Yet, as adults, if a stranger approached us and asked to share our car, we would probably walk briskly in another direction.

This contradiction is one of many real-life examples that reflect the misperceptions and, ultimately, guilt held by many Americans in a capitalist society. It also explains why the nation in the last century has moved closer and closer to socialism, despite the public’s denial about it.

The issue has become even more prominent – and misunderstood – because of the financial crisis since 2008 and the discussion of Obamacare.

The Ayn Rand Institute’s Yaron Brook spoke to 60 people March 25 at Arizona State University.

Fighting that trend is the Ayn Rand Institute of Marina del Rey, Calif., whose president and executive director, Yaron Brook, spoke to about 60 people Thursday night at Arizona State University. The event was staged by the ASU Objectivist Club, a group inspired by the writings of Ms. Rand – author of “Atlas Shrugged” — from the 1930s to 1970s.

The early conditioning of children leads to confused adults, who grow up thinking sharing is the ideal, and want to live in a world of altruism and sacrifice. But that collides head-on with capitalism, which economists note is about the individual, his freedoms, his self-interest and putting himself first.

The problem is, that’s not how adult Americans act. When you buy a new TV, or new shoes or a new dress, are you doing it to help the economy, to give work to someone, to make someone else happier? Of course not. You do it to make yourself feel better, he said.

When you go to work, who are you doing it for? For the owners of the company or for yourself – for pay, for your passion, for your desires?

Did Steve Jobs invent the iPhone to make the world a better place? No, it is a neat product that Apple’s backers thought could make money. The iPhone probably has a 50% profit margin; should Jobs sell it for less because that’s not “fair” to the buyers?

The more successful the product, the greater return for company shareholders and higher salaries for employees. Is that a bad thing?

This is the free market, Brook said. Every individual pursuing his own self-interest. And that’s OK.

But then you hear about someone who is less fortunate, and the guilt kicks in. Capitalism is about the self, but modern morality says that selfishness is evil.

So when it comes time to vote, often Americans are encouraged to do “what’s right,” he said.

“Given a choice between voting for (measures that lead to) a great economy or voting for what’s ‘right,’ people will vote for what’s ‘right,’” he said. “That’s why we’ve moved left. Socialism is consistent with this.”

Politicians – who grew up with the same messages – play to this guilt. Government should take care of those less fortunate – giving them shelter, food, health care, and other services. What uncaring person would be opposed to that?

So the government requires more money to help more people with more things. The government doesn’t make a profit, so its motives are virtuous. These are “public servants,” after all, Brook said.

So here’s the battle: free capitalism where individuals pursue their self-interest vs. a collective socialism in which a central government collects and redistributes what its current leaders deem “fair.”

Put that way, it’s understandable why so few people stand up for capitalism.

Yet, this is where there’s a huge disconnect, Brook said.

“If you look back over the last two and a half years, isn’t it fair to say that capitalism failed?” he asked. “But that’s assuming what we had was capitalism.”

Capitalism is freedom, free markets, acting in your own self-interest, and protecting private property rights, he said.

He argues that the sources of the crisis – the housing bubble, the mortgage industry, and the banking collapse – were because of the lack of free markets.

In housing, the government tells you where you can build, limits land uses and preserves arbitrary “green zones.”

“They control it, not the market,” he said.

Anyone who rents or owns a home outright is subsidizing Americans who have mortgages, because mortgage-holders get a tax deduction, he said.

“So there’s an incentive to borrow,” he said. “Then the government set up Freddie Mac and Fannie May to make mortgages cheaper and insure them.”

The mortgage industry is not a free market; it’s heavily regulated and controlled by the feds, he said.

Now let’s talk about banking, he continued.

“Everyone thinks banking is a free market with no controls,” he said. “Yet to open a bank you need government approvals for your management, your board, your investors and your business plan.

“And you are regulated by four different agencies,” he said. “Government controls about 80% of all banking.”

When the industry failed, who was blamed? “The evil bankers,” Brook said. “Not the government auditors, bureaucrats or regulators.”

The real blame for this crisis belongs to the biggest regulator of all, the Federal Reserve Bank, he said.

“If the Fed does something, who’s affected?” he asked. “Everybody!”

The Fed sets short-term interest rates. That determination sets the value of every asset.

“It’s 12 bureaucrats sitting around a table,” he said. “They can never get the price controls (for money) right.”

“If they make the price too low, everyone wants to buy and you get massive shortages,” he continued. “If it’s too high, no one wants to buy and you have surpluses.”

Last decade the Fed set the short-term loan rate at 1%. The inflation rate was 3%. Everyone borrowed because of the “cheap” money. For homes, cars and on credit cards.

When the price went up – through adjusting rates – people couldn’t pay their debts.

“This crisis is a crisis of leverage,” Brook said.

When there are problems, everyone wants to cite a failure of “free markets.”

You see that with the health care debate, he said.

“Everyone said, ‘We tried to keep government out of medicine and it didn’t work. So we now need government to come in and save us from the free market,’” Brook said. “‘The only solution is government intervention.’”

He noted, however, that more than 50% of all dollars spent on health care in the United States is spent by the government. “It seems like there is a lot of government involvement,” he said.

