Resolution:
The stagnation of living standards, and soaring economic inequality, have become the defining economic trends of American life.

For the affirmative:

David Leonhardt is a senior writer at The New York Times and the author of Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of American Dream. The Atlantic, the Financial Times and McKinsey & Co. named it one of the best books of 2023. David writes The Morning, The Times's flagship newsletter, and has previously been The Times's Washington bureau chief, founding editor of The Upshot and a podcast host. He also led a strategy group that helped shape The Times's digital future. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

For the negative:

John Early is a mathematical economist, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and president of the consultancy Vital Few, LLC. His experience includes two appointments as assistant commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, chief operating officer of an international consultancy in quality, chief strategy and customer officer for a Fortune 100 company, and legislative assistant to Senator George McGovern. His more than 80 publications include The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate, with Phil Gramm and Robert Ekelund and topics including measuring price change, labor force dynamics, income measurement, fiscal dynamics, improving healthcare, and customer loyalty.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

UPDATE

Resolution:
In the current presidential election, both Democrats and Republicans consist of a UniParty that will lead us to the bottom of the national policy dumpster.

For the Affirmative:

David Stockman was elected as a Michigan Congressman in 1976 and joined the Reagan White House in 1981. Serving as budget director, he was one of the key architects of the Reagan Revolution plan to reduce taxes, cut spending and shrink the role of government. He is the author of six best-selling books, most recently: Peak Trump: The Undrainable Swamp And The Fantasy Of MAGA (2019); The Great Money Bubble: Protect Yourself from the Coming Inflation Storm (2022); and Trump's War on Capitalism (2024). He is currently the publisher of a daily blog, Contra Corner – “the place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked.”

For the negative:

Stephen Moore was formerly Trump’s senior economic advisor. He is a Heritage Foundation economist and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow for their “Project for Economic Growth.” He is also the co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, which aims to educate policy-makers in supply-side economics. Before returning to the Heritage Foundation in 2014, Moore was the economics and policy writer for the Wall Street Journal and a member of The Journal’s editorial board. During that time he authored Who’s the Fairest of Them All?: The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes, and Wealth in America (2012).

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

IMPORTANT: THIS DEBATE WILL BEGIN 15 MINUTES EARLIER THAN USUAL

Doors open at 5:45 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:15 PM
Reception: 7:45 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Resolution:  
Among the candidates actively running for President in November, Donald Trump is the best choice.

For the affirmative:

Dr. Arthur B. Laffer is the founder of Laffer Associates, an economic research firm. Dr. Laffer has distinction in many publications as “The Father of Supply-Side Economics.” Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his terms (1981-1989) and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the presidential race of 1980. He also advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on fiscal policy in the UK during the 1980s. In 2019, Dr. Laffer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump. Dr. Laffer has authored numerous books including his most recent, Taxes Have Consequences: An Income Tax History of the United States.

For the negative:

Chase Oliver is an American political activist and nominee of the Libertarian Party for the 2024 United States presidential election. He was formerly a sales account executive and HR representative. Oliver was the Libertarian candidate for the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia and the 2020 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election. In the 2022 Georgia special United States Senate election, Oliver received over 2% of the popular vote, and was accused of acting as a spoiler candidate and forcing the Georgia senate race into a run-off.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Resolution:  
It is likely that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in the Wuhan laboratory in China.

For the affirmative:

Matt Ridley's books have sold over a million copies, been translated into 31 languages, and won several awards. His books include The Red Queen, Genome, The Rational Optimist, and How Innovation Works. "Viral: the search for the Origin of Covid-19", co-authored with Alina Chan, was published in 2021. He sat in the House of Lords between 2013 and 2021 and served on the science and technology select committee and the artificial intelligence select committee. He created the Mind and Matter column in the Wall Street Journal in 2010, and was a columnist for the Times 2013-2018. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

For the negative:

Dr. Stephen Goldstein is a virologist at the University of Utah conducting research on coronavirus evolution. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he conducted research on the biology of MERS-CoV, a zoonotic virus first identified in 2012. Over the course of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic Dr. Goldstein has engaged with the Utah Department of Public Health, University of Utah Health, and local and national media to provide scientific expertise. He has co-authored reviews and original research papers on the origin of SARS-CoV-2.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Resolution:
A better way to persuade more people of libertarianism is to convince them of the ethics stemming from self-ownership and the non-aggression principle, without relying primarily on consequentialist/utilitarian arguments.

