New York, Sept 14, 2009: A discussion on financial crisis

The objectivist club at the New York University, is hosting a discussion on "The Cause of Financial Crisis - Government Meddling". This is very critical issue. Ever since the financial crisis broke last year, questions being raised as to whether the crisis is a consequence of lax regulation of the financial sector in the US, or is it because of distortions in the financial sector created by the government regulations. The event flier identifies the issues:

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 John Allison, chairman of BB&T Bank, 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. The panelists will evaluate the government’s response to the crisis and suggest alternatives.
They 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 and Mr. Allison will argue that these traits are precisely what make capitalism a moral system.

Please view the complete invitation flier here.

On Aug 1, 2009, the New York Times carried a long and interesting article, "Give BB&T liberty, but not a bailout", the reporter quotes Mr Allison as saying, “put balls and chains on good people, and bad things happen.”

Mr. Allison, who remains BB&T’s chairman after retiring as chief executive in December, has emerged as perhaps the most vocal proponent of Ms. Rand’s ideas and of the dangers of government meddling in the markets. For a dedicated Randian like him, the government’s headlong rush to try to rescue and fix the economy is a horrifying realization of his worst fears.
Indeed, so many bad things are happening that many followers of Ms. Rand, known as objectivists, believe that the ugly scenario in her 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged” — in which the government takes over industry as the economy progressively collapses — is playing out in real life.