The Lighthouse^®

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The Lighthouse^® is the weekly email newsletter of the Independent Institute.
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Volume 21, Issue 30: July 30, 2019

With Jordan B. Peterson
Why did the West place such great emphasis on individual sovereignty? How did this ethos contribute to freedom and human well-being? Why is individual sovereignty now under attack by critics on the left and the right who offer the alternative of collective identity? Drawing on his international bestseller, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, renown psychologist and public intellectual Dr. Jordan B. Peterson addressed these and related questions at a very special, sold-out event in San Francisco, hosted by the Independent Institute. WATCH »


By Benjamin Powell and Robert A. Lawson
Today millions of Americans are flocking to the socialist banner, but do they understand the threat to economic prosperity and social harmony that socialism entails? In their new book Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World, Independent Institute Senior Fellow Benjamin Powell and Research Fellow Robert Lawson present firsthand accounts from across the globe to affirm that socialism not only fails to deliver on any of its utopian promises, but it directly undermines material and social well-being. BUY THE BOOK »


By Craig Eyermann (The Beacon, 7/23/19)
Last week’s bipartisan budget agreement ensures trillion-dollar deficits and a 22 percent increase in discretionary spending over President Trump’s first term. Although federal spending grew faster during the most profligate years of the Bush and Obama administrations, no honest observer can suggest that the current White House and Congress are exemplars of fiscal responsibility. READ MORE »


By John C. Goodman and Lawrence J. Wedekind (Forbes, 7/12/19)
The Trump administration is making fundamental changes to Medicare. Reforms for hospital price transparency, drug advertising price transparency, paperwork reduction, the advent of concierge medicine, and administration efforts to eliminate drug rebates and gag clauses will result in a system shaped more by individual choice and market forces. READ MORE »



By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes, 6/17/19)
About 40 percent of college students fail to graduate in six years, and the prospect of having no degree and perhaps $50,000 in college loan debts can be daunting. Along with income-share agreements, tuition insurance may become an important tool for many students to mitigate the risks. READ MORE »