Since January 2004, Slovakia has had a flat tax on income, consumption, and corporate profits. Most other taxes and tax exemptions were eliminated. Other formerly, communist countries, including Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine, have also adopted flat tax rates. Unfortunately, in the United States, where the idea of a flat tax originated, the tax code remains absurdly complicated and inefficient. Ivan Miklos will evaluate the performance of the new tax sy...
Nov 14, 2006•1 hr 14 min
The national election of 2006 may mark a partial or complete partisan change in the control of Congress. At the same time, incumbents are likely to enjoy a high rate of re-election. Does 2006 mark revitalization of American democracy marked by vigorous electoral competition nationally and in the states? Or is 2006 just a closely fought struggle that may yield a narrow majority for one of the political parties? Please join the editors of the new book, The Marketplace of Democracy: Electoral Compe...
Nov 09, 2006•1 hr 31 min
America's conventional military supremacy has failed to deliver decisive results against irregular forces employing unconventional military tactics. The U.S. military learned some useful counterinsurgency lessons in Vietnam but had completely forgotten those lessons by the end of the Cold War. Military leaders and defense experts are attempting to resurrect some of those old ideas, while also developing new approaches to counterinsurgency in the age of transnational terrorism. Are there deeper c...
Nov 02, 2006•1 hr 28 min
The insurers and government agencies that purchase 80 percent of medical care in America have traditionally ignored quality. As a result, quality is lower than it could be. For over a decade, the private sector has experimented with financial incentives that reward doctors and hospitals for providing recommended care. Some, most recently the Institute of Medicine, argue that the federal Medicare program should do the same. Would Medicare give "pay-for-performance" a much-needed boost? Or would M...
Nov 02, 2006•59 min
The Constitution was written to protect individual sovereignty, but we have gradually allowed a regime of public morality and intolerance to replace that inheritance from the Founders. That's the thesis of a new book by Elizabeth Price Foley. An expert on health care law and bioethics, Foley explains "the morality of American law," then applies those principles to marriage; sex; reproduction; medical care; and food, drug, and alcohol regulation to show how far we've strayed from the Constitution...
Oct 31, 2006•1 hr 4 min
Last year, Sir Charles Crawford, the British ambassador to Poland, called the European Common Agricultural Policy "the most stupid, immoral state-subsidized policy in human history, give or take communism." In spite of partial reform, the CAP remains an immensely wasteful farm subsidy program that harms European consumers as well as some producers in developing countries. The CAP is also one the most important obstacles to the successful conclusion of the Doha Round of negotiations on global tra...
Oct 27, 2006•1 hr 30 min
Africa is one of the most protectionist regions in the world. Most imports, including life-saving drugs and medical equipment, continue to be subjected to high tariff and nontariff barriers. Moreover, African countries impose some of their highest tariffs on goods from other African countries. African trade liberalization could increase intra-African trade by 54 percent. It is hypocritical for African leaders to call for greater access to global markets while rejecting trade openness at home. An...
Oct 20, 2006•1 hr 23 min
Debates over evolution range from Pennsylvania to Kansas to the University of California. Michael Shermer, a former evangelical Christian and creationist, argues that "intelligent design" theory appeals to a human predisposition to look for a designer behind life's complexity. But in fact the theory of natural selection is supported by the scientific evidence and is the foundation on which modern biology rests. Conservatives and Christians should accept evolution because it explains family value...
Oct 12, 2006•1 hr 11 min
Since September 11, but particularly in the wake of the Iraq war, many Americans have been asking questions about the foundations of U.S. foreign policy. Foreign policy realists base their approach to foreign policy on long-standing American traditions, but they have yet to set forward a compelling alternative vision for national security that will appeal to idealistic Americans. In Ethical Realism , Anatol Lieven, former Financial Times foreign correspondent, and John Hulsman, recently of the H...
