Cato Event Podcast

Because of an aging population and poorly designed entitlement programs, the burden of federal spending is projected to increase dramatically over the next few decades. Some lawmakers have proposed versions of a balanced budget amendment to avert this future fiscal crisis, but evidence strongly suggests that spending caps are the most effective way to address the problem. The Cato Institute has br...

According to Washington elites, revolutions in information, transport, and weapons technologies have shrunk the world, leaving the United States and its allies more vulnerable than ever to violent threats like terrorism or cyberwar. As a result, they practice responses driven by fear: theories of falling dominoes, hysteria in place of sober debate, and an embrace of preemptive war to tame a chaoti...

The death of Freddie Gray while in police custody has started a wide-ranging debate about policing and poverty in American cities. Does Congress need to spend more money on jobs programs and police body cameras? Should the Department of Justice sue the City of Baltimore for a pattern and practice of civil rights violations? Are better policy options available? Please join us for a discussion of th...

Despite many predictions to the contrary, the British Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Cameron, secured a majority in the House of Commons in this month’s general election. The Liberal Democrats, who joined the Conservatives in government in 2010, and the Labour Party both suffered losses. In Scotland, nationalists took all but three of Scotland’s 59 seats. The Conservative victory raises...

Since 2008, oil production has more than doubled and natural gas production is up about 24 percent, according to the Energy Information Agency. Advances in technology have driven this remarkable achievement. Three major techniques that have revolutionized both onshore and offshore oil and gas production are directional drilling, horizontal drilling, and hydraulic fracturing, also known as "frackin...

The recent financial crisis led to sweeping reforms that inspired countless references to the New Deal. Comparable to the New Deal in both scope and scale, the 2,300-page Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 also shared with New Deal reforms the assumption that the cause of the crisis was misbehavior by securities market participants, exacerbated by lax regulatory oversight. With Wasting a Crisis , Paul G. Maho...

Debates over economic interdependence and war are centuries old. Liberals have argued that interdependence creates interests on both sides of dyads that help prevent war. Realists have argued that the “high politics” of war and peace are rarely driven by the “low politics” of commerce. Dale Copeland’s new book offers a more supple, less categorical judgment. According to Copeland, leaders’ expecta...

In 2005, Congress gave states three years to begin issuing driver’s licenses according to national identification card standards. The REAL ID Act sought to coerce states into using machine-readable technology with federally defined data elements in their cards, capturing digital images of identity-source documents, and providing other states electronic access to information contained in thei...

For decades, libertarians have expressed pointed and principled opposition to U.S. interventionism, offering alternatives that have been largely ignored by policymakers in Washington. The promises of stability and peace from both Democratic and Republican administrations have yet to be fulfilled, and the costs of foreign wars in blood, treasure, and prestige have taken their toll. The American pub...

“South Africa is sliding downhill while much of the rest of the continent is clawing its way up,” so wrote  The Economist  in 2013. For over two decades, South Africa has basked in the glow of a peaceful transition from apartheid to majority rule, but the country’s endemic corruption, high crime rate, and failing public services can no longer be ignored. Some even wonder if the misrule b...

In a 2013 address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would continue to safeguard the “free flow of energy... to the world,” even as the shale revolution ushers in an unprecedented increase in oil and natural gas production here at home. New oil and gas production technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling...

Disclaimer: Please note that Erica Borghard’s comments are her own personal views, and do not represent the official positions of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Army, or the Department of Defense. The rise of ISIS and the spread of the Syrian civil war to Iraq have led to renewed discussions of U.S. intervention. Though Washington is regularly bombing ISIS targets, there is little in the way...

Although cannabis (otherwise known as marijuana) is still classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States—meaning that it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate under federal law—state laws in 23 states (plus the District of Columbia) allow for its medical use, and four states (plus the District of Columbia) allow for its recreational use. The trend towards legalization is likely...

Members of Congress in both houses have again introduced measures to repeal long-standing constraints on the ability of the Government Accountability Office to perform a program audit of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy actions. Auditing the Fed has become the topic of bitter debate, not along party lines, but instead pitting government transparency advocates against proponents of Federal Res...

Since 2001 the Federal Bureau of Investigation has led a vigorous hunt for domestic terrorists. The results have been mixed. Several attacks have occurred, though not with the apocalyptic results officials predicted. Authorities have stopped other domestic terrorists and, arguably, manufactured more. Through informants and undercover agents, the FBI has essentially organized fake terrorist plots,...

10:30 – 10:55 a.m. Registration 10:55 – 11:00 a.m. Welcoming Remarks John Allison , Former President and CEO, Cato Institute 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. The Libertarian Mind in America David Boaz , Executive Vice President, Cato Institute 11:30 a.m.– 12:10 p.m. Power to the People Johan Norberg , Senior Fellow, Cato Institute Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

Some tax reform plans would replace the "progressive" rate structure in the internal revenue code with a single, low rate. That's a big issue that warrants serious debate. But there's another important aspect of tax reform, which is whether some forms of income should be taxed more than one time. An expert panel will explain why this "tax base" issue has major implications for the ability of tax r...

What if, instead of heading down to your local liquor store, the next time you found yourself craving an alcoholic beverage, you could simply pull out your smart phone, place an order, and a short while later, get your drinks, all without leaving your home? That’s the concept behind Klink, an alcohol delivery app that brings the user-friendly connectivity of the sharing economy to one of the most...

The law authorizing federal highway and transit programs expires on May 31, and Congress is currently debating where the money will come from for a new transportation bill and where it should be spent. But a third question is even more important: what are the incentives created by federal transportation spending and how can they be improved to provide Americans with faster, cleaner, and safer tran...

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." Johnson’s goal was not only to "relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it." Since then, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what has really been accompl...

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." Johnson’s goal was not only to "relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it." Since then, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what has really been accompl...

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." Johnson’s goal was not only to "relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it." Since then, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what has really been accompl...

On March 15, the statutory debt ceiling kicks in again — after a year of unlimited federal borrowing that has brought our national debt to the edge of $20 trillion. Of course, nobody is betting on the debt ceiling being maintained, which creates a huge problem for advocates of limited government. What in practical politics can hold back the growth of the federal government when unlimited borrowing...

Can you imagine being denied a bank account just because some bureaucrat disapproves of your job? It could happen to you! Launched in early 2013, "Operation Choke Point" is a joint effort by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the bank regulators to limit access to the bank payments system by various businesses. Initially targeted at small-dollar nonbank lenders, Choke Point has grown to cover a v...

During the Cold War, annual Pentagon spending averaged about $458 billion in today’s prices; over the next decade, its projected budget will average over half a trillion dollars per year. Yet, while our spending is consistent with Cold War levels, that money pays for fewer troops; supports less base capacity; and buys fewer ships, aircraft, and tanks. In short, we are getting less bang for our buc...