Image credit: Steve Gladfelter, Stanford Visual Arts

The Hoover Institution Spring 2012 Retreat began on Sunday, April 22, 2012, with before-dinner remarks by John Stossel, a commentator on the Fox Business Network, where he hosts Stossel, a weekly program highlighting current consumer issues from a libertarian viewpoint. Before joining Fox, he coanchored ABC’s prime-time news magazine show 20/20. He discussed his new book No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails—but Individuals Succeed, which depicts Stossel’s ideas of “what we’re imprinted to believe and what reality has taught [him].” Stossel, in talking about how people are unsatisfied with the government today and how the free market system works better for our society, stressed how “central planning appeals to people” and how we are “programmed to follow the central planner.”

Image credit: Janet Chang

A delegation from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China visited the Hoover Archives on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Led by Ambassador Chongli Guo, director general of the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the delegation included researchers Sulin Zhang and Mitao Wang. Consul Zhen Liu and Vice Consul Zhouzhou Bian of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco accompanied the delegation.

Image credit: John LeSchofs, Stanford Visual Arts

New Jersey governor Chris Christie delivered remarks at the Hoover Institution on Friday, March 23, 2012, to tout the “New Jersey Comeback,” as he calls it, and to discuss some of our nation’s most pressing issues, including the economy, national security, education, and health care.  Governor Christie expressed his commitment to setting the standard for governance in America, which includes basic principles such as “being honest, not mincing words, and tackling big and difficult issues.”  Since the Christie administration came into office, New Jersey has added more than 60,000 new private-sector jobs, representing tremendous growth in a state that, two years earlier, had lost 117,000 jobs.  Also since taking office, Governor Christie has been able to reform New Jersey’s pension system, which The New York Post called “something of a miracle.”  Although the governor is proud of his administration’s accomplishments regarding the economy and employment, tax, and pension issues, he emphasized the importance of maintaining this momentum both on a state and on a national level.  Furthermore, he is confident New Jersey will set the example for the nation. 

On Wednesday, March 7, Hoover national security affairs fellow Lieutenant Commander Manuel Hernandez hosted a forum with Stanford University students to discuss US naval strategy. Click here to watch the video. (33:54)