What: A talk and Q & A explaining the real nature of capitalism and why it is the ideal social system.

Where: 101 Thomas Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

When: September 11, 2006, at 7:30 PM.

The public and media are invited. Admission is FREE.

Summary: Capitalism is the system of individual rights. The enormous success of capitalism in Asia in the 20th century's second half, and the beginning of its positive impact in contemporary Latin America add to the evidence accumulated in Europe and North America over the past 200 years: capitalism is the system of both freedom and prosperity.
 
Conversely, capitalism's antipode--statism in any form--denies the principle of individual rights, and necessitates both political oppression and economic destitution.
 
The purpose of this talk is to show why these claims are true. This talk shows that wherever the political/economic system of capitalism is instituted--on any continent in any era—men’s freedom and prosperity are greatly increased. This was true of 18th-century Europe and it is true in 21st-century Asia. From its earliest days, capitalism raised the poor's living standards and, within a century, eradicated in the Western world the ages-old scourge of child labor. At the turn of the 21st century, the enormous benefits of capitalism are beginning to be reaped in the Third World, especially in Asia. As Ayn Rand stated, capitalism is the ideal social system--and this talk, based on three years of research for Dr. Bernstein's recently published book, The Capitalist Manifesto, proves it.

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Dr. Andrew Bernstein is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Marist College; he also teaches at SUNY Purchase (which selected him Outstanding Teacher for 2004) and formerly at Pace University, and Marymount College (which selected him Outstanding Teacher for 1995). Dr. Bernstein lectures regularly at American universities and appears frequently on the radio talk shows. His op-ed essays have been published in such newspapers as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Constitution, The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Daily News, The Houston Chronicle and others. Dr. Bernstein is the author of three Ayn Rand titles for CliffsNotes: Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Anthem, and Penguin's Teacher's Guide to The Fountainhead, and of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire.

Andrew Bernstein is available for interviews now and after his talk.
Contact: Larry Benson          
E-mail: media@aynrand.org          
Phone: (949) 222-6550 ext. 213

For more information on this talk, please e-mail events@aynrand.org

For more information on this event and on Objectivism's unique point of view, go to ARI's Web site at www.aynrand.org. Founded in 1985 the Ayn Rand Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.