Does Capitalism Work? A True/False Quiz In Times Square
I'm walking through Times Square, the crossroads of the world. Just when I reach the line for cheap Broadway tickets, I see it: a giant billboard with the word "capitalism" in bright white lights and the words "works for me!" in cursive below. There's a podium and two buttons where you can vote whether the statement is "true" or "false."
Peggy Demitrack, a tourist from Cleveland, is adamant when she pushes the "true" button. She says capitalism works for anyone who strives and educates themselves.
When asked whether she has money for retirement, she adds: "Something! Yes. And you know what? Even if I didn't, if that all collapsed, I'd be down the street working for McDonalds. I would not be sitting home wanting to take something from somebody else."
Steve Lambert, the artist who came up with this idea for "Capitalism Works for Me! (True/False)," has often done pieces about advertising and the media. He was once involved in a satirical hoax in which a fake "special edition" of The New York Times announced the end of the Iraq War in 2008, with more than a million copies printed.
His new economics-themed art installation has been traveling around the country, and it's now in Times Square for a few days.
Lambert says talking about capitalism is almost impossible without sounding tedious. As he said at the Creative Time Summit last year in New York:
"If someone came up to me and said, 'Can I talk to you about capitalism?' I'd feel like they were walking up to me and saying, 'Could I talk to you about Jesus Christ?' Um ... are you going to ask me to join some organization?"