FEE’s Founder, Leonard E. Read, circa 1978, on How to Advance Liberty.

Learn more about the Foundation for Economic Education athttp://www.fee.org

With the Senate poised to consider comprehensive “cybersecurity” legislation this month, a bevy of questions need answers. Although it is difficult to secure computers, networks, and data, are government spending and regulation the answer? Are the cybersecurity threats touted in Washington real or trumped up? Should legal protections for privacy and other values give way in the name of “information sharing” with the Department of Homeland Security?

Recorded 10 March 2012 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. Featuring Peter Klein, Joe Salerno, David Gordon, Shawn Ritenour, Guido Hulsmann, and Jeffrey Herbener. Includes a Question and Answer period.

The US unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent for January — naturally it was a good photo opportunity for US president Barack Obama to say the economy is improving. Really? In fact, a large chunk of those people who finally found work last month landed low wage jobs, and almost half of the unemployed (43%) have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks. That’s 6 months without a job for 5.5 million people in this country, and that’s only the official tally. Youth unemployment is also awful, stuck at 23 percent. So what are we supposed to do? How do we fix this? Well, author Jeffrey Tucker is in studio with us today — a special treat — and he will tell us what he thinks should be done. One solution that washington has proposed is raising taxes, and in fact, today is the income tax’s birthday. Hurray! Wait…should we be celebrating this or should we be asking the question “where is our money going?” Maybe washington should be held accountable for all the money it not only wastes, but outright steals, before it starts extending its hands asking for more. Maybe congress should start curbing insider trading, or kickbacks, before it starts raising taxes for the majority of americans, but providing loop holes for the well-connected. And what role does the Federal Reserve play in all of this? How can it be held accountable, and should we just abolish the federal reserve as Ron Paul says? Well, Jeffrey Tucker will tell us what he thinks. He will be debating Dean Baker tonight in Washington on just this issue, and he is going to lay out his case against the fed.

Tad DeHaven:

Michael Tanner:

Chris Edwards: