In line with TCC’s 2010 business plan, the organisation has just launched its Education Network. Recognising the pivotal importance of out-reach to young scholars and other people across a range of organisations and groups, it signals our hunger to address audiences on such topics as banking, money, international free trade and peace. If you want TCC to provide your organisation or group with speakers then do not hesitate to contact us. Over the months ahead, this section will be expanded with a further range of educational out-reach opportunities and programmes. So, do watch this space.
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Last week, Jamie Whyte, James Tyler, Tom Clougherty and I attended a dinner with numerous others at which the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Vladimer ‘Lado’ Gurgenidze spoke. Hosted by good our friends at the Adam Smith Institute, the evening was a showcase of sound reform and what can be achieved by politicians who have a clear vision and will to set people free. Don’t take my word for it. Get a flavour from the man himself, here.
Robert P. Murphy – Only the Austrians can Can Explain Depressions Christopher Westley - Why the Fed Got Birthed? Peter G. Klein – Did Keynesian Economics Win the Battle of Ideas? Doug French – Failure and Prosperity Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. – Parallel Lives: Liberty or Power? Joseph T. Salerno – The Macroeconomics of the Fed: Mainstream and Austrian Mark Thornton – What Were They Saying in July 2007? George A. Selgin – The Fed’s Dismal Record Gary North – Heckle and Jekyll: How Murray Rothbard Got the Fed’s Story Right Thomas E. Woods, Jr. - The Source and Workings of the Latest Crisis Ron Paul – My Battle Against the Fed For me, it was not only a delight to listen to and meet Lew Rockwell but it was also a particular pleasure to meet and talk with Congressman Ron Paul. A most intelligent and moral person, I found him to be every bit the gentleman I had expected.
In discussions about when to begin cuts, I flatly rejected Keynesianism, explaining that capital-based macroeconomics gives a quite different set of tools for thinking about the economy. This generated interest from students and professional economists present so I have updated our primer, adding The Causes of the Economic Crisis and Garrison’s macroeconomics slides. I also recommend these articles as a quick-start to rethinking money, banking and economics:
And for a light-hearted treatment of the same concepts, here’s the Hayek vs Keynes video: Enjoy!
I am also looking forward to meeting lots of other enthusiasts for the Austrian School of Economics and exchanging views and opinions with them. Indeed, it is concerning these aspects of the trip, that I am reminded of what Churchill once said: “If you love your job, you will never work again!” Having previously lived in Brussels between 2002 and 2005 I have long been aware of the wide range of radical liberals in Belgium. There are many excellent people and organisations there. There is the Ludwig Von Mises Institute Europe - www.vonmisesinstitute-europe.org - the Rothbard Institute - rothbard.be – and the Institut Economique Molinari - www.institutmolinari.org – to name but a tiny fraction. It is with this in mind that I am delighted to be speaking on 24 March 2010 to the LVSV - www.lvsvgent.be - an excellent liberal student society at the University in Gent with more than 75 years of debating history behind them. Apart from the good food, the gracious hospitality and the elegant architecture one always finds in this part of the world, I am really looking forward to explaining to their highly motivated students that central banks, coerced fractional reserve banking and nationalised monopoly currencies have nothing to do with the free market. Instead, they are statist engines of ruinous disaster. My good friend Nick Cowen has just emailed me the video link to an excellent talk given recently at Oxford by TCC Advisory Board member Jamie Whyte. Called ‘The Financial Crisis: too much freedom or too much regulation?’ it is well worth your time.
Jamie Whyte – ‘The Financial Crisis: too much freedom or too much regulation?’ from oxford libertarian on Vimeo.
The subject will be “Fiscal Policy and Government Expenditure”, chaired by Ed Conway, Economics Editor, The Telegraph. Also on the panel are Sir John Bourn, Former Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office, Graeme Leach, Chief Economist and Director of Policy, Institute of Directors and Danny Alexander, Chair of the Manifesto Group and MP for Inverness, Liberal Democrats. I will be appearing on this panel as Conservative PPC for Wycombe. In a few days, my wife (who writes for this excellent food blog) and I are joining TCC’s Chairman, Toby Baxendale, to check out a venue in Central London that we have our eye on for our planned monthly TCC dinners. To be held in the private room of a good Central London restaurant, these events are designed with several objectives in mind. Each one will gather a mixture of 16 sound journalists, academics, and politicians as well as numerous members of TCC’s Team and Advisory Board. Each will promote a sound after dinner speaker on a subject close to our hearts, be it: honest money, free trade and or the wider world of liberal social reform. Above all else, each dinner will stimulate, encourage and court debate and learning. By the end of 2010, the TCC’s dinners will be making their mark. Helping to promote the organisation’s networking and outreach capabilities these events will greatly aid our quest to impact on the intellectual and policy life of the UK, as well as the world beyond. Today, TCC launched the events page on its web site. In the coming days and weeks this section will be updated with the details of our extensive events programme for 2010. With monthly dinners, an annual lecture planned in June and an ‘Honest Money Christmas Reception’ at the end of the year, and lots more besides, do make sure you watch this space! |
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