Cato Video

Watch the full event: http://www.cato.org/events/libertarian-state-union-2014 After a year dominated by budget battles, the NSA spying scandal, and the meltdown of Obamacare, the libertarian message is more relevant than ever to federal policy debates. Cato scholars discuss the current state of the union in relation to fiscal policy, health care, high-profile Supreme Court cases, and the use and abuse of executive power. Video produced by Blair Gwaltney.

Watch the full event: http://www.cato.org/events/libertarian-state-union-2014 After a year dominated by budget battles, the NSA spying scandal, and the meltdown of Obamacare, the libertarian message is more relevant than ever to federal policy debates. Cato scholars discuss the current state of the union in relation to fiscal policy, health care, high-profile Supreme Court cases, and the use and abuse of executive power. Video produced by Blair Gwaltney.

Cato Institute scholars Alex Nowrasteh, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus, Benjamin H. Friedman, Simon Lester, Neal McCluskey, Mark Calabria, Dan Mitchell, Justin Logan, Patrick J. Michaels, Walter Olson and Jim Harper respond to President Obama's 2014 State of the Union Address. Video produced by Caleb O. Brown, Austin Bragg and Lester Romero. Jim Harper's reference to the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 refers to this document: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/pdfs/DATA_Bill_markup_1-27.docx

Watch the full event: http://www.cato.org/events/baby-boom Featuring the author P. J. O'Rourke, H. L. Mencken Research Fellow, Cato Institute; with introductory remarks by David Boaz, Executive Vice President, Cato Institute. In his first book of all new, previously unpublished material since 2007, best-selling humorist P. J. O'Rourke turns his lens on his fellow post-war babies. In The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way ... And It Wasn't My Fault ... And I'll Never Do It Again, O'Rourke draws on his own experiences and leads readers on a candid, laugh-out-loud journey through the circumstances and events that shaped a generation. "We're often silly, and we're spoiled by any measure of history," writes O'Rourke. "At the same time we made the world a better place — just not necessarily in the ways we set out to." O'Rourke has reported on the inner workings of the U.S. government, explained the global economy, and written on the American automobile industry. At this Cato Book Forum, he will tackle the big, broad problems stemming from the generation that, for better or worse, changed everything. Video produced by Blair Gwaltney.

Patents, Public Health, and International Law

Follow the link below to watch the full event:http://www.cato.org/events/preschool-education-what-research-says Featuring David J. Armor, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, George Mason University; Deborah A. Phillips, Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University; Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst, Director, Brown Center on Education Policy, Brookings Institution; and William T. Gormley, University Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University; moderated by Neal P. McCluskey, Associate Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute. With American education seemingly stuck in neutral no matter what elementary and secondary reforms we try, policymakers are looking to younger children to improve achievement. Indeed, touting the benefits of "high-quality" programs, President Obama has proposed spending $75 billion to expand preschool to all four-year olds. But on what research basis does the argument for greatly expanding early childhood education rest? What do we know about the effectiveness of preschool?

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties. He worked as special assistant to President Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry. He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. Bandow speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups. Bandow has been a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He holds a J.D. from Stanford University. More on Egypt: http://www.cato.org/blog/freedom-thought-under-siege-around-globe-when-you-are-not-free-not-believe http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/egypt-committing-economic-suicide http://www.cato.org/blog/egypts-subsidy-nightmare http://www.cato.org/blog/suspending-egypts-military-aid-too-little-too-late http://www.cato.org/blog/nothing-new-egyptian-front http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/egypts-biggest-problem-economic http://www.cato.org/blog/egypts-fall-down-dark-hole http://www.cato.org/blog/egypts-vanishing-currency-black-markets http://www.cato.org/blog/egypts-transition-generals-take-over

The Wall Street Journal reports that a panel convened by the president to review the National Security Agency's programs will recommend that "the records of nearly every U.S. phone call now collected in a controversial NSA program be held instead by the phone company or a third-party organization." That recommendation is a non-starter. The Cato Institute's Jim Harper explains. Video produced by Caleb O. Brown and Austin Bragg.

