Mark Skousen, Author at MSKOUSEN.COM

About Mark Skousen

Mark Skousen is a professional economist, university professor, best-selling author, editor of the award-winning Forecasts & Strategies financial newsletter, and producer of FreedomFest, the largest annual gathering of free minds about liberty and freedom in the world. Skousen has been married to wife Jo Ann for 42 years, and has five children and five grandchildren.

My Schedule at FreedomFest Memphis 2023, Renasant Convention Center.

June 26, 2023 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Dear freedom lovers,

I’m excited about this year’s big show in Memphis. Here’s my personal schedule. See you there!

Wednesday, July 12:

12 noon – 12:50 pm. Main Stage #2. “Welcome to FreedomFest,” an introduction to our Memphis show. A fun review of what to expect at this year’s FreedomFest and Anthem film festival. At 12:30 pm, I’ve invited Dr. Rainer Zitelmann, author of “In Defense of Capitalism,” who will talk about “Myths and Facts about Capitalism.”

1:00 – 1:50 pm. Main Stage #2. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Debate Over the Modern Libertarian Movement.” I’ll be moderating a debate between two law professors about Northwestern’s Andrew Koppelman book, “Burning the House Down: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed.” NYU Professor Richard Epstein will respond. I’ve never seen Richard Epstein lose a debate.

2:00 – 2:50 pm. Rooms 202-203. “They Say, ‘Health is Wealth,’ But Actually Health is Freedom.” Panel moderated by Dr. Matthew Morgan, MD, and panelists Carta Gericke, Laura Spath, and Spike Cohen. This session will address what our leaders ignored during the 2020 Covid pandemic: healthy people survived.

3:00 – 3:50 pm. Main Stage #2. “Left, Right, Liberal, Conservative, Progessive: Do These Labels Help or Hinder the Fight for Freedom?” I’ll be moderating this big debate based on Hyrum Lewis’s book, “The Myth of Left and Right: how the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America” (Oxford University Press, 2023), which will be awarded the Leonard E. “Read This Book” Award at FreedomFest. We will hear response from Steve Moore, Grover Norquist, and Andrew Koppelman.

4:30 – 7 pm. Opening Ceremonies. MC: Lisa Kennedy (Fox News) Hear from former NBA star Enes “Freedom” Kanter, T. K. Coleman, Glorida Alvarez, a presidential candidate in Guatemala, and entertainer Daryl Davis, blues/rock n roll pianist extraordinaire.

Afterwards, enjoy the Opening Cocktail Party in the “Trade Show for Liberty” Exhibit Hall. Enjoy over 150 exhibits of various free-market think tanks, financial services, the FreedomFest bookstore, and other freedom organizations. Be sure to check out my “White Mates in Two Chess” problem and win a silver dollar. Plus see Pop Up artists throughout the exhibit hall, including our own Elvis impersonator. The Anthem film festival will show the film “The Unredacted” that was censored at Sundance and Southwest film festivals.

Thursday, July 13:

7 – 8 am. Room 205 Balcony. Morning Yoga with Michelle Roberts.

8:50 – 9:15 am. Main Stage #1. Global Financial Summit with Steve Forbes (North America), Barbara Kolm (Europe, Russia), Preity Uupala (China and India), and Gloria Alvarez (Latin America), moderated by Garrett Baldwin (Money Map Press).

That morning we’ll also hear from Dan Slepian, an NBC reporter who has been in the forefront of getting innocent inmates released from prison; Grover Norquist and Heather Wagenhals on tax cut strategies;
“Anti-Davos” with Brad Lips, Tom Palmer, and Magette Wade; Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democrat, on how to preserve peace in the world; and a big debate, “Have the Environmentalists Gone Too Far?,” between historian Douglas Brinkley, author of “Silent Spring Revolution,” and Michael Shellenberger, author of “Apocalysis Never!” with Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine as the moderator.

It will be followed by a “meet and greet” luncheon with Tulsi Gabbard and Enes “Freedom” Kanter.

1:10 – 2:00 pm. I’m torn between two sessions, a panel (Main Stage #2) on the topic “Who’s Winning the Battle of Ideas: Adam Smith, Marx or Keynes?” moderated Wolf von Laer; and another panel (Ballroom E) on “Unleash Prosperity: The Future of Tax and Spend in Washington,” with Steve Moore, Grover Norquist, and Keli’i Akina (Grassroot Institute of Hawaii).

2:10 – 3 pm. Main Stage #1. Michael Shermer on “How Lives Turn Out: Genese, Environment, Luck, and Tools for What We Can and Cannot Change in Life.”

Or Ballroom C, Global Financial Summit, “High Yield Income” by Bryan Perry and “You Aint Seen Nothin Yet: The Next Stock Market Tech Boom” by George Gilder.

3:10 – 4:00 pm. RF 3-4-5. “Getting Small: The Tiny Home Revolution” with John Papola and others.

