Steve Moore and Trump Fight the Fed… and the Economics Establishment

“Cheerleaders should be on the sidelines.” — Washington Post

“Steve Moore isn’t qualified to be a member of the Fed. He doesn’t have the intellectual gravitas.” — Greg Mankiw, Harvard University

Supply-side economist and long-time friend Steve Moore is under fire since being nominated by President Trump last week to fill a vacancy in the Federal Reserve Board.

Steve has spoken regularly at FreedomFest and our Global Financial Summit. He famously debated Paul Krugman at FreedomFest in 2015.

Steve Moore debates Paul Krugman at FreedomFest 2015.

Moore has worked as an economist for more than 30 years in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, founder of the Club for Growth and chief economist for the Heritage Foundation. He worked for the Joint Economic Committee under Dick Army. He also has been a regular contributor on Fox News and lately CNN.

Still, he has been criticized on two levels. First, he does not have a Ph.D. in economics and therefore, according to critics, does not have the technical skills to be on the Fed board. (My response is that he has a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University and has worked for 30 years on economic issues.)

Second, critics say he’s too politically biased to be an objective member of the Fed. This bias has tainted his outlook, the critics contend. When President Obama was in power, he attacked the Fed for being too loose and predicted runaway inflation. Now that President Trump is in power, he has attacked Fed policy under Jay Powell as too tight, claiming it is hurting the economy. Those naysayers also assert Moore has written a highly biased book called “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.”

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And just yesterday, it was reported that Moore owes the IRS $75,000 in taxes and penalties related to his divorce.

The media is out for blood. Supporters such as John Fund have defended Moore on CNBC and elsewhere. So far, Moore has the support of the Republicans, who control the Senate, and President Trump is not backing down. It will be a tough confirmation battle.

Steve Moore to Defend His Record at FreedomFest

I talked to Steve this past week and he’s determined to win this fight. He told me he won’t be silenced, and he plans to speak at FreedomFest, set for July 17-20, at the Paris Resort in Las Vegas.

He will be debating Donald Boudreaux, economics professor at George Mason University, on “The Trump Trade War: Art of the Deal, or No Deal?”

Other keynote speakers include Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” and John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, who will square off in the “Libertarian Duel in the Sun” on July 18 about “Conscious Capitalism vs. Pure Greed.”

See why John Fund says, “FreedomFest doesn’t just ride the wave, it invents the wave.”

For the full list of speakers, debates and panels, go to www.freedomfest.com.

‘Early Bird’ Special Ends Tomorrow (March 29)

— ACT NOW!

Come join us! The early-bird discount ends TOMORROW, March 29. You can get $200 off the retail price of FreedomFest by calling 1-855-850-3733, ext. 202, or by going to www.freedomfest.com, and using the code EAGLE. Instead of paying $695 per person/$995 per couple, you pay only $495 per person/$795 per couple. See you in Vegas!

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Good investing, AEIOU,

Mark Skousen

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You Nailed it!

Utah Is First State to Require a Warrant to Access Your Data

By Mark Skousen
Editor, Forecasts & Strategies

Thanks to the efforts of Connor Boyack and the Libertas Foundation think tank, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has signed the state’s new data privacy law (HB 57), making Utah’s version the strongest in the country.

The new law requires a warrant for law enforcement to access your data, whether it’s on your personal device or stored in the cloud. As Molly Davis, a policy analyst with Libertas Foundation writes in Wired, “Without that warrant requirement in place, private data is left vulnerable to fishing expeditions that are rife for abuse.”

Utah is the first state to pass such legislation. Techdirt declared, “More states should be like Utah — a phrase that’s probably never been uttered before.”

The decision is especially important in Utah. The state is the headquarters of the highly secretive National Security Agency’s facility that contains supercomputers that gather and store data from emails, phone calls, Google searches and other activities done by Americans. The $1.7 billion facility is located in the point of the mountain between Salt Lake and Provo.

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Maybe the new law will put a dent in the violation of our rights to privacy — but I doubt it.

Mark Skousen

Mark Skousen, Ph. D., is a professional economist, investment expert, university professor, and author of more than 25 books. He earned his Ph. D. in monetary economics at George Washington University in 1977. He has taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Grantham University, Barnard College, Mercy College, Rollins College, and is a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. He also has been a consultant to IBM, Hutchinson Technology, and other Fortune 500 companies. Since 1980, Skousen has been editor in chief of Forecasts & Strategies, a popular award-winning investment newsletter. He also is editor of four trading services, Skousen TNT Trader, Skousen Five Star Trader, Skousen Low-Priced Stock Trader, and Skousen Fast Money Alert. He is a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, a columnist to Forbes magazine (1997-2001), and past president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York. He has written articles for The Wall Street Journal, Liberty, Reason, Human Events, the Daily Caller, Christian Science Monitor, and The Journal of Economic Perspectives. He has appeared on ABC News, CNBC Power Lunch, CNN, Fox News, and C-SPAN Book TV. In 2008-09, he was a regular contributor to Larry Kudlow & Co. on CNBC. His economic bestsellers include “Economics on Trial” (Irwin, 1991), “Puzzles and Paradoxes on Economics” (Edward Elgar, 1997), “The Making of Modern Economics” (M. E. Sharpe, 2001, 2009), “The Big Three in Economics” (M. E. Sharpe, 2007), “EconoPower” (Wiley, 2008), and “Economic Logic” (2000, 2010). In 2009, “The Making of Modern Economics” won the Choice Book Award for Outstanding Academic Title. His financial bestsellers include “The Complete Guide to Financial Privacy” (Simon & Schuster, 1983), “High Finance on a Low Budget” (Bantam, 1981), co-authored with his wife Jo Ann, “Scrooge Investing” (Little Brown, 1995; McGraw Hill, 1999), and “Investing in One Lesson” (Regnery, 2007). In honor of his work in economics, finance, and management, Grantham University renamed its business school “The Mark Skousen School of Business.” Dr. Skousen has lived in eight nations, and has traveled and lectured throughout the United States and 70 countries. He grew up in Portland, Ore. He and his wife, Jo Ann, and five children have lived in Washington, D.C.; Nassau, the Bahamas; London, England; Orlando, Fla.; and New York. For more information about Mark’s services, go to http://www.markskousen.com/