Oct 10, 2006•1 hr 36 min
Many Americans support campaign finance reform. They believe that private money in politics and elections corrupts and demeans our democracy. These concerns have contributed to a 40-year effort to regulate, restrict, and even eliminate private money in politics. But many Americans know that there is little or no evidence that campaign contributions really influence members of Congress? Or that so-called negative political advertising actually improves the democratic process by increasing voter t...
Oct 04, 2006•1 hr 22 min
Andrew Sullivan says that today's conservatives are facing a crisis from within, one that threatens their ideals as never before. Traditionally committed to limited government, balanced budgets, and the rule of law, they see their political leaders today sharply increasing government spending and debt, intruding the federal government into marriage law and a single family's struggle over the end of life, and centralizing power in the federal government and the executive branch. Sullivan says con...
Oct 03, 2006•1 hr 22 min
Two things everyone seems to know about higher education are that it’s extremely expensive and that it gets more so every year. That, however, is about the extent of our collective certainty, because many critical questions never seem to get answered: Why does tuition rise relentlessly? What are students actually learning? What’s the payoff of higher education? In light of all the open questions, it’s no surprise that Americans are getting increasingly uneasy about the prices that colleges and u...
Sep 27, 2006•1 hr 27 min
The collapse of communism led to much euphoria about the future of the former Soviet bloc countries. Today it is clear that some countries, like those in Central Europe and the Baltics, were more successful than others in transitioning from communist dictatorship to free-market democracy. Oleh Havrylyshyn will explain why that was the case. He will also explain how countries with a greater chance of joining the European Union were more successful in establishing the rule of law and democratic go...
Sep 25, 2006•1 hr 20 min
Recently, almost all House members running have won reelection. Incumbent senators also enjoy remarkable success, and such results are not limited to Congress. Incumbents running in state elections have also seen their rates of reelection rise over time. This decline in electoral competition has fostered much talk of needed reform to restore competitive elections. Most recently, several states have considered or enacted reforms on redistricting. States have also imposed term limits on elected of...
Sep 22, 2006•1 hr 1 min
Nations that are more economically free outperform less free nations in growth and levels of prosperity. James Gwartney, coauthor of the annual Economic Freedom of the World report, will review current trends and the latest research on the impact of regulations, the rule of law, and other aspects of economic freedom on the whole range of development indicators. Simeon Djankov will show how excessive bureaucratic procedures and government fees make it prohibitively expensive for the world's poor ...
Sep 21, 2006•1 hr 19 min
In 1996 Congress passed the Freedom to Farm Act, which put our country on a new path toward fewer subsidies and less reliance on market-distorting price support programs. In 2002 Congress abruptly and dramatically shifted course in the wrong direction with the enactment of the 2002 farm bill. This legislation formalized the significantly increased "emergency" spending of the previous two years with a massive expansion of the cost and scope of agriculture programs. As Congress prepares to craft a...
Sep 21, 2006•27 min
Let's say you're the devil, and you want to corrupt the American republic. How would you do it? According to David Hyman, you might create something like Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly. In Medicare Meets Mephistopheles , Hyman wryly suggests that Medicare may be the greatest trick the devil has ever played: a massive government program that promotes all seven deadly sins as it drives the United States toward financial ruin. Two leading Medicare scholars will critique H...
Sep 21, 2006•1 hr 24 min
Americans think negative campaign ads undermine elections and even democratic government itself. But John G. Geer argues that when political candidates attack each other, raising doubts about each other's views and qualifications, voters—and the democratic process—benefit. In Defense of Negativity , Geer's study of negative advertising in presidential campaigns from 1960 to 2004, asserts that proliferating attack ads are far more likely than positive ads to focus on salient political issues, rat...
Sep 20, 2006•1 hr 23 min
A little over a year ago, the Supreme Court lit a firestorm across America when it upheld the decision of the City of New London, Connecticut, to transfer Susette Kelo's home to another owner who could make "better" use of it. With that, Americans finally came to realize the present perilous state of their property rights — and many state legislatures have responded. But others argue that the Court got it right, that the judiciary, except in extreme cases, should leave the political choice of wh...