Or Room 205. “Disinherit the IRS: How to Prepare for Tax Doomsday,” with estate planning specialist Dave Phillips.

4:00 – 4:30 pm. Coffee break in the Exhibit Hall, autograph session with speakers at the FreedomFest bookstore, visiting exhibits and sponsors, chess game, etc.

4:30 – 7 pm. Main Stage #1, with MC Lisa Kennedy. Matt Taibbi on “Media Misinformation”…Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy….and my interview with Mike Rowe, followed by a private “meet and greet” 7-8 pm with Mike Rowe (limited to 100 attendees).

Friday, July 13:

9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Ballroom B. I’ll be attending mostly the Anthem film festival on Friday morning, watching films about the importance of fathers, followed by panel discussions with John Papola, Dan Slebian, formerly incarcerated inmate J. J. Valesquez, and Jo Ann Skousen moderating.

12 – 1 pm. Luncheon with Steve Forbes and his new educational series.

1:10 – 2 pm. RF 1- 2. “Wokeness in Business and Business Schools: How Did We Get There, and How Do We Move Forward?” with Daniel Sutter (moderator), Chuck Salvo, Scott Shephard and Phil Magness.

2:10 – 3 pm. Main Stage #1. Debate: “Supply Side Economics, Success or Failure?” with Art Laffer vs. Lanny Ebenstein. Alex Green, moderator. The debate will be over Art Laffer’s new book, “Taxes Have Consequences.” Lanny Ebenstein favors taxing the rich more.

3:10 – 4 pm. Ballroom C. “This Chart Shows Why Inflation Can Only Get Worse: What Rising Prices mean to Investors and the Dollar.” I’ll be moderating this panel: Steve Forbes, David Bahnsen, Alex Green, Louis Navellier.

4 – 4:30 pm. Coffee break in the Exhibit Hall. Autograph session with authors at the FreedomFest bookstore, etc.

4:30 – 6:45 pm. Main Stage #1. MC Lisa Kennedy. Talks by David Boaz on “Classical Liberal Response to a Growing Illiberalism”… Chinese dissidents on “Human Rights Violations,”…Larry Sharpe and Afroman on “Criminal Justice Reform”…and last but not least, the mock trial: “Open Borders on Trial,” with Michael Shermer as judge, Larry Elder as prosecuting attorney, and Christine Barnard as defending attorney, plus star witnesses.

6:45 – 7:45 pm. Larry Elder reception and fundraiser.

7:45 – 9:14 pm. Main Stage #2. Punch Up Comedy Show (Clean).

Saturday July 15:

7:30 – 8:30 am. Heritage Ballroom #1 Sheraton Hotel. My breakfast talk, “How to Profit from Adam Smith’s Model of Prosperity.” I’ll also be autographed copies of my book “The Making of Modern Economics” and “The Maxims of Wall Street.”

8:45 am – 10:30 pm. Main Stage #1 and #2. Sessions on politics with Ohio congressman Warren Davidson, and Presidential candidate Larry Elder….education with Corey DeAngelis, Robert Enlow, Michael Shermer, and Phil Magnus, among others.

10:30 – 11 am. Coffee break in the exhibit hall. Autograph sessions at the FreedomFest bookstore, chess problem, etc.

11:00 – 11:50 am. Ballroom C. “The Big Four in Supply Side Economics,” with Steve Forbes, Mark Skousen, Grover Norquist, and John Fund, moderated by David Bahnsen.

12:00 – 12:50 pm. Main Stage #1. Closing Panel #1 with David Boaz, Zilvenas Silenas, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, and Michael Beas. Followed by Closing Panel #2 with FreedomFest Ambassadors Steve Forbes, Larry Sharpe, Spike Cohen, and Lisa Kennedy. Then we have awards, announcement about next year’s FreedomFest, July 10-13, 2024, at the new Hard Rock Café Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, and finally everyone who has a silver dollar (our symbol of liberty and sound money) comes up to the stage and has photos with Steve Forbes and other speakers.

2:10 – 3:00 pm. Room 204. Brian Thomassen on “The Rise of the West: Why the West Became the Dominant Global Civilization…and Why It Will Remain So.”

3:10 – 4:00 pm. Ballroom E. “Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: Diving Deeper in China’s Policies.” Simon Lee and other dissidents, moderated by Li Schoolland.

4:10 – 5:00 pm. Rooms 202-203. Dr. Matthew Morgan (U of Utah Medical School) on “Live Simply, Live Heathy: The EASIEST Tips to Live a Heathy Life.” Dr. Morgan is one of the few medical experts who has noted that the elderly and the unhealthy were the most vulnerable victims of the Covid-19 pandemic. His talk will focus on the importance of diet, exercise and good sleeping habits as the best formula to avoid the next pandemic instead of depending solely on vaccines and mask-wearing.

6-7 pm. River View Lobby. Banquet reception.

