A week ago, Atlas conducted a successful event in Dallas, Texas.  The event, entitled “Risk in a Free Society”, was co-sponsored with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), a long time ally of Atlas which was also created by our founder Antony Fisher.  Although a variety of discussions emerged throughout the course of the event, the major focus was on the risk of terrorism, politics, and economics.  The conference opened with a great introduction by John Goodman (NCPA) and Alex Chafuen (Atlas), each addressing the threat of risk to free societies.  Mr. Goodman’s talk was in the context of the ever present entitlement crisis, and the risk that government imposes on society as it creates unfunded liabilities. Mr. Goodman’s major point was that this risk remains a looming threat, in which think tanks must remain vigilant so that this risk does not overwhelm our liberties.  Continuing with the role of think tanks, Mr. Chafuen added that in the quest for a free society, a think tank needs to decrease the risk of those engaging in the fight for freedom, and increase the risk of those endangering liberty and free enterprise. These two impactful opening remarks set the tone for the conference.

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With the bailout on most of our minds, Atlas Network TV put a emphasis on videos explaining the situation from a free-market perspective. Reason TV talked to economist Arnold Kling about “The Big Bailout.” Freedomworks issued a call-to-arms with their “Don’t Bail Out Bob — Or His Bank!” video. Finally, The Cato Institute released a compilation video of their experts discussing the Financial Crisis and the Bailout.

We also showed part 5 of the Collectivism vs. Individualism series and and video on Charting A Course to Liberty by the Pacific Legal Foundation.

As always, please rate and comment of videos that you like (or dislike). If you’d like to recommend a good free-market video please e-mail me or post a comment to this post. Contest winners could win as much as $5,000. Stay tuned to Atlas Network TV.

This week Atlas’s Regional Managers, Colleen Dyble (North America & Africa), Allegra Hewell (Latin America), Ziba Ayeen (Middle East) and Cindy Cerquitella (Europe) share free market news from around the world.

This week’s episode discusses the recent events in the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Texas, The upcoming European and African Resource Bank meetings, an update on the political situation in Bolivia and news from a Liberty Camp in Slovenia and Atlas’s Ibn Khaldun Essay Contest.

The Atlas Podcast series appears each Friday with a new theme each week of the month:

• Week 1: Network News with Regional Officers
• Week 2: An Interview with Intellectual Entrepreneur
• Week 3: International Thursday
• Week 4: Management Tip

Music by Gold Standard

 

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I first met Hernando de Soto almost 30 years ago when I became president of the Institute for Humane Studies in Menlo Park, California. He visited me when he had met with Antony Fisher in San Francisco. We shared our ideas on strategy for free market policies.

Since then Hernando has been most successful in his property rights program of the INSTITUTE for LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY in Lima, Peru. He is the author of The Other Path and The Mystery of Capitalism which have been international bestsellers and translated into 20 languages.

His talks are always engaging and educational in free market ideas. His father had been a Peruvian diplomat, who was exiled to Europe during a socialist military dictatorship. Hernando was educated in Switzerland. Despite his elite education he often captures his audience by presenting the persona of a Latin American peasant speaking to a North American audience.

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Eid is the three day celebration of the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, thirty days of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”.  Eid starts on the first day of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar.

There are two Eids; this week’s is also called the “smaller Eid.” The more prestigious Eid is two months past Ramadan, immediately after the Hajj.

The first day of “smaller” Eid begins with Eid prayers at a local mosque or at home.This is also a time of visiting family members, exchanging gifts and giving to charity.

Eid has a spiritual significance as it encourages the believer to reflect on his actions and thoughts after a month of fasting, worship, prayer and personal discipline. Through these practices one can reach a higher stage of spirituality and compassion.

Stuart Butler is the Washington Times today talking about successes in implementing school vouchers for foster care children, who would benefit from continuity in their school life (and social networks at school) during times when they struggle with changes in their lives at home.  It certainly seems like common sense to allow them opportunities to stay at schools they like, and its great that school choice experiments are taking place toward these ends.

Granted, education vouchers have been highly controversial when proposed as a general remedy for under performing schools. But the political polarization frequently triggered by these broad proposals has been muted considerably when this far narrower application of vouchers has been suggested.

Butler’s piece cites my brother Dan Lips’ work at Heritage on these topics, which was first published in 2005 by the Maryland Public Policy Institute.  Later the Goldwater Institute pushed the topic until it became law in Arizona. It’s a good example of ideas moving from the think tank community into legislation to effect the lives of vulnerable populations.

And $219, 620 on diapers. And $12,958, 215 on ‘minor equipment.’ This begs the question: How much did they spend on ‘major’ equipment?

Are you curious about how else Maine taxpayer dollars were spent last year? The Maine Heritage Policy Center can tell you. Check out its new website, www.maineopengov.org to see how state and local tax dollars are spent in Maine. The website includes data on state payroll for 2006 and 2007; including wages, overtime, benefits and total compensation for more than 90,000 state employees and retirees. All the information is searchable and downloadable to your computer.

Atlas’s Priscilla Tacujan recently returned from the Economic Freedom Network meeting held in the Philippines. Here is a summary of the event for those who were unable to attend:

By Priscilla Tacujan:

The 2008 Economic Freedom Network Conference on “Private Property Rights: The Economic Foundation of a Free Society” was held on September 18-19, 2008 at the University of Asia and the Pacific in Manila, Philippines.  The Economic Freedom Network Asia, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, hosted this meeting in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (also celebrating its 50th anniversary), the Center for Research and Communication, the Foundation for Economic Freedom and the Philippine Economic Society.

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As Americans prepare to cast their vote for the next President of the United States this November, Ghanaians are also gearing up to go to the polls. On December 7th, Ghana will hold presidential and parliamentary elections.

Like countless Americans, Ghanaians are wondering if the promises that their political candidates are campaigning on are financially feasible once they get into office. Atlas’ partner in Accra, IMANI Center for Policy and Education, is taking a closer look at these promises and is helping Ghanaians to read between the lines. Read more here and here.

Rejuvenating a website is a great tactic for attracting new readers.  Agencia Internacional de Prensa Economica (AIPE) was founded in 1991 and has served as a reliable media outlet for Latin American news. Over the years, they have attracted over 675 economists, political analysts, journalists, and historians to publish articles on prominent issues within the free market movement. They recently updated their website by giving it a fresh new look and adding improved features such as rss feeds.

Click here to check out the new site!