The federal government is also heavily involved in the health-insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the regulation of doctors.

Brook said that he is disappointed that, in the entire discussion of health-care “reform,” the Republicans’ proposals were simply a version of “Democrats Lite.” There was no real analysis of introducing free markets to the issue of health-care delivery.

Capitalism is freedom, and freedom is free markets.

“Look at Beijing, or Hong Kong, or Eastern Europe,” he said. “You give people a little freedom and see how many more people climb out of poverty.”

Yet the United States is moving in the other direction. More government, more taxation, more central control, more restrictions on individual freedoms.

He believes there should a free-market solution to issues like “climate change.”

“The state should have no role,” he said. “Neighbors can get together to address issues.”

If there is a dispute, between peoples or nations, you fall back on private property rights and the legal system, he said.

Brook saved some of his most pointed comments to undercut opponents of “global warming.”

“What if, in the middle of the 19^th century, the people of London were having trouble breathing because of the smoke from burning coal,” he said. “They decided to end the use of coal out of concern for ‘future generations.’

“So out of concern for us, we wouldn’t have had the Industrial Revolution,” he continued. “I say, let the future generations address how to deal with disasters to fit their society .”

But the climate-change proponents push the “guilt” buttons and Americans drive hybrids to make themselves feel better, just like they penalize bankers, he said.

Brook believes the nation has two decades to return to its smaller-government, individual-freedom roots.

“The country will be bankrupt in 20 years,” he said. “Our unfunded liabilities for just Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are $103 trillion. How are we going to pay it back?”

He sees the country on a raft heading toward a waterfall and “we’re sitting there with our oars and rowing!”

“Sometimes we row fast, like this week with health care,” he said. “Sometimes we row slower, like under Reagan. But the waterfall is getting closer.”

What the raft really needs is a motor to go in the other direction.

“We need a moral revolution,” he said, noting that the phrase should not have religious overtones. “Americans at their core still have that ethic, we’re still about the inalienable right to pursue our own happiness. Not the state’s right to pursue social justice.

“Individuals want the freedom to be left alone.”

“(The banking industry) made a lot of mistakes,” U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis told the Feb. 25 Phoenix Economics Club luncheon crowd at the Arizona Biltmore. “The industry failed you.”

Banks gave out loans they shouldn’t have and lost sight of their customers, he said. Those December bonuses were a bad idea. And now they’re facing the music.

That big-bank tax the feds are proposing? The industry should accept it.

Consumer protection reform? Yes, but let’s use the agencies in place, not create a new one.

Start making loans? It’s a bit more complicated than that.

Davis, 51, said banks want to lead the country out of recession but can’t do it imprudently. Plenty of small businesses are asking for loans, but many aren’t qualified. Furthermore, many banks have their own capital issues to deal with.

He sees a way for the government to help.

“Let’s say six $100,000 loans were given out to small businesses,” he said. “If the bank set aside 3% and the government provided a 3% match, that would provide a $36,000 reserve as backup to the bank, should the loan fail. Six companies move the economy forward. That would help.”

He noted that most studies show that for every $1 in loans, the economy is boosted by $7 through resulting commerce. That is why banks, though unpopular because of the problems of 2007-2009, are actually the catalyst for an economic recovery.

He urged citizens to become as involved as they are in the health-care debate.

“(Banking reform) really affects your life,” he said. “You should be as engaged as you are with health care.”

2010 will be a slog, Davis said, and there is a risk of a double-dip recession. “I think we’re on a plateau that will go up next year.”

He acknowledged, however, that businesses aren’t hiring and investment is not taking place because of the uncertainty – in Washington, with taxes and health care and the myriad of other issues. That uncertainty leads to paralysis. “We need clarity,” he said.

This is the worse economy he has ever seen but it also provides lessons to the next generation, he said.

U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis meets with students following his talk at the Feb. 25 Phoenix Economics Club luncheon at the Biltmore

“In February 2012 how will we look back on this period? We will be looking back on our behaviors and our actions during the recession. What leadership are we providing?”

Speaking a week after the Massachusetts special election of Scott Brown to the Senate — and presumably the end of the ObamaCare proposal in Congress — Dr. Cortese said a new approach with an emphasis on information-sharing and identifying waste needs to be used.

In his assessment, healthcare can be divided into three areas: knowledge and research (the study of care and cures); care delivery (oriented around the patient); and the payer domain (insurance). He said there’s a fourth dimension — legal — but he wouldn’t delve into that now.

In the care delivery segment, one problem is that it is too difficult for information about a patient to be shared by various care-givers, resulting in a lot of duplication and loss of time. He said more attention needs to be shown to the science of delivery, with integrated care and added value the objective.

As for paying, the system has to pay for value. Right now Hawaii is the most effective at delivering Medicare at $6,000 per patient per year. Florida is the worst, at $16,000 per patient per year. When Congress cuts Medicare compensation to hospitals by 21%, the best deliverers suffer a greater hit.

Rather a government-operated system, Dr. Cortese believes a program guaranteeing insurance for all should be modeled on the federal employee healthcare setup, which gives federal workers a choice of multiple plans.