7:00 – 10 pm. Main Stage #1 East Hall. Banquet, Anthem film festival awards, keynote by Larry Elder, dancing to “901 Heavy Hitters.” Always a great way to celebrate liberty and a successful FreedomFest.

Sunday, July 16:

Elvis Presley’s Graceland Tour, 10 am – 2 pm.

There’s still time to join us. Check out the entire schedule and individual speakers and their sessions at www.freedomfest.com. Use code MIKEROWE77 to get $77 off the register free.

Yours for peace, prosperity, and liberty, AEIOU,

Mark Skousen

GPT4 Gets it Right about Mark Skousen!

June 9, 2023 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Tyler Cowen, GMU professor and host of the popular website http://www.marginalrevolution.com, is a big fan of the new technology GPT4, which he says is vast improvement over GPT3.

He recently asked GPT4, “What is the main contribution of Mark Skousen to macroeconomics?” and sent me the answer.

Here was GPT4’s reply:

Mark Skousen is an American economist, author, and investment analyst, known for his work in libertarian free-market capitalism and Austrian School of economics. His main contribution to macroeconomics is his critical examination of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of economic health and the development of the alternative measure Gross Output (GO).

Skousen has long argued that GDP only captures the monetary value of final goods and services within an economy, ignoring intermediary production transactions and business-to-business (B2B) activities. He asserts that this narrow focus on consumption fails to accurately represent the complexities and true nature of the economy, particularly the importance of production, investment, and entrepreneurship.

In contrast to GDP, Skousen’s Gross Output (GO) is a measure that comprises the total economic output, including B2B activities and intermediate goods throughout the entire production process. GO encompasses all stages of production, from raw materials to finished goods and services, providing a fuller and more comprehensive picture of the economy.

In 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) began to report GO data alongside GDP as a supplementary statistic, a testimony to Skousen’s significant impact on macroeconomics. Today, economists, analysts, and policymakers commonly use this broader measure to better understand economic performance and assess the implications of fiscal and monetary policies.

Pretty accurate! For the latest press release and media coverage, go to http://www.grossoutput.com.

Best wishes, AEIOU

Mark Skousen

Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise Chapman University

Newsletter: www.markskousen.com

Free weekly e-letter: https://www.markskousen.com/signups/skousen-investor-cafe/

Personal website: www.mskousen.com

Producer, FreedomFest

“The World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds”
July 12-15, 2023, Memphis Convention Center
www.freedomfest.com

Robert Lucas, Jr., Nobel Prize Winner, R.I.P.

May 15, 2023 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Dear friends,

Another free-market economist has passed away. Robert Lucas, Jr. (1937-2023) died today at the age of 85. He was one of the many Chicago economists who won the Nobel prize, his in 1995 for popularizing the “rational expectations” school of economics. He suggested that Keynesian stimulus and deficit spending may no longer be effective when people anticipate the impact of their policies by raising prices and interest rates.

On a personal note, his winning the prize in 1995 created some notoriety. His e-wife has put into their divorce agreement a clause that required him to share half the $1 million prize if he won the Nobel prize within six years. The clause was due to expire at the end of October, 1995, and he was awarded the prize in early October 1995. She did not attend the Nobel ceremonies in December.

I made a point of visiting Bob Lucas at the University of Chicago from time to time. I toured the new business/economics center there last year, and stopped by to see him, but he was away.

Bob Lucas and the rational expectations school seems to have lost some popularity. In San Diego in January 2013, I attended and spoke at the American Economic Association (AEA) meetings, where I met with several top economists including Bob Lucas. Here is my report:

Keynesians vs. Monetarists: Who Won?

A telling sign at the AEA meetings was the fact that the sessions with Keynesian Paul Krugman were standing-room only, while monetarists including Michael Bordo, Allan Meltzer and Nobel laureate Bob Lucas had a small turnout. Both sessions were held at the same time on a Sunday morning. Speaking before a packed crowd, Krugman made his case for greater deficits, more inflation and higher taxes. Along with Robert Shiller and other Keynesians, he argued that “monetarism” has been discredited. In their book “Animal Spirits,” Shiller and George Akerlof don’t even mention Milton Friedman’s monetary explanation of the Great Depression.

The other session celebrated the 50th anniversary of Milton Freidman and Anna Schwartz’s monetary bible, “A Monetary History of the United States,” published in 1963. Bob Lucas and the other speakers in that session praised the work as a classic. University of California-Berkeley Professor Christina Romer, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama, called it “one of the greatest economics books ever written.” But the panelists contended that the 2008 financial crisis had little to do with monetary aggregates (M2 rose 10% in 2008) but rather bad regulatory policies in homeownership and government-guaranteed mortgages (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). But Friedman and Schwartz are still relevant, they said, because their work demonstrated that “monetary shocks” such as bank failures can have serious adverse effects in the global economy.

Meanwhile, I noted, M2 was growing at a 10% rate in 2013, taxes were rising and government was expanding. Krugman was winning!