Sep 19, 2006•1 hr 26 min
Over the last 25 years, America has seen a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of SWAT units for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into homes. These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted suspects to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping. In a new Cato Institute ...
Sep 12, 2006•1 hr 9 min
The horrific events of September 11, 2001, dramatically demonstrated the threat posed by suicide terrorism. With the precipitous rise of suicide attacks against democracies, particularly in the five years since 9/11, the time is right to reflect on the rationale and effectiveness of the tactic. Robert Pape, author of the seminal book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, will present the findings of his most recent research, "Suicide Terrorism and Democracy: What We've Learned ...
Sep 08, 2006•1 hr 43 min
The European Union appears to be in trouble. The rise of economic nationalism among member states has thrown the Lisbon Agenda's goal of European economic revival into disarray, and Europe's trade protectionism has contributed to the collapse of the Doha round of trade negotiations. Europe's decision makers have been paralyzed by the rejection of the European Constitution, and many wonder if the European integration, process can recover its former vitality. John Gillingham, one of the world's le...
Sep 07, 2006•1 hr 17 min
If the Republican Party is no longer the party of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, limited government, or fiscal restraint, then what is it? And what's a self-respecting, small-government, fiscally conservative, socially liberal voter supposed to do? In his new book, Ryan Sager argues that George W. Bush's brand of big-government, big-religion conservatism risks causing a serious split in the GOP — in particular, between the traditional South and the "leave me alone" states of the ...
Sep 06, 2006•1 hr 9 min
In the next six to nine months, a new farm bill will be written in the United States. The World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda negotiations were an oft-cited reason for reforming U.S. agricultural policy. Now that those negotiations have been suspended, what are the prospects for liberalizing the farm sector and reducing the significant costs imposed on American consumers, taxpayers, and trade partners as a result of government farm policies? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...
Aug 31, 2006•1 hr 24 min
Why do so many pundits say that America's health care system is in crisis? Economist Arnold Kling says that the fundamental challenge in American health care today is that we have many highly trained specialists and advanced technologies but do not know when their use is appropriate or how we should pay for them. He calls this a Crisis of Abundance. Kling argues that markets could do a better job of allocating these resources, and he advocates cutting government health care budgets by two-thirds...
Aug 29, 2006•1 hr 12 min
On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the most extensive reform of the nation's welfare laws since the Great Society. Ten years later, welfare rolls have declined dramatically, but poverty and long-term dependence on government programs persist. A panel of leading experts will look back at welfare reform successes and failures and forward to ask what the future of welfare reform holds. Hosted on Acast. See ...
Aug 22, 2006•1 hr 27 min
In Washington today, it seems the biggest impediment to reducing the size and scope of the federal government is not the Democratic Party. It’s the Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Instead of building a party that stands against Big Government, national GOP leaders have built a party of Big Government. In the book Buck Wild , Stephen Slivinski tells the surprising story of the GOP’s unfortunate transformation and reveals how Republicans have abandoned the limited-government pr...
Aug 15, 2006•1 hr 6 min
In January 2004, President Bush called upon Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform that would secure our borders, meet our economic needs, and uphold our best traditions as an immigrant nation. In response, the House and Senate will soon begin the difficult task of reconciling two starkly different immigration bills. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, a prominent member of the president’s economic team and an immigrant himself, has called on Congress to pass an immigration bill tha...
Aug 01, 2006•49 min
Against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, the nuclear crisis with Iran, and the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace process, there is a growing sense that U.S. policy in the Middle East has failed to advance American national interests. In his book, Sandstorm: Policy Failure in the Middle East , Cato Research Fellow Leon Hadar surveys the historical evolution of what he calls the U.S. "Middle East Paradigm" and concludes that its costs have outweighed its benefits. Hadar argues instead for a pol...
Jul 27, 2006•1 hr 31 min
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Jul 20, 2006•49 min
