Atlas’s Sound Money Panel on December 7, 2010, attracted more than 100 guests including congressmen, economists, students, congressional staffers, and think tank leaders to a stimulating and enlightening conversation on the importance of a sound monetary system at the Capitol Hill Visitors Center. In collaboration with FreedomWorks Foundation, Atlas invited Representative Mike Pence (R-Indiana), Dr. Judy Shelton, Dr. Larry White, and Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) to give brief presentations for the panel entitled, “Sound Money and America’s Global Economic Leadership.”
The entire panel was covered live by C-SPAN, broadcasting to their audience of approximately 22 million viewers consisting of Democrats (30%), Republicans (26%), and Independents (28%). Related video can be watched here (Paul Ryan) and here (Judy Shelton with Judge Napolitano).
Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks Foundation, a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit that recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes millions of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom, moderated the panel.
Invited first to speak was Atlas’s president, Alejandro Chafuen. Chafuen shared about his personal experience as a native of Argentina, having watched his countries’ most infamous dictator, Juan Perón, manipulate the central bank to destroy the rule of law and corrupt the morals of his fellow citizens.
Second to speak was Representative Mike Pence who discussed the implications of bailouts and “spending our way into prosperity” philosophies on ordinary American citizens. “Sound money is the very foundation of our prosperity. And it needs to be addressed.” Pence addressed his role as a policy maker on the Wall Street bailouts, and the impact of his failed efforts.
“To restore a growing economy, we must and all this runaway federal spending, and get back to the practice of free market economics without apology. The freedom to succeed must include the freedom to fail. The free market is what made Americas economy the greatest in the world and we cannot falter in our willingness to stand on those principles of freedom.”
Dr. Judy Shelton followed Representative Pence with an introduction to the Guide to Sound Money and a rundown on what it means to be in favor of sound money. She discussed the primary function of money as meant to provide a measure of value, a reference point.
“We all may build different houses, but we use the same measure… Its this common reference point – this measure, this standard – that, when applied to money, allows perfect strangers – buyers and sellers – to convey to each other the value of what they bring to the marketplace or what they seek from the marketplace, because money is the medium through which you set a price, and price conveys value.”
Dr. Shelton is the author of the Guide to Sound Money, a free publication only 23 pages long, that will be distributed worldwide.
Fourth to speak was Representative Paul Ryan, incoming Budget Committee Chairman who said, “Our fiscal policy is on a collision course with our monetary policy.” Ryan echoed his congressional colleague saying, “sound money is a necessary precondition for economic growth.”In addition to his insights on the Budget Committee and the monetizing of debt, Ryan gave accolades to both FreedomWorks Foundation’s and Atlas’s publication, Guide to Sound Money.
“This [the Guide to Sound Money] is probably the best 25 pages on money I have read in a long, long time. I’m going to be tweeting and facebooking this [the Guide] all day and all week long encouraging people to read this [the Guide].”
Last to speak was Dr. Larry White, professor of economics at George Mason University. Dr. White discussed the findings in his working paper co-authored with
The panel coincided with the official launch of the publication, A Guide to Sound Money, an educational pamphlet being made available through the joint support of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and FreedomWorks Foundation. Its author, Judy Shelton, is a prominent economist who predicted the downfall of the Soviet empire, authored Money Meltdown, and is the Co-Director of Atlas’s Sound Money Project. More than 100,000 copies of the Guide have been printed and will be distributed across the country through the expansive networks of both Atlas and FreedomWorks Foundation.
The Guide does not advocate any single approach to achieving sound money. Instead, it lays out core principles to define the fundamental purposes of money and to acknowledge the intent of the Founders in granting money powers to Congress. The entire Guide can be accessed in PDF format here. Printed copies were made available to event attendees.

December 2010
5. Libertarianism, from A to Z, by Jeffrey Miron
4. A Brief History of Liberty, by David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan
3. The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850, by Joel Mokyr
2. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, by Matt Ridley
1. Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World, by Deirdre McCloskey

by Matthew Warner
by Diogo Costa
by Alejandro Antonio Chafuen 