The Federal Reserve as the Engine of Inflation

“No major institution in the U.S. has so poor a record of performance over so long a period, yet so high a public reputation.” — Milton Friedman

One of the most popular AEA sessions was a panel on the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve. The most shocking graph was presented by Ken Rogoff, a Harvard economist.

As the graph indicates, from 1775 until 1913, there was virtually no price inflation other than during brief periods of war, which caused temporary inflation. What happened in 1913? The Federal Reserve was created and we ultimately went off of the classical gold standard.

Professor Rogoff noted that since the Fed was created, prices have skyrocketed 30-fold, or 3,000%! This data confirms Murray Rothbard’s contention that the Fed was created to remove the barriers to inflation, not to control it.

Another “public policy” session in San Diego discussed a survey of top professional economists that looked for any consensus on international, labor, education and macro issues. The survey showed, surprisingly, that economists agree 70% of the time, such as on the idea that “vouchers help kids.”

Ironically, economists were 100% in consensus on only one issue — they disagreed with the statement, “The gold standard should be adopted.” Not a single professor said “yes.” I guess economists aren’t really serious about taming inflation.

Despite the fact that the Fed engineered all of this inflation, causing the Great Depression, and failed to regulate the mortgage banks prior to the 2008 crisis, all of the panelists gave high marks to the Fed! In fact, they praised Chairman Ben Bernanke even when I asked if any of the panelists would have fired him for the Fed’s failings.

Best wishes, AEIOU,

Mark

Mark Skousen

Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise Chapman University

Newsletter: www.markskousen.com

Free weekly e-letter: https://www.markskousen.com/signups/skousen-investor-cafe/

Personal website: www.mskousen.com

Producer, FreedomFest

“The World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds”
July 12-15, 2023, Memphis Convention Center
www.freedomfest.com

Stanley Engerman, Co-Author of “Time on the Cross,” R. I. P.

May 13, 2023 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Stanley Engerman, economic historian at the University of Rochester, died on May 11, 2023, at age 87: See https://brightonmc.com/obituaries/stanley-lewis-engerman/2632/

When I was a student at BYU in 1971, my economics professor Larry Wimmer arranged for me and one other student to do research for Stanley Engerman, co-author of “Time on the Cross” with Nobel prize economist Robert Fogel. I never met him but we talked on the telephone several times.

Here’s what I wrote in my diary:

“At the end of the month, I had another job opportunity for the summer—really exciting. This involved working as a research assistant for Robert Fogel of University of Chicago and Stanley Engerman of Rochester on their econometric studies of the slave trade and industry in the ante-bellum South. We were instructed to go through court and probate records in the Salt Lake Genealogical Society’s microfilm section and write down names, dates, places, description of slaves. This was surprisingly interesting work. I worked with Keith Allred most of the time, and we’d go up to Salt Lake each day. One time we made a particularly lucrative find and our joy was so apparent that several Mormons asked what we had found—when they saw we were talking about slaves, they really wondered [about our lineage].”

The work was quite fascinating. You could see how some slaves were valued more than others, depending on their age and occupation.

You could also see the inflation going on during the Civil War with prices going up for everything.

What surprised me the most was that slaves were still listed on probate records after the Civil War, as if nothing had happened. On the official estate records, slaves were still considered property past 1865, and well into the 1880s! It was a real shock.

Their book came out in 1974 and caused a sensation. Fogel and Engerman argued that slavery was highly profitable, so much so that it required a civil war to end it. They questioned the view that slavery would die out on its own.

Fogel won the Nobel prize in economics in 1993 as a developer of “cliometrics” (quantitative economic history). Because of “Time on the Cross,” Fogel was sometimes accused of being a racist, even though he was married to an African-American woman. Fogel died at age 87 in 2013.

Best wishes, AEIOU,

Mark

Mark Skousen

Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise Chapman University

Newsletter: www.markskousen.com

Free weekly e-letter: https://www.markskousen.com/signups/skousen-investor-cafe/

Personal website: www.mskousen.com

Annual conference: www.freedomfest.com

Three Nobel Prize Winners Endorse New Macro Statistic

April 19, 2023 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

by Mark Skousen

I now have three Nobel prize winners who are encouraging my development of gross output (GO) as the “top line” in national income accounting, as a complement to GDP as the “bottom line”:

“Mark Skousen’s gross output (GO) statistic reminds me of Irving Fisher’s ‘Q’ in the quantity theory of money (MV=PQ), where Q measures production and sale of all commodity transactions in the economy. GO provides insight into the workings of the entire production process, which can be invaluable to giving us a full picture of economic performance.”

– Vernon L. Smith, Chapman University (2002)

“By integrating the vital role of the supply chain into national income accounting, Mark Skousen’s development of gross output (GO) has created a more dynamic and broader view of the economy, and of the central role that business plays in national income, the business cycle and economic growth. I recommend that economists seriously consider his new approach to macroeconomics.”

