New and old College Libertarians members: Welcome back to another school year. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the College Libertarians booth at Festifall.

Our first mass meeting will be Wednesday (September 16) at 8:00 PM in Room 3460 of Mason Hall. We have a lot to discuss already, including our upcoming “Freedom Fest” in the Diag, our annual gun giveaway, and various ways you can get involved. We’ll also be raffling off a few prizes.

Excellent letter to the editor in the Daily today from our friend Sam.

Letter to the Editor: Federal stimulus plan will only worsen the economy

By Sam van Kleef
On February 4th, 2009

How many people have heard about the recession of 1981-82? Very few, because although we had higher unemployment and inflation than we have now, the government did not try to stimulate the country out of it and the recession quickly abated. Keep this in mind when considering my objection to yesterday’s column by Matthew Green (A Stimulating Solution, 02/04/09).

Green seems to imply that a completely borrowed $900 billion worth of constituent appeasement and expansion of entitlements is the solution to cover up politicians’ mistakes. Out of the $900 billion to be spent, less than 10 percent can be considered stimulus (tax cuts and infrastructure spending). The remaining 90 percent of this money is the most extensive enlargement of entitlement programs and pork in the history of this nation. President Obama promises four million new jobs with this package — that totals to an absurd $225,000 each.

Green argues that this waste of money should be considered a “middle ground” between Republicans and Democrats. There is no middle ground between being right or wrong. The government never creates anything, it can only redistribute while money leaks out of every transaction. Whenever the government “creates” jobs, we get things like the Transportation Security Administration, hardly a shining beacon of efficiency.

The most amusing line by Green is when he describes the failure of the previous stimulus package that was passed in the beginning of 2008. Apparently learning from mistakes and not repeating them is not an option when considering taxpayer money. Government is not the solution to our economic problems — government is what causes problems. Just as in the Great Depression, once the government stopped trying to control the economy, recovery came quickly. Let us hope that future generations do not bear the burden of the fiscal stupidity of the previous generations.

Sam van Kleef
LSA freshman

February 3, 2009 Is global warming a major threat? Did man cause it? Can man stop it? What should we do? Global Warming: Inconvenient Facts Featuring Patrick Michaels

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 7:00 PM 1200 Chem, University of Michigan

On Tuesday, February 3 at 7:00 PM Students for a Free Economy, the UM Young Americans for Freedom and College Libertarians are hosting Cato Institute Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies and former state climatologist Patrick Michaels to discuss the threat of global warming and what to do about it.

The event will be held in 1200 Chemistry on the campus of the University of Michigan. Michaels will have copies of his new book, “Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don’t Want You to Know” available for sale and signing. The event is free and open to all! Facebook event here.

The Second Annual International Students For Liberty Conference will be held at George Washington University (Washington D.C.), from February 20-22, 2009. The conference is the premiere event of the year for students dedicated to liberty with speeches from some of the key leaders of liberty today and opportunities to discuss how to promote liberty with other students.

You can click on the following links for more information on the conference:

Student Invitation

Registration

Generic Schedule

FAQ

Liberty Fair

Scholarships

Conference Flier

Facebook Event

Questions? Email info@studentsforliberty.org

Letter to the Editor: Government bailouts have moral and practical failings

On November 19th, 2008

When it comes to spending other people’s money, the Daily is awfully generous. That was the case in its editorial yesterday about a bailout for the Big Three (Bailing out our future, 11/18/2008).

A taxpayer-funded bailout for the Big Three can’t be defended on moral grounds because it is wrong to rob Peter to pay Paul, regardless of how many skilled lobbyists Paul may have in Washington D.C. Nor can it be defended on practical grounds, since this would be a subsidy for the bloated and inefficient management practices that got automakers here in the first place. A bailout would “spread the wealth” from poor taxpayers to rich executives.

Bailouts also misallocate resources by placing capital in the hands of politicians rather than market forces. Supporting Congress’s use of a limitless credit card that will be charged to our children and grandchildren to bailout private companies is morally reprehensible and confusing public policy. It would make more sense to throw our money down a hole.

Jonathan Slemrod
LSA junior
The letter writer is a co-chair of the University’s chapter of the College Libertarians.

