Hong Kong and Shanghai to deliver some lectures at the Austrian Economics Seminar in China. I will have a full report next week.
Until then, this is Mark Skousen saying so long, fellow free-marketeers, and remember, AEIOU!
Leave a Reply