– Finn Kydland, UC Santa Barbara (2004)

“Congratulations on your work. It has been a long slog to get the national accounts to introduce innovative measures, and Steve Landefeld [long-time director of the BEA] has been a superstar in this respect… This will open up the potential for new insights into the behavior of the economy.”

– William D. Nordhaus, Yale University (2018)

And this general endorsement:

“Gross output [GO] is the natural measure of the production sector, while net output [GDP] is appropriate as a measure of welfare. Both are required in a complete system of accounts.”

– Dale W. Jorgenson, J. Stephen Landefeld, and William D. Nordhaus, A New Architecture of US National Accounts (NBER, University of Chicago Press, 20006), p. 6.

Here is my latest press release: https://grossoutput.com/2023/03/30/go-growth-stalls-at-the-end-of-2022-indicating-a-potential-recession-in-2023/

Are economists the slowest learners?

September 3, 2022 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Dear friends of freedom,

Peter Drucker once said, “Economists are the slowest learners.”

I never believed that….until now. See the announcement below from the American Economic Association.

I was very much looking forward to attending and maybe even speaking at the AEA meetings January 6-8, 2023, in New Orleans, a city I love, but was astonished to read of the draconian rules the AEA leadership have established–vaccines/boosters and N-95 masks! Give me a break!

They wrote today: “All registrants will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to have received at least one booster. High-quality masks (i.e., KN-95 or better) will be required in all indoor conference spaces. These requirements are planned for the well-being of all participants. Participants are also encouraged to test for COVID-19 before traveling to the meeting.”

Seriously? This isn’t 2020 — it’s nearly 3 years later and I don’t know anybody except the AEA living in utter fear. Everyone else is getting back to normal, and recognizing that everyone is going to be exposed to various viruses. I got vaccinated, wore masks, etc., and still got Covid. So have millions of others. It’s time to move on.

By the way, my wife had a severe allergic reaction to the jab — she will NEVER take another Covid-vaccine or booster. There are thousands of others who feel the same way.

Meanwhile, we can fly to New Orleans, we can teach and attend college classes, we can go to numerous socials and events without wearing masks or getting vaccinated — but no, the high and mighty AEA authoritarians are mandating we wear masks and get vaccinated–again!

I called the Hilton Riverside and asked if they have any such mask or vaccine mandates. They said “none.”

I will be speaking at the New Orleans Investment Conference at the Hilton Riverside on October 12-15, and the conference organizers are not mandating masks or vaccines — even with thousands attending. Are they stupid people? I don’t think so.

I am also speaking at the World Knowledge Forum (the Asian version of Davos) on September 20-22 in Seoul, Korea, and they have no mask/vaccine mandate.

I will be attending the Mont Pelerin Society meetings in Oslo, Norway, and they don’t have any such mandates.

It’s time that the AEA leadership start treating us as grown-ups and let us allow us to decide for ourselves whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated. Some people feel safer wearing masks and that’s okay. But don’t force all of us to wear them, or to get vaccinated.

So, sadly I will NOT be coming to New Orleans in January, and I will encourage other economists to protest with me.

Best wishes, AEIOU,

Mark

Mark Skousen

Presidential Fellow and Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise, Chapman University

Newsletter: www.markskousen.com

Free weekly e-letter: https://www.markskousen.com/signups/skousen-investor-cafe/

Annual conference: www.freedomfest.com

FreedomFest Agenda – Here’s a preview:

June 7, 2022 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Dear friends of FreedomFest,

The excitement is building for our July 13-16 intellectual feast at the Mirage in Las Vegas. The complete agenda with 250 speakers will be posted in a few days at www.freedomfest.com, but here are a few sessions that might interest you.

Wednesday, July 13

Wednesday, July 13, 1:00-1:50 p.m. Jim Woods, co-editor of Fast Money Alert, on “My Favorite Technique to Make Money,” followed by a discussion with the legendary Jim Rogers on “Which Offers a Better Investment Opportunity, the USA or Emerging Markets?” Moderated by Roger Michalski.

Wednesday, July 13, 1:00-1:50 p.m. My first session, “Who’s Winning the Battle of Ideas: Marx, Keynes or Adam Smith?” An update on my new 4^th ed. of “The Making of Modern Economics.”

Wednesday, 2:00-2:25 p.m. Alex Green (Oxford Club) on “Creating a Permanent Portfolio: Can You Beat the Market Without Trading?”

Wednesday, 2:25-2:50 p.m. My big debate with technical trader Mike Turner: “Buy and Hold vs Market Timing: Which is the Most Profitable Investment Strategy During a Bear Market?”

Wednesday, 3-3:50 p.m. “Is Your Boss Ruthless or Compassionate? How the New Model of Capitalism Can Defeat Socialism and Marxism.” The evolution of business, from robber barons to compassionate capitalists: Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike of 1892; Henry Ford’s $5-a day in 1914; Jack Welch’s case of Ruthless Capitalism 1981-2001; and John Mackey’s “Conscious Capitalism” in 2014.

