Via Andy Clarkson and the Charlotte Capitalist I learn that UNCC’s Belk College of Business has received a $1 million donation from the BB&T Charitable Foundation to create a program for the study of the moral foundations of free enterprise. Better still, a new Ayn Rand reading room will be part of the program, underscoring the fact that Rand’s fierce defense of capitalism on moral grounds will be at the center of this exciting effort.
This is vitally important news that could not come at better time for Charlotte.
As Tom Ashcraft just happens to point out today, Charlotte in recent years has turned away from its traditional hands-off approach to private enterprise to a much more bureaucratically planned, publicly-incentivized program. This shift is clear evidence that local officials and, sadly, much of the Uptown business sector, do not understand the moral underpinnings of free market capitalism. Non-coercive, value-for-value trade among moral equals has very little to do with the rent-seeking, handout-grubbing special pleading that has come to be a hallmark of the Charlotte business sector.
And needless to say, kudos to BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive John Allison IV and Dean Claude Lilly for coming together to on this bold move to sustain and strengthen a vital American value.
