LFMI

This summer, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) joined Lithuania’s biggest discussion festival. Over the course of two days, LLRI hosted ten debates featuring more than forty speakers from various fields, including business, politics, academia, education, and culture. The lively exchanges showed that the ideas of freedom continue to unite communities and inspire action.

European policymakers and large exporters are increasingly uneasy about the euro’s rise — particularly against the U.S. dollar. But this concern is misplaced. Like arguments for tariffs, it mistakes accounting effects for economic damage. A stronger euro does not weaken Europe; it strengthens it.

The European Union finds itself in a paradoxical situation. The population is ageing, the economy is stagnating, and at the same time, vast sums of citizens\' savings are lying idle in bank deposits. According to the European Commission, 31% of Europeans\' savings are unused in bank accounts. In contrast, Americans put their money to work much more efficiently, keeping three times less cash under the mattress.

Imagine a world without money. No more wars, because resources belong to all of humanity. The government ensures equal and just distribution of goods. Competition, egoism, banks, and capitalist greed vanish. People work not for pay, but to serve one another. No more stress, debt, or struggle to make ends meet.

Children, parents, and teachers alike are increasingly questioning the school system. Ongoing reforms are gradually changing its face, yet often only superficially. The pupils suffer the most. Too much attention is paid to \"what?\" and too little to \"why?\". The lack of meaning compounds their fear of not knowing.

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates would walk the streets of Athens, persistently asking people what concepts like virtue, justice, goodness, and happiness meant. The dialogue would continue until the respondent realized they did not truly know. But what if Socrates were to ask you what responsibility is – would you know how to answer?

Artificial intelligence and robots will soon create prosperity that will make human work superfluous, not to mention that there will not even be a place to work as we will become redundant. Echoing his earlier predictions, Elon Musk added that people will be able to stop working if everyone is paid a \"universal high income\". Not a \"universal basic income\", he argued, but a \"universal high income\".

Price inflation is not inevitable. One of the most common explanations for price growth is identifying it with capitalism. The argument is that inflation is unavoidable as the economy grows. It is thought that for businesses to have an incentive to invest and wages to grow, the prices of goods and services should rise in the first place.

In its third consecutive meeting, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) cut all three key interest rates as expected by a quarter of a percentage point. They are now in a range of 3.00%-3.40%. Although before the announcement of the decision, there were some speculations that monetary policymakers might resort to a more rapid easing, the gradual tapering path ultimately prevailed.

The new coalition in Lithuania has made it clear that the aim is to ensure adequate funding for defense and national security. It has promised to reform the second pillar of pension funds as a priority. In addition, it has proposed a tax reform, with a specific component: progressive taxation for higher earners, irrespective of their income.