The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights

This panel discussion featuring Yaron Brook and Jerry Jordan was recorded May 20, 2009, as part of the ARC Lecture Series.

Many regard the financial crisis as a failure of the free market and “greedy” businessmen. But is capitalism really to blame for our current economic mess?

In this panel Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, and Jerry Jordan, president of the Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies, will argue that today’s crisis is a failure of the un-free market. Massive government intervention, from Washington’s affordable housing crusade, via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies, laid the groundwork for the crisis. Dr. Brook and Dr. Jordan will go on to evaluate the government’s response to the crisis and suggest alternatives.

Dr. Brook also will explain why the free market has taken the blame for a crisis caused by government intervention. While most people are quick to blame capitalism for any evil because it encourages selfishness and rewards the profit motive, Dr. Brook will argue that these traits are precisely what make capitalism a moral system.

Part 1

Part 2