American Thought Leaders Jan Jekielek

Sponsor special: Up to $2,500 of FREE silver AND a FREE safe on qualifying orders - Call 855-862-3377 or text “AMERICAN” to 6-5-5-3-2
“Within the law, rule of law, and in a robust competitive model, you want to maximize freedom ... Economic freedom, in the context of the rule of law, is the best formula for success and prosperity.”
Mark Skousen is said to be one of the top 20 most influential living economists in the world. He’s written over 25 books on personal finance and investing, including two of America’s definitive textbooks on economics.
“We have to make the right decisions to encourage, to increase our standard of living. That is the ultimate purpose of economics—to tell us how to do that,” says Mr. Skousen.
He’s also the producer of the annual libertarian FreedomFest conference. In anticipation of the event next month, we sat down to discuss some of the major myths and misconceptions about our economy today.
“Even the stock market, by the way, is at an all-time high. But in real terms, after inflation, it’s the same [as] it was in 2021,” says Mr. Skousen.
He says that since World War II, America has been in a state of permanent inflation, and that returning to the Adam Smith model of economics is the only way to get back to what he calls “enlightened capitalism.”
“I judge every economist on whether they are defending and improving upon the Adam Smith model of economic liberty, or are trying to tear it down and build their own system of socialism, Keynesianism, totalitarianism, and so forth,” says Mr. Skousen.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

When Ronald Reagan was a presidential candidate, he was asked about his strategy for the Cold War. He had a simple answer: “We win, and they lose.”
Former President Reagan was crystal clear about the Soviet Union and its intentions, but today, few seem to understand the Chinese Communist Party’s true intentions towards America.
“We Win, They Lose” is the title of a new book by Matthew Kroenig and Dan Negrea, both working with the Atlantic Council. They outline what a Reaganesque foreign policy—updated for today—would look like.
Mr. Kroenig is vice president and senior director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and Mr. Negrea is senior director of the Freedom and Prosperity Center.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Sponsor special: Up to $2,500 of FREE silver AND a FREE safe on qualifying orders - Call 855-862-3377 or text “AMERICAN” to 6-5-5-3-2
“America used to be the shining city on the hill, and now it’s declining rather rapidly. I was in Europe last year talking to a number of people, and I said, ‘What do you think about America?’ And the answer I got was, ’We think you’ve lost your minds.' And that was very concerning to them, because if America goes, what happens to everybody else?”
Dr. Ben Carson is a renowned neurosurgeon, former U.S. presidential candidate, and author of, most recently, “The Perilous Fight: Overcoming Our Culture’s War on the American Family.”
“The family is where you derive your identity. And we’ve already had the example with the breakup of the black family, and you see the violence that has ensued. The murder rates in our inner cities are so high. People don’t respect other people’s lives. A lot of that has to do with the missing father, and now, that’s spread to the rest of our society as well,” says Dr. Carson.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Shea Bradley-Farrell is president of Counterpoint Institute and author of “Last Warning to the West.” In this episode, we dive into Hungary’s atypical policies when it comes to immigration, family, and social issues.
“I wanted to find out why Hungary had and how had it retained its unique identity and its love for its national sovereignty,” she says.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“The fact that America’s foremost geopolitical adversary controls an app that about 170 million Americans use regularly means that the CCP can leverage the app to influence the political debate of Americans, and ultimately … degrade the integrity of our democracy,” says Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and the author of “Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.”
In this episode, he breaks down why TikTok is a major national security threat and how America can outmaneuver the Chinese Communist Party in the new U.S.–China Cold War.
For years, America has been playing defense, he says.
“To win cold wars, you have to go on the offensive to figure out: What is my adversary’s strategy? Where am I strong? Where are they weak? And how do I move the competition to that terrain?”
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Sponsor special: Up to $2,500 of FREE silver AND a FREE safe on qualifying orders - Call 855-862-3377 or text “AMERICAN” to 6-5-5-3-2
“People don’t know where to go to cultivate wisdom. I will ask my students: ‘Where do you go for information?’ They‘ll hold up their cell phones right away. ‘Where do you go for knowledge?’ And they’re ... a little bit more suspicious. They’ll say, ‘Well, the university, science …’ and then I'll say, ‘And where do you go for wisdom?’ And they don’t have an answer.”
John Vervaeke is a professor of cognitive science and Buddhist psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the creator of the internationally acclaimed lecture series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis.”
“There’s no possibility of truth without trust,” he says.
Mr. Vervaeke’s work merges science and spirituality, and reaches into the past to understand the history of ideas. He has developed a set of practices to cultivate insight in the quest to regain meaning.
“On social media, you have connections, but you don’t have actual social relationships with people. So people pile up the number of connections they have, but they’re not actually connected,” says Mr. Vervaeke. “The deepest truths are not accessed by us. They don’t get disclosed by us unless we’re willing to go through transformation, and unless we’re willing to grow our personhood.”
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.