Bernard Weber

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**Bernard Franklin Weber** (born April 29, 1971) is an American venture capitalist, market specialist, and author who is prominent in academically Libertarian and Conservative circles. Weber is the director of the Weber Institute for Research And Development, a think tank founded in 2006 to study economic and political trends, as well as try to influence the political process. Weber has spoken at the Libertarian National Conventions of 2012 and 2014, as well as CPAC 2015.

## Childhood and Education

Born in Chicago, Illinois, 1971, Bernard Weber was raised by his parents to become a successful banker. They themselves successful bankers, they wanted Bernard to follow in their footsteps. By age 16, he knew the ins and outs of loans, banking regulations, and basically all essential things people would otherwise learn in college. Early on though, in secret, he decided that he would not want to be a banker, though something in the white collar workforce. Being force-fed it his entire life turned the idea off to him, but turned to finance and eventually politics as a hobby.

As a young child, Bernard got everything he wanted. He was a brat. But on his 15th birthday, his father told him that if he ever wanted any "luxuries", he would need to buy them himself. The purpose of this, his father revealed much later on in life, was to teach him the value of every single penny, and how hard it is to go on in life by having a bad job. With a materialistic upbringing, this motivated him to get a good job and do well in school. He was nominated valedictorian in his senior year of high school and had little time for play. Weber worked as an intern at Boeing during his high school career, eventually being hired part time at age 18 for his work.

Bernard Weber graduated from Stanford University with two majors: A Masters in Economics, and a Masters in Finance. Weber also earned 3 additional minors in Political Science, Accounting, and Public Relations. During his time in college, Weber wrote many articles in Stanford's newsletter regarding social issues as well as political ones.

## Rise in Prominence

At age 28, he was promoted to Stock Plan Administration Manager of Boeing for his knowledge and earlier experience in the field of public and employer-employee relations. He worked at Boeing until 2005 when he decided that his life had been flooded with overwork, and saved enough money to achieve another dream: Investing in start-up and small businesses. He had accumulated over $100k of extra wealth (including loans he took from his parents) and began to invest in businesses that he believed were to succeed. Weber made a bold investment by putting $35k into a new online website called "YouTube". Soon, the website sprung up fast and easily paid back his investment plus more, a total of $60k ($25k profit).

With similar investments, focusing on online sites and manufacturing groups, as well as investing in the stock market, the $100k Weber started out with became close to $1.9m in a matter of 3 years. During these times, he also began to write books on economics, politics, and even social sciences. With a total of 6 books on these subjects to this day, his most popular is by far *"The Inhibitor"* which lays out the wrongs of government intervention in the economy and social scene, by giving historical examples of the wrongs that have come of it. With over 500k copies sold, it's what gave Weber and soon his organization prominence among libertarian and conservative circles.

## Founding the Institute

In 2006, Weber founded the Weber Institute for Research and Development (WIRD), a nonprofit think tank with the objective to study historical and current economic trends to determine the best policies for a stable market, though explicitly promoting free market principles and limited government. With over 100 employees, the think tank has received respect from many prominent Libertarians, including Paul Ron. It is also by extension a "business charity" by giving on average $90k donations to dozens of businesses each year.