4 Events, 2,000 attendees (plus teasing the Athenian commies)
I’m writing these lines in a very nice hotel room. I’m alone and in 40 minutes it’ll be my 37th birthday. This will be the second birthday I don’t spend home because of the Free Market Road Show. Last year I was in Munich and this year in Tel Aviv.
Is it worth it? In April alone I’ve been in ten cities in three different continents (we launched the FMRS in the United States, but I’ll tell you more about it in another post). Let me walk you through my last week on the road and let’s try to find out whether it was worth it.
On Sunday April 10th I took a plane which flew me to Iasi (Romania). I arrived on a very rainy Sunday night. The next day I woke up -very early- with the intention of taking a walk but the weather continued to be horrible. I’d leave Iasi a few hours later without being able to see anything of that nice and beautiful Romanian city.
However, what did happen during my hours in the city is the important story here.
That Monday morning we co-organized the FMRS event together with the local Hayek Institute at the University. And it was such an amazing event!
As their name clearly indicates, the local group there is very committed with the Austrian School of Economics. They do an amazing job to promote its ideas. For instance, they’ve had translated many of the most important books of the Austrian tradition into Romanian. This is a work of great importance.
The event itself was 10/10. An absolute full house with students and faculty members who asked many questions and were eager to talk with the speakers during the coffee break. 400 people enjoyed the two panels full of great insights. Moreover, some of the speakers talked about Romania and presented ideas and proposals from a classical liberal perspective (of course).
Randal O’Tool gave a great lecture on urban planning and its consequences. One phrase that he said stuck in my mind: “Planners don’t learn.” When planning and centralization fail, the planners may try to learn from their mistakes and refrain from intervening. Unfortunately, this is never the case. Instead, what they actually do is to go even further than they originally went. The failure of the plan is met by a bigger new plan which is more comprehensive.
This perverse logic is complemented with the notion that the last interstices of free market that may remain have to be identified as responsible for the failure of their policies, and removed as if they were a malign tumor.
Michael Williams’s speech in Romania was also full of deep intuitions. One of them was that the regulatory state presupposes guiltiness of the citizens. This is apparent in the case of the harassment of innovators. Michael gave great examples in his talk but I will mention one that I’m following very closely. Uber, the ride sharing company, is trying to start a business in Argentina. So far, many consumers seem fascinated with the quality of the service and its price. Cabdrivers, on the contrary, are trying to oppose Uber using political extortion and violence. And what about the government? Well, like in many cases, their response is appalling. The president himself has spoken in favor of the taxi lobby. What’s more, the mayor of Buenos Aires is legally persecuting Uber and the mayor of La Plata has threaten to criminally sue them. A few days ago, the mayor of BA said that Uber should not be working because the company “had not submitted any papers to the city government.”
This, I believe, is the sort of sick mentality Michael was referring to. How does a company like Uber dare to provide a business without being “approved” by our overlords? A very disturbing cultural sign is that permissionless innovation seems completely bizarre to the bureaucrats and many citizens as well. This isn’t only happening in backwards undeveloped Argentina. For instance, the mayor of New York, a left-wing looney named Bill de Blasio, wanted to forbid Uber, too.
From Romania we went to Greece — and not any city in Greece… We went to Thessaloniki. You may remember what happened in Thessaloniki last year (see here and here). The event of 2016 outperformed the one of 2015. Anna, a former intern of the Austrian Economics Center, her brother Petros, Thanos, and a large number of volunteers are simply amazing.
There’re no words to describe it. Having last year experience in mind we wanted to be on the safe side and used a venue (the University of Macedonia) of about 800 seats. It wasn’t enough, though. 1,000+ people packed the place and eagerly listened to our two panels.
The great John Charalambakis –a Greek-American economist and truly a renaissance man– kickstarted the event. He warned that there are, unfortunately, many bubbles that have not yet burst. Mr. Charalambakis believes that the “bubble of all bubbles” is in China — with the municipal bonds s prime suspects. He also warned that the pension system of Japan is bankrupt.
