nick gillespie argued in favor of capitalism. new york university professor argued in favor of socialism. michelle goldberg, "new york times" columnist, moderated the debate. this is one hour and 20 minutes. >> [applause] they can also much for coming out on a friday night. we are here to discuss that capitalism improves the standards of living and provides economic opportunity. the reason i was intrigued when someone asked me if i wanted to do this -- i came of age at a when it seems as if alternatives to capitalism had been completely discredited. remember, how much you have seen if there was really no alternative. it doesn't matter what you think of human mortality, the m imaginefact of life, i that if you are coming of age now, it seems as if communism has failed and capitalism has now failed. we are governed by this comic book villain oligarch, while people are forced to wear diapers, because they aren't given aspirin breaks. -- bathroom breaks. this is at a time when wages are while tens of millions are investing in silicon

i'm mostly going to obsess about point.st my colleague nick gillespie will be hitting on other topics. keep coming back to this idea. question whether or not capitalism let people flourish whether it provides the best life that we can provide for them. couple of points here. and 2010 we have had the most incredible revolution. michelle introduction expressed dispair. the sidefind myself on of optimism. i will give a go here. that in those 20 years, we took the number of people living poverty and cut it by 50%. we did the same thing for the don't haveeople who access to clean drinking water. those 20 years? i know. capitalism. that's what happened. came to india and china. the version of capitalism that india and china is wildly imperfect. it doesn't look anything like diversion of capitalism i would like to see in the world. it looks enough like capitalism this huge boomed in standard of living. when americans talk about capitalism, we cob myopic. we can think about what our now.alism look like that's a different question what capitalism and idea looks like and what capitalism looks l

nick gillespie editor in chief of reason and reason tv. sorry, editor of reason.com and reason tv. katherine mangu-ward is editor in chief of reason. vivek chibber is professor of sociology at new york university. and a person with a very active fan base, and the editor of catalyst journal of, his latest book is post colonial theory and specter of capital. bhaskar sunkara is the founder editor of publisher of jacobin. [applause] we're going to begin by trying to define our terms. the first question, which is going to start with reason, what is capitalism? >> thank you very much, michelle. thank you very much to jacobin for organizing this debate. that kind of sounds like garbage. i will try to get little more nitty-gritty also in my answer. what that means in practice is that property is largely privately owned. it means that profit provides incentive for production, it means employment is at will. the government role in the economy should be limited and forces of supply and demand in a free market are the most efficient means of providing the for the general well being of human ki

nick gillespie editor in chief of reason and reason tv. sorry, editor of reason.com and reason tv. katherine mangu-ward is editor in chief of reason. as a future fellow at new america. [applause] vivek chibber is professor of sociology at new york university. >> [cheers and applause] and a person with a very active fan base, and the editor of catalyst journal of, his latest -- a journey -- a journal of theory and strategy. his latest book is post colonial theory and specter of capital. bhaskar sunkara is the founder editor of publisher of jacobin. >> [applause] >> we're going to begin by trying to define our terms. the first question, which is going to start with reason, what is capitalism? >> thank you very much, michelle. thank you very much to jacobin for organizing this debate. let's get it out the way. we thought this would be a delightful time so we hope you enjoy yourself as much as we do. capitalism is a system that doesn't have any answers. it does not seek to impose answers to the question which -- what should we produce, how should we produce it, who gets the stuff we pr

nick gillespie argued in favor of capitalism. new york university professor argued in favor of socialism. michelle goldberg, "new york times" columnist, moderated the debate. this is one hour and 20 minutes. >> [applause] they can also much for coming out on a friday night. we are here to discuss that capitalism improves the standards of living and provides economic opportunity. the reason i was intrigued when someone asked me if i wanted to do this -- i came of age at a when it seems as i