On the evening of July 13, we have our “Opening Ceremonies,” with Lisa Kennedy, host of Fox Business, as our Mistress of Ceremonies all four days. Keynotes include Steve Forbes on his new book, “Inflation and How to Fix it,” Connor Boyack on “How CNN’s Attack on The Tuttle Twins Backfired and Helped Sell 100,000 Books to Teach Kids About Freedom,” and Dog the Bounty Hunter (new!) on “What Being Cancelled Taught Me.” Followed by the opening cocktail party in our exhibit hall, “the trade show for liberty,” with 180 exhibitors; plus Peter Studabaker will perform as our fun libertarian magician.

Thursday, July 14

We start off the morning with our annual “Global Economic Summit” with Barbara Kolm (Europe and Russia), Steve Moore (North America), Jim Rogers and Preity Umpala (China, India and Middle East); and Roberto Salinas (Latin America). We cover the hot spots!

It will be followed by the big debate: “Ben Stein vs Art Laffer: Should We Raise Taxes on the Rich?” Ben Stein will also be our luncheon speaker: “Rich & Famous: My Life in Beverly Hills & Hollywood.”

Thursday, 3:10-3:35 p.m. “The Cloud Revolution: Will It Create a New Roaring Twenties?” with Mark P. Mills (Manhattan Institute), George Gilder and Steve Forbes (moderator).

Thursday, 3:35-4:00 p.m. My interview with California money manager David Bahnsen, “How to Fight the Free Lunch Movement.” (new)

Thursday 4:30-5:45 p.m. “Drug Legalization on Trial,” with Wayne Allyn Root as Judge; Alex Datig and Catherine Bernard attorneys, and star witnesses Judge Jim Gray, Avens O’Brien and Luke Niforatos.

Thursday, 5:45-6:45 p.m. The God Debate! Michael Shermer (Skeptic magazine) takes on Eric Metaxas and his new book “Is Atheism Dead?,” moderated by Alex Green. I can’t wait.

Thursday, 6:45-7:00 p.m. Betsy Devos, former Secretary of Education, on “Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child.”

Friday, July 15

Friday, 7:30-8:45 a.m. Breakfast with Mark Skousen and Steve Forbes: “The Future of American Exceptionalism and the China Threat: What Will it Take to Remain the #1 Superpower?”

Friday, 11:30 a.m.-12:00 noon. My interview with Senator Rand Paul: “The Inside Scoop: A Conversation with Senator Rand Paul Confronting Government Officials on Capitol Hill.” A luncheon with Senator Paul follows.

Friday 3:10-4:00 p.m. “The Ultimate Bitcoin Debate: Is Crypto the biggest Ponzi scheme since the dot.com era?” John Mackey and Alex Green (yes) vs Max Borders and Brian Robertson (no).

Friday, 5:30-6:30 p.m. British comedian and producer John Cleese, “What’s So Funny? Tips for Success in Education, Business and Relationships.” Followed by an interview by Reason editor Nick Gillespie,and VIP reception with John Cleese.

Saturday, July 16

Saturday, 9-9:30 a.m. Senator Mike Lee and Free the People panel

Saturday 9:30-10:00 a.m. Andrew Yang (Forward Party) vs Larry Sharpe (Libertarian Party of New York) on “Universal Basic Income: Should Every American Get a $1,000 a Month from the Government?”

Saturday, 11-11:50 am. Big Debate: “Election Chaos: Was the 2020 Election Stolen From Trump and Should 2024 Be His Year?” with Isaac Saul, John Fund, Former Congressman Justin Amash, Wayne Allyn Root; Erick Erickson (moderator). The sparks will fly.

Saturday 2:10-3:00 p.m. The Big Four Panel: Steve Moore, Jim Rogers, Steve Forbes; Mark Skousen

Saturday 4:00-4:50 p.m. “Beyond Wealth: How to Think, Act and Live Like a Renaissance Man” with Jim Woods, Alex Green and Mark Skousen. Nice way to end the conference!

Saturday night gala banquet, 6:00-10:00 p.m. Kennedy as MC; Glenn Beck as the keynote speaker; Anthem Film Awards; Music and dance by the Beach Boys cover band “Good Vibrations.” It is time to celebrate liberty.

Register This Week and Get $50 Off

Hurry, our room block at the Mirage Hotel & Casino is almost full, and the Treasure Island hotel next door is filling up fast.

To register, go to www.freedomfest.com, and use the code EAGLE to get $50 off the registration fee. If you have any questions about FreedomFest, email Hayley at [email protected].

This is Mark Skousen, saying so long, fellow free-marketeers, and remember, AEIOU.

