Money & Power: A Debate with Hedrick Smith and Yaron Brook; presented by Ford Hall Forum, 10/10/13

BOSTON - Sept. 26, 2013 - PRLog -- Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents Money & Power: A Debate with Hedrick Smith and Yaron Brook; discussion moderated by Rachael Cobb. Thursday, October 10, 6:30-8:00 pm. Admission is free and open to all. Modern Theatre (part of Suffolk University), 525 Washington St., Boston, MA, 02111. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Downtown Crossing stop on the MBTA Orange and Silver Lines. For more information, call Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visit www.fordhallforum.org.

Associate Professor Rachael Cobb (Chair, SU CAS Government Dept.) moderates a critical debate between former New York Times journalist Hedrick Smith and Ayn Rand Institute President Yaron Brook on money and power.

Smith argues that a pro-business power shift in Washington and a change in the American business ethos away from stakeholder capitalism to shareholder capitalism has created a harmful economic divide in America.

Brook counters that today’s mess is a product, not of capitalism, but of empowering the government to restrict free enterprise and dole out favors to preferred groups. Smith offers ideas for reviving middle class power and prosperity, while Brook tells us how laissez-faire capitalism offers individuals on all levels of ability the greatest promise of prosperity in this incredible debate on wealth and power in the 21st century.

Further background information on the participants:

Hedrick Smith is a former New York Times reporter with a 26-year tenure, and notably a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that produced the Pentagon Papers series. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting from Russia and Eastern Europe. Smith has created 26 prime-time specials and mini-series for PBS, winning awards that include multiple Emmies, the Columbia-Dupont Gold Baton, and two national public service awards. Smith did graduate work as a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, received seven honorary doctoral degrees, and served in the Air Force. His most recently published book is, Who Stole the American Dream?

Yaron Brook is the Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute and co-author of Free Market Revolution. He is a prominent advocate for Objectivism, the philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand. Originally from Israel, he  served as a first sergeant in Israeli military intelligence and earned a BS from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. With an MBA and Ph.D. in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, Brook became an award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University and later cofounded (and currently chairs) financial advisory firm BH Equity Research. He is a columnist at Forbes.com, contributing editor of The Objective Standard, and a weekly guest on “Front Page” hosted by PJTV.

Rachael Cobb is an associate professor of government at Suffolk University. After earning a Ph.D. in Political Science at MIT, Cobb led the University Pollworkers Project, a program designed to recruit students to serve as poll workers in elections. In addition, she co-developed a new poll worker training curriculum that was tested at 15 polling locations in Boston. Cobb served as co-principal investigator on the Boston Area Colleges Exit Poll in collaboration with D. James Greiner (Harvard Law School) and Kevin Quinn (Harvard Government Department). Her current research focuses on the dynamic relationship between interest groups, political parties and the electorate and the consequences of such behavior on political activity.

About Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University:

Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest free public lecture series. The Forum provides an open venue for sharing opinions and discussing controversial points of view. It advances the First Amendment through freedom of expression, encouraging attendees to engage directly with speakers. Ford Hall Forum discussions illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking orators from a broad range of perspectives. These experts participate for free, and in settings that promote a culture of involvement in a non-partisan environment.

The Forum began in 1908 as a series of Sunday evening public meetings held at the Ford Hall, which once stood on Beacon Hill in Boston. While the original building no longer exists, the public conversations have continued throughout the Boston area with the generous support from state agencies, foundations, corporations, academic institutions, and individuals. In its 104th year of programming, the Forum continues to build upon its partnership with Suffolk University. Suffolk is now housing the Forum's administrative offices just a block away from where the original Ford Hall once stood.

Ford Hall Forum programs are made possible through the generous contributions from individual members as well as corporations and foundations, including Compass Eight, The Fred & Marty Corneel Fund, Helen Rees Literary Agency, Iron Mountain, LCMG Certified Public Accountants, The Lowell Institute, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, North Hill, Penny Pimentel, The Pfizer Foundation, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation, Prince Lobel & Tye, Suffolk University, and WBUR 90.9 FM.

For more information on Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, visit www.fordhallforum.org. Information about Suffolk University’s partnership with the Ford Hall Forum can be obtained by contacting Mariellen Norris, (617) 573-8450, mnorris@suffolk.edu.