In 2018, Jonathan Hofer was held at gunpoint when the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department's automated license plate reader (ALPR) misidentified the car he was riding in as stolen. It was not stolen. It was a law enforcement database error. Hofer's California Golden Fleece^® Award report recommends several limitations on the new technology that can protect the privacy and property of law-abiding citizens from government intrusions.

Independent Institute Chairman and CEO Mary L. G. Theroux explains her research and how she came to produce the new documentary Beyond Homeless: Finding Hope. She talks about how the problem has been exacerbated by government policies with good intentions. Good intensions will not solve the issue, she says. Solving homelessness will take a coordinated effort to address each person's trauma, addiction, and mental illness on an individual basis.

Independent Institute Chairman and CEO Mary L. G. Theroux talks about how she became involved in the homelessness issue in San Francisco. She describes how the policy of "Housing First" is not addressing the root of homelessness. If housing is first, she says, what is next? Trauma, addiction, and mental health needs to be addressed before people can live and thrive independently. Mary's documentary Beyond Homeless: Finding Hope tells the story of how San Francisco and other cities can solve the homelessness problem in the US.

Research Fellow Burton Abrams, author of The Terrible 10 appears on the Gary Nolan radio show.
Abrams talks about some of the ten worst economic policies in US history. Monetary policy during the Great Depression, the subprime mortgage crisis, prohibition, and Hawley-Smoot Act are among the policies that Abrams says are the biggest mistakes of US lawmakers.

When Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taiwan, the lawless communist mainland government of China threw a fit; does their overreaction mean that the United States should now overtly pledge in advance to fight against China if it invades Taiwan? Looking back at home, is the rule of law threatened by the recent FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago? And let’s hear it for the latest miracle political words: it’s called the “Inflation Reduction Act”—even though it will ramp up inflation!

Sr. Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook, author of The Right to Bear Arms is interviewed on the Gary Nolan radio show. Halbrook talks about the origins of the Second Amendment and the recent US Supreme Court ruling concerning the right to carry in states that currently put restrictions on the right to protect yourself outside of your home.

Sr. Fellow Richard Vedder, author of Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America talks about his career in higher education and how college has changed in the decades he has taught economics. Vedder talks about the possibility of forgiving student loans and about the dysfunction in the university system in the US today.

The Biden administration, spooked by inflation, sets out to change the definition of “recession,” apparently in hopes that terminology will ease the impact of disastrous spending and monetary policy. Meanwhile, the new semiconductor pork bill, “The Chips Act” subsidizes big business at the expense of taxpayers and consumers. Also, Dr. Fauci now tells us that if he had it to do all over again, he’d insist on even more draconian lockdowns and restrictions.