Is Big Brother Here?

Legendary investor Mark Skousen discusses the upcoming Freedomfest, the world's largest gathering of free minds, occuring in Las Vegas from July 9-12, 2014.

TERRY:  I’m TERRY Savage from MoneyShow.com talking with the really, really legendary Mark Skousen. 

MARK SKOUSEN:  That old, huh.

TERRY:  No, legendary, not old.  What has happened?  What’s Chapman on?

MARK SKOUSEN:  Well, I just got back from California where I was teaching at Chapman University, which is a market friendly school.  They have statues of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Adam Smith, and maybe even TERRY Savage someday, who knows. 

TERRY:  And for sure Mark Skousen gets a statue first.

MARK SKOUSEN:  I’m a presidential fellow at Chapman University for a year.  I will give a public lecture.  I also just finished a course on economics and it was just a great experience to spend some time with students.

TERRY:  Talk about FreedomFest.  This is so important.  Explain.

MARK SKOUSEN:  Well, FreedomFest is the world’s largest gathering of free minds.  This will be our eighth year.  Stossel is going to be there again this year.  We just got confirmed that he is going to be taping his show there so Fox News will be there.  Steve Forbes and John Mackey of Whole Foods are our co-ambassadors.  We have over 100 speakers, over 100 exhibitors.  All of the free market think tanks are there, Kato (SP?) and Heritage. 

TERRY:  And there is where and what dates?

MARK SKOUSEN:  Las Vegas.

TERRY:  Home of free markets.

MARK SKOUSEN:  Yes, very much a libertarian city.  That is why we have it there.  You have CPAC, which is in Death Star, Washington, DC, and we think we should have a place that represents free market, Laissez-faire, that sort of thing.

TERRY:  So FreedomFest this year is what dates?

MARK SKOUSEN:  July 9th through the 12th at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, and our theme is Big Brother, which is an important theme.  We are trying to get Edward Snowden to come via Skype and that sort of thing but it’s a long shot. 

TERRY:  Oh, wouldn’t that be something.  Is it financial or is it social?

MARK SKOUSEN:  We’re the financial freedom seminar that is three days long but it is a renaissance gathering so it is philosophy, history, science, technology, healthy living, music, dance, and listen to this, for our Saturday night banquet, Janis Joplin and Big Brother & The Holding Company, a perfect match for our Big Brother theme. 

TERRY:  Thanks Mark.  It is going to be a great event, July 9 through 12, in Las Vegas.  Go to FreedomFest.com.