Tom Collins

April 16, 2021

Wanting to be Rich is Ok!

Tom Collins

April 16, 2021

Register now for Jason Brennan’s free Zoom lecture, Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich. The April 20th,2021 event is hosted by the Political Economy Research Institute of Middle Tennessee State University.

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. Collins is also the resident author for Stories from Applewood. The Applewood Manor is the longest continuously operating bed and breakfast style hotel in Asheville, The untra short stories are about Asheville including its ghost, mysteries and tall tales. Check out the latest Tom Collins Novel, Beyond Visual Range, available in print, digital and audio.
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Tom Collins

January 30, 2021

Wanting to be Rich is Ok!

Tom Collins

January 30, 2021

Mark your calendar for April 20th,2021. That is when the Political Economy Research Institute of Middle Tennessee State University will host the Zoom lecture, Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich!
It is not to early to register.

About the Event: "Finger-wagging moralizers say the love of money is the root of all evil. They assume that making a lot of money requires exploiting others, and that the best way to wash off the resulting stain is to give a lot of it away. In Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich, Jason Brennan shows that the moralizers have it backwards. He argues that, in general, the more money you make, the more you already do for others, and that even an average wage earner is productively “giving back” to society just by doing her job. In addition, wealth liberates us to have the best chance of leading a life that’s authentically our own."

About the Speaker: Jason Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He specializes in politics, philosophy, and economics. He currently has 7 books under contract with Oxford University Press and Routledge Press, at least 2 of which will be published in 2022. He is the author of 13 books, including Why It's OK to Want to Be Rich (Routledge Press 2020), Good Work if You Can Get It (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020); Injustice for All: America's Dysfunctional Criminal Justice System and How to Fix It, with Christopher Surprenant (Routledge, 2019); Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education, with Phil Magness (Oxford University Press, 2019).

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Tom Collins

November 13, 2020

Heartbroken

Tom Collins

November 13, 2020

Heartbroken, that was the word Teresa Kellogg, current owner of the City Café, used as she made the announcement:

“The City Café, another victim of COVID-19 and a staple of the Murfreesboro Tennessee college town, is closing its doors after 120 years in operation.”

My wife and I both attended Middle Tennessee State College, now a University, in the late fifties and early sixties. The City Café was the favorite off campus place to eat. It is where my wife and I met. Located on the town square, it was more than just a restaurant. It was the meeting place for town folks as well as for MTSU students. As for its menu, it was a typical meat and three restaurant dishing up comfort food and lots of “free” fresh baked bread.

In my day, college students dominated the dining room in the early evening—from five to about seven at night. For the townies, it was their breakfast and lunch choice. And it is where the regulars—local businessmen and retirees—hung out for coffee, small talk and “chewing the fat.”. Another MTSU student, Henry Matthew Ward (Matt), wrote a wonderful book reminiscing about the Café’s regulars and the stories they told. Matt was a couple of years behind me. After graduation he became an instructor at the college and later, he got into the real estate business. For many years he has been one of the City Café regulars. His book, True Stories (and other Lies) Told at City Café, is now sure to become a keepsake for all those who will sorely miss the Murfreesboro city square icon.

The restaurant has set up a Go Fund Me page to help its employees while they look for another job. To donate go to https://gf.me/u/y8ais

PS: After originally posting, Matt Ward let me know that his book, True Stories (and other Lies) Told at City Café is available for purchase at http://parkbenchpub.com/html/about_the_book-true-stories.htm for $12.50 plus $3.00 postage. Matt (Henry Matthew Ward) is a self-published author. For other books authored or published by Matt go to his publisher website, http://parkbenchpub.com/.

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Tom Collins

September 11, 2020

Invitation From Tom and Martha Collins

Tom Collins

September 11, 2020

Martha and I would like you to join us for a Zoom event on September 16, 2020.

In cooperation with Middle Tennessee State University’s Political Economy Research Institute Martha and I are sponsoring a series of lectures on free enterprise. We would like you to Join us for the first lecture in the series. It is a virtual discussion with author and historian Dr. Burt Folsom Jr. (visiting professor of Economic History at Kennesaw State University). Dr. Folsom will focus on his book, Uncle Sam Can't Count: A History of Failed Government Investments, from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy, coauthored with his wife, Anita Folsom.

The event will be held Wednesday, September. 16, 2020 from 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. (Central Time). It is a private community event that requires registration to join the Zoom lecture and Q&A session. To register go to https://mtsu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Wrc2JqmlRNibewzwPv15bw.

More about the Political Economy Research Institute and the planned Lectures:

“The Institute’s mission is to engage undergraduate and graduate students with faculty in research that will further the understanding of business and economic principles, as well as their impact on regional, national, and international financial conditions and the wellbeing of society. To advance its mission, the Institute will engage in research and educational programs which uncover the institutions and policies that encourage and enhance human wellbeing.”

Cutting through the legalese, the Political Economy Research Institute’s programs promote an understanding of capitalism and its benefits. Sometime after my wife and I finished our formal education, educators apparently stopped teaching the benefits of our free market system. Nor did our generation share often enough what our own life experiences had taught us— that while we prospered under capitalism and our free market system, nations with top down government run systems decayed. Those systems invariably led to oppression and a decline in the wealth and wellbeing of their citizens. Maybe we thought the principles we believed in were self-evident; apparently, they were not. So, we have some ground to make up, and that is why Martha and I decided to give our support to Middle Tennessee State University by creating the M. Thomas Collins and Martha R. Collins Lectures in Free Enterprise.

Hope to see you there on September 16th.

Click to Register

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