The Department of Labor's budget is dominated by the costly unemployment insurance system. It also runs numerous employment and job training programs, which are generally ineffective and duplicative of services available in the private sector. And the department oversees an array of labor union laws and workplace regulations that restrict freedom and are costly to workers and businesses. The department spent about $95 billion 2013, or $800 for every U.S. household. It employs 17,000 workers.

The Department of Health and Human Services runs the huge and fast-growing Medicare and Medicaid. These programs fuel rising health costs, distort markets, and are plagued by waste and fraud. The department also runs other costly subsidy programs, including Head Start, TANF, and LIHEAP. Growth in HHS spending is creating a federal fiscal crisis, and the 2010 health care law sadly makes the situation worse. The department spent around $908 billion in 2013, or about $7,500 for every U.S. household. It employs 70,000 workers. www.downsizinggovernment.org/health-and-human-services

The Department of Energy oversees nuclear weapons sites and subsidizes conventional and alternative fuels. The department has a history of fiscal and environmental mismanagement. Furthermore, misguided energy regulations have caused large losses to consumers and the broader economy over the decades. The department spent about $29 billion 2013, or $240 for every U.S. household. It employs 17,000 workers directly and oversees about 100,000 contract workers at research facilities across the nation. www.downsizinggovernment.org/energy

The Department of Education operates a wide range of subsidy programs for elementary and secondary schools. The aid and related federal regulations have not generally lifted academic achievement. The department also subsidizes higher education through student loan programs. Unfortunately, that aid has fueled inflation in college tuition and is subject to widespread abuse. The department spent about $48 billion in 2013, or $400 for every U.S. household. It employs 4,300 workers and operates 153 different subsidy programs. www.downsizinggovernment.org/education

The Department of Agriculture provides an array of subsidies for farmers and imposes extensive regulations on agricultural markets. It operates the food stamp and school lunch programs, and it administers numerous subsidy programs for rural parts of the nation. The Forest Service is also within the Department of Agriculture. The department spent around $150 billion in 2013, or almost $1,300 for every U.S. household. It operates about 240 subsidy programs and employs 93,000 workers in about 7,000 offices across the country.

Featuring the author Richard A. Epstein, Professor of Law, New York University Law School, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Professor of Law Emeritus, and Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School; with comments by Jess Bravin, Supreme Court Correspondent, the Wall Street Journal, moderated by Roger Pilon, Director, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute. In his latest book, a wide-ranging tome covering vast areas of our law, Richard Epstein mounts a principled attack on modern Supreme Court jurisprudence and much of the legal scholarship that has grown up around it. The major disarray that infects every area of modern American life, he argues, from deficits and debt to health care, financial services, declining standards of living and more, could not have happened under the original constitutional structure, faithfully interpreted in light of changed circumstances. It arose from a profound progressive break with the classical liberal tradition that guided the drafting and interpretation of the Constitution. Video produced by Blair Gwaltney.

Featuring Elena Duggar,Group Credit Officer for Sovereign Risk, Moody's Investor Service; Julian Ku, Professor of Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University; Arturo Porzecanski, Distinguished Economist in Residence, School of International Service, American University; and Richard Samp, Chief Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation; moderated by Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Policy Analyst on Latin America, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute. In 2001, Argentina defaulted on $81 billion of debt — the largest sovereign default in history. While years later most of its creditors settled to swap their old bonds with heavily discounted new bonds, a group of holdout creditors challenged Argentina in the courts. In October 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with plaintiffs to rule that Argentina must treat all its creditors equally and pay owners of defaulted bonds that were issued under New York law. As the long standoff nears judicial resolution, a distinguished panel of experts will discuss the significant implications of this case for the protection of creditor rights, future debt restructuring processes, and emerging markets. Video produced by Blair Gwaltney.