TANNERSVILLE, PA - A Pocono-area group will be inaugurating an Internet campaign to support free-markets, and if they have it their way, the Free Market Green Ribbon Campaign will not just be seen here in the Poconos, but computer screens world-wide.
The Pocono Libertarians will use their monthly meeting, Tuesday, May 19th to announce the beginning of the effort. "Not only will we be asking people to show their support for the concept of free markets, but will have Finance Assistant Professor John McGinnis of the Altoona Campus of Penn State University to talk about "Why Americans Don't Understand Economics." It is a natural fit," said Ray Masters, Media Relations for the group.
McGinnis has a doctorate in finance from Penn State and has taught business and economics courses on the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the author of a book, Fundamentals of Finance, and has published scholarly and practical articles in such periodicals as Small Business News, The Freeman, Applied Financial Economics and The Midwest Journal of Finance and Insurance. He has been honored as the 1997 Outstanding Teacher at the Penn State Great Valley Graduate Center. He has served as task force leader on the IMPACCT Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and contributed to its findings in Making Government Make Sense. He also is the founder of the Dead Economists Society, an economics discussion club of business men and women in the Valley Forge area.
Like the Pocono Libertarians, the Southeastern PA group is affilated with the Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.
Masters explained that the basis of a free-market economy is "capitalistic acts between consenting people". As free-marketers, Libertarians believe that a functioning free-market is a natural and peaceful human process, far more capable of solving various social ills such as poverty, unemployment, inequitable trade, poor schools, poor roads, polluted environment and crime than the forces of government.
Libertarians also would keep "government interference" to a minimum, for example, if one used force, fraud, or coercion against another individual. "Internal Revenue Code, various trade barriers that foreign governments place on imports and exports, oppressive zoning laws that prohibit many people from working within their own home or property are some examples of interference in the market process," said Masters.
The Free Market Green Ribbon Campaign was inspired by the highly successful on-line Blue Ribbon Campaign in support of the First Amendment's freedom to free speech. Millions of people make economic transactions everyday, while mostly unaware of the efficacy and inner workings of the market. Former socialist countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary have embraced the market instead of pursuing past command economy theory failures.
The Pocono Libertarian website can be found at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5449. In addition to the new free-market logo, one can access over 200 links to various organizations, articles, endorsements, past program list, chatroom, photos and a weekly opinion poll. "We were pleased this past week to receive our first internet award from the "Liberty Activists Site of the Day" in South Carolina. We are helping connect the Pocono Libertarians to a world-wide audience," said Masters.
The meeting starts a 7:00 pm at the Tannersville Inn, Route 611, Tannersville, PA. For additional information call 717-992-3800 or e-mail at 4liberty@bigfoot.com.
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5449/ribbon.html"> <img src="http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5449/GREEN-RIB.GIF"> </a>
and it should turn out like this:
