August 28, 2015 Print

As the world carefully watches the markets after a large decline in the stock market, a group of central bankers is meeting in Wyoming to decide what sort of monetary manipulation should be enacted next. Another group is also gathered in Wyoming this week, including the likes of Judy Shelton, co-director of Atlas Network’s Sound Money Project; Thomas Hogan, chief economist of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and former Atlas Network senior fellow; and Alex Chafuen, president of Atlas Network, among others. This second group is part the parallel Fed conference, The Jackson Hole Summit — Central Banks: The Problem or the Solution?

At the summit, organized by Atlas Network partner American Principles Project, Chafuen will serve as moderator of a panel on the international monetary system and frontiers for reform. In Chafuen’s latest column at Forbes.com, he argues that those frontiers of reform provide a stark contrast to the agendas of the central bankers.

“Those who champion central banks and government monetary manipulation argue that their goal is to bring stability,” Chafuen said. “Those of us who argue that monetary bureaucrats continue to fail, see the current scene as providing another chance to point at their failures and as another opportunity to call for sound money.”

Unfortunately, Chafuen said, “Many people see money as an instrument of the state. They do not regard money as what it should be: the most common medium of exchange, resembling more a weight and a measure than a volatile government tool.” Read Chafuen’s full column here.

The Jackson Hole Summit will work in intellectual tandem with the Federal Reserve’s traditional August retreat, providing both complementary analyses and supplemental perspectives. Distinguished speakers from the United States and abroad will focus on the challenge of providing sound money — not only to optimize returns to the real economy but also to mitigate threats to international financial stability.

More confirmed speakers include George Mason University's Lawrence White, Ph.D., speaking on Government & Money: A Historical Perspective; National Review Online's John Fund, speaking on "The Fed That Didn't Bark in the Nighttime;" British Parliament Member Steve Baker, speaking on Global Monetary Policy and the Future of Capitalism; the Heritage Foundation's Jim DeMint; and others. See the full lineup and agenda here.