Report: Gargi College

Freedom Caravan: The Morality of Capitalism visited Gargi College on 1 February 2012. The fest was centred on a lecture by Tom G Palmer, General Director of the Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity and Editor of The Morality of Capitalism, copies of which were distributed to the 150 students and faculty members in attendance from the History, Political Science and Economics departments.

The lecture was initiated with a childhood story from the speaker, speaking of his fascination while watching the handheld devices used in Star Trek, using which Captain Kirk and his team communicated with the mother ship, and comparing it to the omnipresence of mobile technology in today’s world. Tom’s talk was engaging, informative, and relatable to the audience. He stressed that capitalism was not merely an economic and legal system, but also a cultural and moral system, which respects people’s rights to their personal possessions, and embraces the notion of innovations that disrupts established ways of doing things; a process called creative destruction. He used the example of typewriters, which have been replaced by the personal computer as an example of personal initiative creating better outcomes for the advancement of society. There were some staggering statistics presented based on research carried out by the Fraser Institute in Canada, which showed extremely strong correlations between free economies and prosperity.

The day concluded with an interactive session, with several  interesting questions, including one on the current European crisis, which the speaker underlined as an example of crony capitalism, with the Greek government knowingly creating a situation where the taxpayers of Europe would have to finance their profligate deficit financings.

To view Tom's presentation on the Morality of Capitalism click here. To view photos of the day click here.