Pafere

Kris suggested to Pawel Tobola-Pertkiewicz p.tobola@pafere.org , President of The Polish American Foundation for Economic Research and Education (PAFERE) [below center-left] that they might host me on a lecture tour in Poland. With the generous sponsorship and encouragement of Jan Malek, Founder of PAFERE and a long time member of the Mont Pelerin Society [below center-right], this was accomplished.

Pawel is a genius at publicity and promotion, arranging for me to address 17 schools, universities, and public events in 5 cities around Poland over Spring Break. As luck would have it, my daughter, Kenli, and brother, Virgis, were also available to join in the fun.

Interviews were provided to radio, television, and newspaper journalists and meetings were held with The ?ód? Political Club, The Nowogrodzka 44 Discussion Club, and the PAFERE Conference on “Ethical Sources of the Present Crisis: What Will Be the Future of Capitalism?”

Audiences were most interested in hearing about causes and cures for the global monetary crisis. They have a healthy skepticism of the panicked clamor to give trillion dollar bailouts to cronies in the financial sector. In fact, many Poles whom I spoke with felt that the recession was being over-hyped in order to stir a panic response. How else could American politicians get away with bailout pledges that amounted to more than triple the total expense of World War II?
 
Students, well-versed in the politics of corruption in Eastern Europe, were bitterly amused to learn of the revolving door in Washington D.C. where personnel and payoffs so deftly coursed through the halls of government and allied corporate boardrooms. PAFERE was founded in a staunchly Catholic Poland to combat immoral political behavior that blatantly violates the Seventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.”

During my lectures, Kenli [below left, center] provided the technical support for power point presentations and coached timing and relevance. Virgis Daukas [below left], Kenli’s “uncle” and founder of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, provided counsel, transportation, and laughs.
 
Other topics included Free Market Ethics, Trade and Labor Protectionism, and the new, third Polish edition of JG. People came from all over the country seeking autographs for early copies of JG published nine years ago in Lublin and Kraków. I was truly moved by the effect that these educational tools have made over the years. Several people came to me saying that the book opened their eyes to possibilities of the free market for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet empire.

The perennial question on the tour was, “When will the recession end?” We answered with a straight face, “August 23 at 8:47 AM.” But this is not a joking matter for Poles. After all, they experienced the worst of inhuman horrors for half a century, when their neighbors east and west sacrificed personal liberties to political statists who promised to rescue them from the 1930’s Depression.

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Fotoreportaż z pobytu Prof. Schoollanda w Polsce...