FreedomFest

Emma Rothschild on Gross Output

March 28, 2022 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Dear friends,

Many of you know about my singular contribution to economics, the development of gross output (GO), the new statistic that measures spending at all stages of production, including the supply chain. I call it the “top line” in national income accounting, and GDP the “bottom line.”

Good news! I received a surprise letter from Harvard economist Emma Rothschild, who is married to Amartyr Sen, the Nobel Prize winner. She has cited my work on GO in a footnote of her recent article “Where is Capital?” published in the journal “Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics.” She said that her paper is “essentially an attempt to apply ideas about gross output to the economic history of the industrial revolution.” See her quote below.

It’s great to see how this broader measure is gaining traction among top economists.

Having experience in the business world, I’ve always found that treating “capital investment” as final capital goods only is incomplete, and we need to apply the businessman’s perspective — that business has to fund all capital expenditures, including the purchase of supplies in the supply chain, to move the production process along and make a profit. Hence the move toward a measure of total spending at all stages of production, or GO. As Sir John Hicks wrote in his book, “Capital and Time: A Neo-Austrian Theory” (1973), measuring GO is “the typical business man’s viewpoint, nowadays the accountant’s viewpoint, and in the old days the merchant’s viewpoint.” (p. 12)

Here is Prof. Rothschild’s perspective:

Where is Capital?

by Emma Rothschild

Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics University of Pennsylvania Press

Volume 2, Number 2, Summer 2021 pp. 291-371 10.1353/cap.2021.0015

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/798746 (login required)

“The idea of gross output—or output to intermediate as well as final use—is of some ideological importance in contemporary economic policy. Gross output is seen as a measure of economic life that is business-centered, and that identifies businesses, rather than government or consumers, as the principal object of economic inquiry.143 But business is important, too, in our own inquiry into economic history. In our microscopic view of exchanges or transactions, there are multiple exchanges between one enterprise and another, and the exchanges embodied a substantial proportion of the technologies associated with new industries. A little over 40 percent of all output is sold to intermediate use in the contemporary United States, and the proportion was undoubtedly much smaller in the advanced economies of the late eighteenth century. It was relatively high, all the same, in the most modern industries, including those selling intermediate-type materials to the “final” demand of exports and government:

Footnote 143: The recent policy discussions are surveyed in writings by Mark Skousen, including https://mskousen.com/2020/10/macroeconomics-on-the-go-how-wall-street-economic-analysts-use -gross-output-go-2/; and see, on the importance of ‘B2B’ or business-to-business spending, ‘Business not Consumers Drives the Economy,’ https://mskousen.com/category/gross-output/.”

Best wishes, AEIOU,

Mark

Mark Skousen

Presidential Fellow, Chapman University

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Gary North, R. I. P.

February 28, 2022 By Mark Skousen 2 Comments

A dear friend Gary North (1942-2022) passed away on Thursday, February 24. He was 80 years old. I had been trying to reach him recently without any response, so I wondered if his prostate cancer caught up with him. I really feel sorry I was not able to say good-bye, he being so much of a recluse in the past 20 years.

My last email to him was October 9, 2021, where he said, “You have always been the smooth it over guy. I have been the blowup the parade.” We saw each other for the last time in June 2019.

Gary North

Gary North was one of those people who qualifies as “My Most Unforgettable Characters” that Reader’s Digest used to highlight. He was truly a unique figure in my life. He was the one who called me in the year 2000 and encouraged me to apply for the position of president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the oldest free-market think tank. It was a life-changing decision to move to New York. Even though I lasted only a year as president of FEE, that decision resulted in my teaching at Columbia University, and then with Jo Ann teaching at Sing Sing through Mercy College, and many other changes in our lives and our children (especially Hayley, who moved up to New York with us).

He is only a handful of people who I could spend hours with and never reach the bottom of his knowledge. We knew each other from the 1970s on. He could talk intelligently about philosophy, religion, investments, economics, politics, and even sports (we went to a Lakers game once and saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play.)

His hard-money newsletter, Gary North’s Remnant Review, was older than mine by several years. I believe he started his around 1974, when Inflation Survival Letter, got started. We did a lot of conferences together, along with Larry Abraham and Doug Casey.

In the early 1980s, I took over his position as an investment counselor to Howard Ruff’s (Ruff Times) subscribers. Gary spoke at the New Orleans hard-money conference and bought junk silver in the early 1960s. He was one of the original gold bugs. He was also famous for predicting the end of the world in 2000 due to the Y2K crisis.

He worked for a year at Congressman Ron Paul’s office as a research assistant in 1976, and stayed at our home in Falls Church, Virginia, for week when he arrived in DC – always unannounced. Jo Ann did his laundry.

With Hayek and Gary North In 1985, Jo Ann and I, along with our four children, took the “Grand Tour of Europe” with Howard Ruff and Gary North, among others. I arranged an interview with the great Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek at Hayek’s retreat in the Austrian Alps, and invited Gary to come with me (along with John Mauldin, his assistant). Major parts of the 3-hour recording was published in the book “Hayek on Hayek” without attribution. Here is a photo of us.

