Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - March 7, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Mar. 7

4:00 – It Didn't Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust Is Unnecessary-and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle
Why is the boom-and-bust cycle so persistent? Why did economists fail to predict the economic meltdown that began in 2007—or to pull us out of the crisis more quickly? And how can we prevent future calamities? Economist Harry Veryser tells the fascinating (but frightening) story of how our modern economic condition developed. The most recent recession, far from being an isolated incident, was part of a larger cycle that has been the scourge of the West for a century—a cycle rooted in government manipulation of markets and currency. The lesson is clear: the devastation of the recent economic crisis—and of stagflation in the 1970s, and of the Great Depression in the 1930s—could have been avoided. It didn’t have to be this way. He makes his case.

5:00 – The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic
Stephen Krason is here to consider whether the Founding Fathers’ vision of the American democratic republic has been transformed and if so, in what ways. We look to the basic principles of the Founding Fathers, then discuss changes that resulted from evolving contemporary attitudes about and approaches to government. We consider how contemporary law and public policy might be reshaped in accordance with the religious principles and cultural norms of the eighteenth century and earlier.