John also claimed that we live in an era in which central authorities have become highly problematic. On the one hand, the government is increasing bureaucracy and red tape at a very fast pace. On the other, the central banks -particularly the ECB- are executing an expansionary monetary policy which may be suicidal.
If I had to pick, I’d say that the best speech of the evening was given by Barbara Kolm. I know, I know, she’s my boss so you doubt my objectivity. But believe me that I’m honest in my assessment.
She gave a very powerful talk which dealt with a lot of issues. What stroke me the most was her unapologetic defense of entrepreneurs and citizens vis à vis the government. Barbara told the students that they really should think about becoming entrepreneurs. That they “should do it for themselves.” She highlighted the importance of somebody who does something that other people value.
And she related this to the “Panama Papers.” How? She said that it’s unfair and shortsighted to blame productive people for taking steps to protect their properties and wealth. The entrepreneurs were kicked out from Europe by greedy politicians and their criminal taxes. The real problem aren’t tax havens but tax hells.
Speaking of taxes, my talks in Greece had to do with a particular tax hell — Argentina. This is particularly relevant in the Hellenic lands since the Syriza administration took Argentina as a role model.
What I did was trying to explain how the tax policies of the populist governments from 2002 to 2015 were very much responsible for the failure of my country. And the magnitude of this failure can be fully appreciated when you take into consideration the fantastic international context Argentina had these years. In a nutshell, the prices of everything Argentina exports skyrocketed. The country should have been a success story and the destination of heavy investments. That was hardly the case, as we all know. During the past decade, Argentina was a quasi-Venezuela, populist and decadent. At the base of this failure lies the voracious and insane tax policy the government implemented. I will write a detailed post on this matter soon. For the time being, let’s just say that according to the World Economic Forum, which by the way is a center-left organization, Argentina’s total tax rate was 137% in 2015.
After Thessaloniki we travelled to Komotini. This was our second visit to the city. And here, the stakes were also high. The guys from the Youth Business Network had done a very good job last year so they had to live up to the expectations. And, oh boy, they did! 200 strong attended an event comprised not only of our two thematic panels but also of an extra panel and a workshop on the migrant crisis. On top of all this, they gave us frappes during the coffee break! Seriously, you can’t ask for anything else.
The final stop in Greece was the capital city of the country. And what can I say? Athens was also a big hit. The attendance grew exponentially from the past editions and this, in fact, mirrors the growth of the Liberty Forum of Greece — our local partner. This group has recently inaugurated new headquarters, enlarged its staff, renovated its programs, and launched several new initiatives and activities. Pay attention to what they’re doing, because they will cause a lot troubles to the leftist-populist government of Alexis Tsipras.
Perhaps the only bad thing that happened this week was that Ben Powell had a delay in the US and couldn’t make it to the event in Athens as it was scheduled. But, he had some action anyway. Let me explain…
While we were coming back to the hotel after dinner in Athens Nick Hubble, the editor of “The Road to Freedom,” had the idea to go to the Exarhion Square to take some pictures. What’s so special about this place? It’s the epicenter of the leftists driven riots and demonstrations. Day and night it is full with(the wrong kind of) anarchists, communists, etc. For your information, Nick didn’t want just some pictures. He wanted to just take some pictures with the Free Market Road Show roll up there.
I have to admit I was hesitant but he convinced me to do it. While we were about to leave from the hotel Ben met us at the lobby. We explained very briefly what we wanted to do and he joined us in a second. The three of us headed to this commie hotspot of Athens, displayed our Free Market Road Show “flag” and proudly took pictures. The colors of Capitalism stood high in this hostile square. The roll up costs 50 euros or so. Taking a picture with it in the Exarhion Square is priceless.
So, to return to my question. Is it all worth it? After four cities, 2,000 attendees, many great speeches, meeting amazing people, and pissing off some commies what could I say but… Hell yeah!
See you on the road!
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