Lawrence W. Reed, President of The Foundation for Economic Education, spoke at the Midwest Students for Freedom Conference in Ann Arbor on November 8, 2008. Here is a clip of his speech, from Students for a Free Economy:

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in the Second Annual International Students For Liberty Conference, hosted at George Washington University from Friday, February 20th to Sunday, February 22nd, 2009. Students For Liberty (SFL) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a unified, student-driven forum of support for students and student organizations dedicated to liberty.

SFL’s inaugural Conference was held at Columbia University from February 22-24, 2008, and brought 100 students from 42 schools and 2 countries to hear from pivotal leaders in the cause of liberty and discuss how to advance liberty on campuses today. As a result of this conference, SFL was founded as a full nonprofit organization with year-round resources for students and student organizations to advance liberty.

Following in the footsteps of the inaugural conference, this will be the pinnacle event of the year for students dedicated to liberty. We have already confirmed that the 2009 Keynote Speaker will be Yon Goicoechea, the recipient of the Cato Institute’s 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. As a 23 year old law student, Yon Goicoechea has led the pro-democracy student movement, leading to the defeat of Hugo Chavez’s attempt to eliminate private property and term limits to sustain his authority.

Yon is an inspiration to students everywhere and a shining example of the power that students have to
transform the world not only in the future, but today as well. In this letter you will find a description of the conference including a preliminary schedule, logistical information, registration information,
and listing of what happened at last year’s conference to provide further information on what you can expect. If you have any questions after, feel free to visit the conference webpage to find more information at:

www.studentsforliberty.org/college/conferences/international/, or email info@studentsforliberty.org.

From Isaac at SFE:

This is your last chance to register for two great events this November!

Event 1:

2008 Students for Freedom Conference

Saturday, November 8 at the University of Michigan.  13 speakers will present on how to best spread freedom in every sphere.  Lots of great info and material, three great meals, plenty of time to mingle with other freedom-loving students from across the Midwest.  There are a few spots left! – Register here

Event 2:

Mackinac Center Banquet Featuring John Stossel

Tuesday, November 11 at Michigan State Universities Kellogg Center The Mackinac Center for Public Policy will be celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary with a banquet featuring keynote speaker John Stossel of ABC’s 20/20.

Ticket prices for this event are normally $100, but since I know students don’t have that kind of cash lying around, SFE has been able to secure a chunk of tickets free of charge.  Please RSVP to me at SFE@mackinac.org and let me know if you will be attending.  The spots are limited, so first come, first serve! (PS – this is a formal event, so dress nice!)

This should be a great November, and I look forward to seeing you at these great events!

UMCL member Vincent Patsy has a great article in The Michigan Daily today:

U.S. capitalism fails because it isn’t really capitalism

The most important word in the phrase “free market capitalism” is free. Freedom, I believe, can only be defined as the absence of coercion. Free market capitalism is the economic system where all property (and therefore means of production) is privately held and all exchanges are voluntary.

Recently, much disdain and derision has been directed at free market capitalism. But we don’t have a purely capitalist system. To blame capitalism for the latest economic crisis is like blaming the spread offense for Michigan’s losses this year. Whether it’s a monetary manipulation, price controls or the lack of a running quarterback, it is clear that the idealized system can’t be blamed if it doesn’t exist.

What is often called capitalism today is actually closer to corporatism or fascism. We have a market, but due to a manipulation of prices, we have influenced the allocation of goods away from what consumers want. In a free market system, there would be no Federal Reserve, no Department of Energy or Education and certainly no World Trade Organization or International Monetary Fund. When I was reading the Daily’s review yesterday of the film “Battle in Seattle,” it wasn’t clear if the author was able to make this distinction (Seattle calling, 10/14/2008). This is a common error. People from the right like Larry Kudlow and those from the left like Eleanor Clift have presented our system as free market capitalism.

Free market capitalists would protest and fight alongside whoever wanted to abolish the WTO or the IMF. Add the Federal Reserve to this list, and I will drive the tank.

Vincent Patsy
LSA senior

The Roosevelt Institute excluded us from their debate, but Students for a Better America has been more cordial.  We have been invited to their debate Wednesday night at 8 PM in the Kalamazoo Room in the League, and Vincent Patsy will be representing us at the debate.

Here’s the Facebook event, they haven’t included us on Facebook because whoever made the event forgot about us, but I’ve been assured we have a spot and they’re going to add us soon.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32577931949

Hope to see you guys there!