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.

Most important book since Wealth of Nations.

Edmund Phelps has just been given Princeton University's top prize.

Maybe this will help put the spotlight on his most recent book Mass Flouishing, what some have called the most

Important book in economics since Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. 

It took Adam Smith's book about 8 years to become a best seller. We may not have 8 years.

Read here what Princeton has to say about Phelps, the go to Amazon or your favorite local book store or library, read Mass Flourishing, and start asking every political candidate what they make of it. 

Here is what Yale says:

http://news.yale.edu/2014/10/13/yale-graduate-school-honor-four-distinguished-alumni 

Pope Francis as Economist.

I love Pope Francis, he is my spiritual leader.

But he needs to catch up on economics. I've suggested that he read Edmund Phelps, Nobel economist, especially his new book Mass Flourishing. Who would be interested in a study group using it? Take a look at the book, then call me. We could do face to face or as a Google+ Hangout. Maybe Pope Francis would join us.  Here's the book: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10058.html