Berkeley Objectivists

Just FYI to everyone: The Objectivist Club of Berkeley is still going strong. We have weekly meetings during the semester. Students and non-students, undergrads and grads, newbies and veterans are all welcome. Contact us to sign up for one of our email lists: one is for weekly meeting reminders and info, and the other is just for events announcements. Club email: [email protected]

Capitalism Without Guilt: The Moral Case for Freedom Who: Dr. Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights When: Monday, November 24th, 7pm Where: 2040 Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Berkeley Campus Free pizza served Description: Virtually everyone today regards the financial crisis as a failure of the free market. In this talk, Dr. Brook will argue that in fact it is the unfree market that has failed. It was not capitalism that held interest rates below the rate of inflation, spurring massive amounts of borrowing and a housing boom. It was not capitalism that gave us Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which promoted subprime lending and helped fuel the boom. It was not capitalism that gave us deposit insurance and the "too big to fail" doctrine, which encouraged risky financial practices. These, and many anti-capitalist measures like them, Dr. Brook will argue, laid the groundwork for the financial crisis. The only cure, he says, is to set the market free. But to do that, Americans must embrace capitalism as a moral system--one that should be defended without guilt. Facebook page. Email: [email protected]

Capitalism Without Guilt: The Moral Case for Freedom Who: Dr. Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights When: Monday, November 24th, 7pm Where: 2040 Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Berkeley Campus Free pizza served Description: Virtually everyone today regards the financial crisis as a failure of the free market. In this talk, Dr. Brook will argue that in fact it is the unfree market that has failed. It was not capitalism that held interest rates below the rate of inflation, spurring massive amounts of borrowing and a housing boom. It was not capitalism that gave us Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which promoted subprime lending and helped fuel the boom. It was not capitalism that gave us deposit insurance and the "too big to fail" doctrine, which encouraged risky financial practices. These, and many anti-capitalist measures like them, Dr. Brook will argue, laid the groundwork for the financial crisis. The only cure, he says, is to set the market free. But to do that, Americans must embrace capitalism as a moral system--one that should be defended without guilt. Email: [email protected]

The Objectivist Club of Berkeley is pleased to announce the following speaker events for Fall 2008: A Critique of Global Warming Science and Policy Who: Dr. Willie Moon, Astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Dr. Keith Lockitch, Research Fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute When: Thursday, September 25th, 7:00pm [start time may change +/- 30min] Where: 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley Campus Synopsis: It is now widely believed that man-made greenhouse gases are causing an unnatural warming of the earth that will have devastating consequences for human life. Environmentalists and politicians are pressing for severe restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent global warming. But what does the scientific evidence actually support regarding the causes of climate variability and the role of anthropogenic greenhouse gases? Are the predictions of catastrophic changes supported by scientific fact? Are government economic intervention and restrictions on emissions an appropriate policy response? Drs. Soon and Lockitch will address these critical issues and take your questions in a lively panel discussion. The Looming Crisis over Free Speech Who: Dr. Eric Daniels, Visiting Scholar at the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism When: Monday, October 6th, 7:00pm [start time may change +/- 30min] Where: 101 Morgan Hall, UC Berkeley Campus Free Pizza Served [RSVP requested] Synopsis: In this lecture, Dr. Daniels examines the state of free speech in America and finds that it is under serious threat. From campus speech codes to anti-discrimination and harassment law, from campaign finance to commercial speech, Americans today enjoy less and less freedom in communicating their ideas. Today's colleges and universities have become a hotbed of censorship, producing generations of Americans who have accepted suppression of speech as the norm. Daniels argues that the emerging crisis is a result of the lack of a proper understanding of individual rights, especially property rights. Only by understanding the proper basis of rights can we act to secure our freedom of speech and to protect the rights that give rise to it. For more info, email us at [email protected] or check us out on MySpace or Facebook.

The Objectivist Club of Berkeley (at UC Berkeley) is active (since 2005), though sometimes we fly under the radar. Two speaker events in Spring 2008, and two coming up this fall (Sept. 25th and Oct 6th, see the Events page under Activism). We also meet weekly. Contact us at [email protected] for more info, or find our pages on MySpace and Facebook. Oh yeah, and the guy who used to run the SFSU club - he's now a student at Berkeley . I know a couple of the folks in GGO also (and I believe they have a yahoogroup for keeping in touch). So, keep asking around. We're here. Just busy. Katie Brakora co-founder, Objectivist Club of Berkeley