Please join us for Cato Club Naples—a series of exclusive events for Cato Partners whose annual contribution totals $1,000 or more.

Americans are frustrated by what things cost, and the blame keeps landing on easy targets. Our luncheon takes on two of them. Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies Travis Fisher and Senior Fellow in Technology Policy Jennifer Huddleston will discuss why data centers are being blamed for rising electricity bills, followed by remarks from Senior Fellow Marian L. Tupy.

How Data Centers Power Technology’s Present and Future

From AI to cloud computing, the technologies shaping our lives depend on the infrastructure that powers them. Yet data centers have become the latest target of public debate, often amid fears about AI and its impact on society.

In a recent blog post, Huddleston challenged the doomsday narrative surrounding AI, highlighting the transformative innovations it has already made possible. Now the debate is shifting to the data centers that support not only AI but also everyday technologies such as cloud computing and emerging breakthroughs including quantum computing.

These debates raise important questions about energy policy too. How can we meet growing electricity demand without burdening existing customers? Fisher has championed consumer-regulated electricity and private electricity networks as market-based solutions that can help data centers secure power while protecting other ratepayers.

Fisher and Huddleston will explore why data centers are essential to technological progress and make the case for energy abundance, innovation, and optimism over fear-driven policymaking.

The Scapegoat Economy: 21st Century Wealth Tax Revival

From “eat the rich” to “tax the rich,” growing frustrations over billionaires has fueled calls to redistribute wealth. But wealth taxes have largely fallen out of favor in Europe for good reason: They can discourage investment, undermine competition, and slow the innovation and economic growth that expand prosperity.

Tupy, author of Superabundance and editor of HumanProgress.org, will examine the renewed push for wealth taxes and the economic costs of treating successful entrepreneurs as scapegoats. Drawing on his recent Wall Street Journal article, Tupy will explore the value created by entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos—and how their innovations give something back that is often overlooked: time.

Tupy will make the case that, rather than redistributing existing wealth, we should focus on how innovation and economic freedom help create the prosperity that benefits us all.