For the affirmative:

Dennis Pratt has written almost 2000 essays on libertarian ethics before de-platformed, Quora. Redesigned and produced largest liberty festival (PorcFest), 2019-2024. Free State shill. Builder, “Libertarian Homeland”. Founder, Free Town Project. Founder, SHELL liberty community clubhouse. New Hampshire Liberty Activist of the Year. Owner, Independence Inn. Apologist, LPNH. Ethicist, Live Free Die Free. Founder, Personal Growth Network. Founder, Parents Decide. Homeschooler. Scientist, New product design, GTE Labs. Northwestern & MIT. @DennisPrattFree

For the negative:

Gene Epstein is the Executive Director of the Soho Forum. He is the former Economics and Books Editor of Barron's, a position he left in January 2018 after a 26-year stint. He frequently appears on libertarian podcasts, including the "The Tom Woods Show.” He has defended the negative at 11 Soho Forum debates, and this appearance will be his 12th. His November 2019 debate on socialism with Prof. Richard Wolff has had more than six million views on Youtube.

PorcFest

"The Pavilion"
Roger's Campground
10 Rogers Campground Rd,
Lancaster, NH 03584
Starts at 12:00PM

Resolution:
The Austrian economics of Mises and Rothbard contains economic intuitions that are important, correct, and missing from Chicago School economics.

For the affirmative:

Gene Epstein is the Executive Director of the Soho Forum. He is the former Economics and Books Editor of Barron's, a position he left in January 2018 after a 26-year stint. He frequently appears on libertarian podcasts, including the "The Tom Woods Show.” He has defended the negative at 11 Soho Forum debates, and this appearance will be his first time defending the affirmative. His November 2019 debate on socialism with Prof. Richard Wolff has had more than six million views on Youtube.

For the negative:

David Friedman, An American economist, legal scholar, and anarcho-capitalist theorist, author of six non-fiction books, many articles and three novels. His most popular book is The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism.

PorcFest

"The Pavilion"
Roger's Campground
10 Rogers Campground Rd,
Lancaster, NH 03584
Starts at 12:00PM

Resolution:
The United States should strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

For the affirmative:

Alan Dershowitz is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointed as the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law in 1993. He is the author of several books about politics and the law, including The Case for Israel(2003); and The Case for Peace (2005). His two most recent works are The Case Against Impeaching Trump (2018) and Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo (2019). In January 2020, he joined President Donald Trump's legal team as Trump was being tried on impeachment charges in the Senate. He is a strong supporter of Israel, self-identifing as both "pro-Israel and pro-Palestine," and writing, "I want to see a vibrant, democratic, economically viable, peaceful Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel."

For the negative:

Glenn Greenwald is a constitutional lawyer, investigative journalist, and best-selling author. Acclaimed as one of the 25 most influential political commentators by The Atlantic, one of America’s top 10 opinion writers by Newsweek, and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013 by Foreign Policy, Greenwald’s fiercely adversarial reporting has won the highest awards in journalism around the world, including the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the NSA-Snowden revelations. Leaving The Intercept—which he co-founded—in 2020, he is now an independent journalist and host of SYSTEM UPDATE nightly on Rumble.

Symphony Space

2537 Broadway (at 95th St), New York, NY 10025

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Resolution:
Government-imposed restrictions during the Covid pandemic were prudent and essential.

For the affirmative:

Brent Orrell is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on job training, workforce development, and criminal justice reform. Orrell has over 20 years of experience in the executive and legislative branches of government, and was nominated by President George W. Bush to lead the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he wrote extensively on the impact of the disease on working conditions and the role of social distancing policies and practices in protecting worker and public health.

For the negative:

Tom Woods is the New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, which have been translated into a dozen languages, and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He won the $50,000 first prize in the Templeton Enterprise Awards for his book The Church and the Market, and was the winner of the 2019 Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award, given in Vienna by the Hayek Institute and the Austrian Economics Center.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Resolution:
Capitalism has been a key factor in leaving the United States unprepared to address the Covid-19 pandemic.

Resolution:
The root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the Palestinians’ rejection of Israel’s right to exist.

Resolution:
Government must play a role in fostering scientific and technological progress by funding basic research.

Resolution:
The making of national internet policy was hindered, rather than helped, by the July 4th federal court ruling that restricted the Biden administration's communications with social media platforms.

Resolution:
Artificial intelligence poses a threat to the survival of humanity that must be actively addressed.

Resolution:
Between now and 2035, electric vehicles in the consumer market will likely disappoint environmentalists by remaining a product bought mainly by the well-heeled minority.

Resolution:
Anarcho-capitalism would definitely be a complete disaster for humanity.

Resolution:
Today's school-choice movement in the U.S. is worthy of support by libertarians.