During the Howard Ruff tour, I was on a panel with Gary and the moderator asked Howard Ruff, R. E. McMaster and me what our sign was. We all gave our zodiac signs. Gary North gave a memorable answer: “The dollar.”

We also were part of a Mises Institute conference in Vienna, Austria, in 1988 with Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, and Burt Blumert. (See photo below.) Gary and I wrote tributes to Murray Rothbard in a Festschrift in 1988.

In the late 1980s, Gary played the FCC lotteries for cell tower licenses in various cities around the United States and won two licenses! He told me that he later sold each one for $1 million, which made him financially independent. He learned a year later that the cell licenses were being resold for $50 million. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that those cell licenses are now worth over $1 billion. Talk about seller’s regrets!

He wrote for many organizations, including FEE (The Freeman) and the Mises Institute, and had his own website www.garynorth.com. He was prolific for sure, writing daily, a marketing genius.

Like my father, Gary’s father was an FBI agent who may have known my uncle Cleon or my father Leroy Skousen, who both worked in the LA office. Gary was born in 1942 and grew up in the Los Angeles area, and got his Ph. D. in economic history at UC Riverside in 1972. He wrote over 50 books and was especially proud of his “Economic Commentary on the Bible,” most of which was self-published through his Institute for Christian Economics. He wrote for The Freeman and other publications. I cite his critique of Karl Marx and quoted his “Fat Book Theory” in my own history, “The Making of Modern Economics,” in which he argued that the most influential works were all fat tomes.

He was a deeply committed Calvinist and devoted student of R. J. Rushdoony, author of “The Institutes of Biblical Law.” He married R. J. Rushdoony’s daughter Sharon and had several children, and moved around a lot in the South and finally resided near Atlanta, Georgia. I remember how he would have two houses – one to live in, and another to house all his books.

Gary was preceded in death by his son Caleb who suffered from a rare illness. He is survived by Sharon, his wife of 50 years, and their other children Darcy North, Scott North and his wife, Angela, and Lori McDurmon and her husband, Joel, and eight grandchildren.

There are people in one’s life that you wish you could talk or write to after they die. Gary North is one of them.

For more information about Gary North’s life, go to https://www.garynorth.com/public/23334.cfm.

Why Ben Franklin Matters

January 17, 2022 By Mark Skousen Leave a Comment

Today is the 316^th anniversary of the birth of founding father extraordinaire Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790). Franklin was an inventor, the first scientific American, the first diplomat of the United States, the first postmaster and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was also the first President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

Michael Hart, the author of “The 100 Most Influential People in History,” considered Franklin to be “the most versatile genius in all of history.”

And the historian H. W. Brands considered Franklin “perhaps the most beloved and celebrated American of his age, or indeed any age.”

For investors, he was the founder of American capitalism and extolled the virtues of industry, thrift and prudence.

In his Autobiography and his “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” he was also famous for his pithy proverbs, financial adages and worldly wisdom.

Mark Skousen (aka Ben Franklin) and Eagle Financial Publication’s editor Paul Dykewicz.

As a direct descendant and a frequent portrayer of Ben Franklin, I have been collecting dozens of his sayings in my “Maxims of Wall Street.” In fact, Franklin is quoted more than any other financial guru except for Warren Buffett and Jesse Livermore.

Here are some great quotes from Franklin that apply to our personal lives and our nation:

“There is much revenue in economy, and no revenue is sufficient without economy.”

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

“I am a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power. I am naturally very jealous for the rights and liberties of my country, and the least encroachment of those invaluable privileges is apt to make my blood boil.”

“A virtuous and industrious people may be cheaply governed.”

“The system of America is commerce with all and war with none.”

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

“Nothing but money is sweeter than honey.”

“Patience in market is worth pounds in a year.”

“Haste makes waste.”

“It is incredible the quantity of good that may be done in a country by a single man who will make a business of it.”

“I saw in the public papers of different states frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, scarcity of money, etc. It is always in the power of a small number to make a great clamor. But let us take a cool view of the general state of our affairs, and perhaps the prospect will appear less gloomy than has been imagined.”

And finally, “The years roll round and the last will comes; when I would rather have it said, He lived usefully, than he died rich.”

Half Off for ‘Maxims of Wall Street’

If you haven’t received the latest 10^th-anniversary edition of “The Maxims of Wall Street,” buy it today! Go to www.skousenbooks.com. The price is low, only $20 for the first copy, and $10 for all additional copies. They make great gifts. If you buy an entire box (32 copies), the price is only $300. I sign all books and pay for the postage if mailed in the United States.

P.S. I will be hosting a subscribers-only teleforum called “What’s New in Crypto & Our #1 Pick” on Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. Click here to register for free.

Until next Monday, this is Mark Skousen, saying so long, fellow free-marketeers, and remember, AEIOU.