Policy Digest: Foreign Policy Edition

Hernando de Soto’s essay, “The Capitalist Cure for Terrorism,” is worth reading chiefly because of the data it surfaces on the scale of systemic political-economic corruption in the Arab world. One illustrative example is the 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, who immolated himself, after the umpteenth shakedown by government inspectors.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1wOR4OI

David Sokol on the Need for a Moral Case for Capitalism

The English business newspaper City A.M. just published an op-ed by David Sokol, CEO of Teton Capital, titled “Free Enterprise Will Crumble If We Fail to Make the Moral Case for Capitalism.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/108qYts

What fuels Islamic State recruitment? John Kerry vs. Reality

The Islamic State, the jihadist force rampaging in Iraq and Syria, has succeeded in recruiting fighters because — wait for it — there’s no peace between Israel and the Palestinians. So claims the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1DwSFsG

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 31]: Don Watkins on the Debt Draft

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, you’ll hear my recent talk “End the Debt Draft: How the Welfare State Is Exploiting Millennials.” I also explain why we’ve missed a few episodes and when we’ll return to our regular schedule.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1oWL19V

Yaron Brook in China

ARI’s executive director Yaron Brook recently traveled through China to promote the publication of the Chinese translation of Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government. Co-authored by Brook and Don Watkins in 2012, Free Market Revolution illustrates why Ayn Rand’s ideas are key to solving the economic and political ills of our time.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rN1A3D

The Undercurrent Student Conference: A Post-Event Update

On October 11-12, the nation’s only Objectivist campus magazine, The Undercurrent, organized the first students-only conference devoted to Ayn Rand’s philosophy Objectivism.





from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1z5fLsC

Peter Schwartz on ISIS and “Non-Interventionism”

Think about the barbarians of the Islamic State, and ask yourself if your views line up with an “interventionist” or “non-interventionist” policy. Weigh the two alternatives; which tack is right?



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1sPGnsp

The Adam Smith Institute’s Third Annual Ayn Rand Lecture

On November 3, in London, U.K., The Adam Smith Institute will hold its third annual Ayn Rand Lecture. The public is invited to hear David Sokol, CEO of Teton Capital, give a talk titled “Atlas is Shrugging: Why We Must Act Now to Defend Free Enterprise.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1vAypHo

Join Yaron Brook on November 13 for the Atlas Shrugged Revolution Dinner

We are pleased to announce the inaugural Atlas Shrugged Revolution dinner for the Rocky Mountain region. Join your fellow admirers of Ayn Rand for an event benefiting the programs of the Ayn Rand Institute. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, will be our speaker. We will also announce the winners of the high school essay contest for the region.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1zbbLYB

Policy Digest: Regulatory State Edition

Not too long ago, Steven Greenhut wrote an unusually good piece for U-T San Diego, criticizing employers in California’s construction industry for lobbying for a regulatory crack down on its lower-lost competition. He correctly points out the futility of their approach: “[B]y lobbying for new rules on others rather than for less red tape for everyone, they have lost any right to seriously complain about any additional regulations future Legislatures impose on them.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1trlTK2

Obamacare vs. Medical Innovation: You Can’t Have Both

In The Wall Street Journal, Scott W. Atlas of the Hoover Institution discusses various government policies that are threatening medical innovation. He identifies Obamacare, for example, as a culprit.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1vbk9V6

Henry David T. versus Energy Enterprise

On May 15th, 2013, a small lobster boat flying a banner that read “coal is stupid” dropped anchor in waters in front of the Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts. The two eco-activists aboard the boat, named the Henry David T., thereby blocked the path of the coal ship Energy Enterprise, which was carrying a load of 40,000 tons of energy-rich coal, from reaching the power plant.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1ycjF2j

Recent Media Highlights

Ayn Rand Institute experts appear frequently in various media outlets, addressing everything from the state of the nation to the state of the culture.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1oSkBAG

The “Islamophobia” Smear: Ben Affleck’s Failed Takedown of Sam Harris

In a way that Ben Affleck surely never intended, his appearance on Bill Maher’s show, Real Time, was luminously revealing. If you haven’t yet seen the segment, go to YouTube now and turn up the volume.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1v41uL8

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 30]: Phil Birnbaum on Making Sense of Inequality Statistics

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In past interviews, we have talked to experts on the research concerning inequality. In this episode, I interview statistician Phil Birnbaum on how to interpret the economic inequality statistics we hear reported in the news each day.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1y1sDzj

Policy Digest: Regulatory State Edition

A new study by Nicole Craig and Mark Craig, professors of economics at Lafayette University, estimates that the cost of federal regulations is $2 trillion. That amounts to billions of hours in compliance.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1xi6VE3

Will anyone at The New York Times speak out for the victims of Social Security?

It’s really a shame that we let Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme collapse. We could have kept it going for a long time had we forced people to pour more money into it.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1pxAso6

Just What Is a “Moral Case” for Capitalism, Anyway?

When Yaron Brook and I started working on our book Free Market Revolution , which offers Ayn Rand’s moral defense of capitalism, the idea that capitalism needed a moral defense was virtually unheard of. Today, it’s so common that I was able to participate in a contest for who could make the best moral case for free markets. (I suspect that most of the credit for popularizing this idea goes, not to us, but to AEI’s Arthur Brooks.)



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1rFMcs1