Freedom Fest #2

Was too tired to post anything yesterday, still am. Glad I'm headed home tomorrow.

Speaker after speaker, loads of info, coffee, very big crowd. Food a breaks goes quickly, feel guilty eating it anyway after hearing presentations on having a better diet yesterday.

Several mentions of problem with education, we've given monopoly to those offering certification. Shouldn't matter where we learned, just certify what we've learned. Seems to me this could be a case of being at the right place at the right time for WrenCollege.org

This conference makes me more of a believer in independent, self-directed learning. This many people showing up to get this little real, solid information.

Highlights: Hearing John Mackay, Whole Foods talk a couple of times, able to ask him the big question I've had since hearing President of Colorado Medical Society talk about the surprising way to cut health costs.

Also hearing Charles Murray a couple of times, and getting program with lots of movies that should be good, documentaries that just don't get much PR.

Connecting with PlantPure and finding they are open to killing two birds with one stone with their movie in Colorado. Could be just that one connection made the trip worthwhile.

Couple more speakers in a.m. before I head for airport in the morning. Should be back for Socrates Cafe at DU at 6:30 p.m. Join us? :-) http://Meetup.com/Colorado-Socrates-Cafe-Society.

Las Vegas for Freedom Fest

Allen West gave a powerful, powerful talk to conclude first day of Freedom Fest.

Much of the crowd is Libertarian, West's strong advocacy of the need for a strong national defense won't sit well with some of them, but it very much did with the gentleman I sat next to, after 20 year career in the military, worked for a government contractor and just retired from it after a similar time. He want to get involved, he likes Libertarians except for the utopian stance some take on nation defense. West spoke directly to his concern.

No mention today of Pope Francis in South America. Hasn't he been meeting with the World Meeting of Popular Movements? He was quoted in the paper last week as saying the "Evil Financial Empires" need to be brought to an end, a play on Ronald Reagan's use of Evil Empire to describe the enemies of the United States. 

CEO of Overstock.com talked about his battle with the Federal bureaucracy and why he thinks peer-to-peer replacements for government centralized services will be growing. He likes Bitcoin, still seems like a giant con to me, and he likes a peer to peer stock exchange, of which I'm even more leery. He doesn't like pooled clearing done now, looks to me his peer-to-peer is much more risky and it really put me off when he refused to discuss the details, what he calls "the plumbing." 

Martin Luther King reenacted by Jim Lucas was very moving. Immigrant from North Korea shared what life was like there, why she escaped and how she did it. Similar story from woman who escaped from China, a man who's family had escaped from Nazi German.  Makes me very grateful for the freedom we do still have here.

Lots more tomorrow, popular New York Times columnist, CEO of Whole Foods, Donald Trump has announced he's dropping in sometime.

Interesting mix of economics, politics, and financial advice. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. 

If you want more check out Twitter #FreedomFest or @TheFreedomFest where I'll be posting pictures tomorrow, battery died today.