Columnist Susan Snyder: Capitalizing on free enterprise

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 9:36 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Break out your Nikes.

A group of residents plans to trek along the Strip Sunday in the first international Walk for Capitalism. And the more the merrier, said Lauren Canario, the event's local organizer.

"I think it will be a friendly place to put a capitalist march," the Las Vegas website developer said. "We're going to have a 10-foot banner, and we'll be stopping at different businesses we like to show our appreciation."

Stops will include New York-New York and McDonalds, which Canario says "get a bad rap for being successful." They also will recognize The Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson with the annual Capitalist Award.

As of Wednesday, Adelson's office hadn't confirmed whether anyone would be there Sunday to accept the two-tone blue ribbon adorned with a dollar sign, Canario said.

"We'll present it to the building and take a picture," she said.

Details can be found at walkforcapitalism.org. According to the site, walks are planned in 32 countries and 37 U.S. cities.

The site says December's first Sunday is formally known as as "International Freedom & Prosperity Day -- for the Celebration of the Principles and Possibilities of Capitalism."

Kinda hard to cram on T-shirt. Friends simply call it "Capitalism Day."

The group's official position statement is "The Bernstein Declaration," by Andrew Bernstein, an adjunct philosophy professor at New York's Pace University. In part, it says:

"In North Korea, they starve to death by the tens of thousands. In Cuba, they drown trying to swim to freedom in the United States. Millions of oppressed people around the globe yearn to emigrate to the Free World. But who in the capitalist nations seeks to emigrate to Cambodia?"

This probably is the best country to be a $6-an-hour french-fry technician.

Ken Gregg, a Las Vegas mediator and paralegal, joined the march effort about two weeks ago.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," he said. "It's a celebration of our economy and civil liberty. We can rise as far as our abilities can take us."

The movement likely gained some momentum after the Sept. 11 attacks, which are considered attacks on America's consumer-oriented society. Many marchers undoubtedly see the event as an act of patriotism. Canario calls capitalism the ultimate freedom.

"All transactions are voluntary," she said.

She says she is not oblivious to capitalism's down side -- all that environmental and human exploitation business.

"I'm sure there are a few events that are regrettable," she said. But that's no reason for people to feel "guilty about being wealthy, successful and ambitious."

Marchers are to gather at 10 a.m. at Howard Hughes Parkway and East Flamingo Road. They'll head west on Flamingo to the Strip.

The route meanders past Las Vegas' billon-dollar monuments to money, including the Aladdin (which is to be up for sale) and Bally's, where the AFL-CIO is holiding its convention.

Carnario says she's undaunted about parading past a gathering of the nation's largest labor union.

"If we get a few people to yell at us, that's even better," she said.

You heard the lady.