capitalism — VOICES for REASON

There can be no doubt what social system Hugo Chavez upholds. At his most recent inauguration, in 2007, the Venezuelan dictator pledged: “Socialism or death–I swear it!” Then he added: “I swear by Christ—the greatest socialist in history.” More recently, he called on President Obama to “ally with us on the path to socialism, it’s the only road.” Commenting on the G-20 summit, Chavez said: “Capitalism needs to go down. It has to end. And we must take a transitional road to a new model that we call socialism.” And at a recent summit meeting, he gave our President a book claiming that capitalism has impoverished Latin America.

What has been our president’s response to Chavez’s insolent declarations? I haven’t heard anything of substance. Have you? The disgraceful truth is that the leader of the most capitalist society in history is unequipped to contrast capitalism’s virtues to the vices of socialism.

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The website Ednews,org recently posted an interview with Yaron Brook in which he discusses the importance of Ayn Rand and a number of other issues. (Update – April 28 – the Ednews website is presently down for maintenance.) One of these other issues is the question of whether greed is virtue or vice, and I find Dr. Brook’s remarks on the matter particularly insightful.

Here’s an excerpt:

The answer to this question really depends on what you mean by “greed.” If you mean the pursuit of short-term gratification at any cost, then I do think greed defined that way is bad. And indeed what we’re seeing is some–certainly not as many as the media would lead you to believe–some businessmen, some CEOs are pursuing short-term self-gratification at the expense of long-term profit, long-term happiness, and the long-term success of their shareholders, to whom they owe a fiduciary duty. Ayn Rand would be disgusted by this behavior-but she wouldn’t be surprised. She portrayed this kind of CEO in Atlas Shrugged, in characters such as Orren Boyle and James Taggart.

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I was reminded today that this year marks the 60^th anniversary of the publication of Ludwig von Mises’ “Human Action.” 

Why read a 60-year old economics textbook today? Because insights from economists such as von Mises are relevant for evaluating the claim that capitalism is at fault for today’s economic crisis, and for understanding its real cause. Ayn Rand put it best in a letter she wrote in 1960: Read the rest of this entry »

The upcoming Spring issue of The Objective Standard includes an article by ARC’s Yaron Brook and Don Watkins challenging the notion that America had a free market economy before the recent crisis. In  “America’s Unfree Market,” they argue that since World War I the U.S. economy has been increasingly saddled with–and damaged by–the anti-free market elements of taxes and government controls.

As noted in the article, with the latest federal budget surpassing $3 trillion and tens of thousands of regulations already on the books, people’s belief that America has a free market is only possible because of a gross misconception of what a free market actually is. That’s why I think one of the most important passages in the article is the following:

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Bruce Springsteen apologized for agreeing to market a new greatest hits album exclusively through Wal-Mart. Why? Because he’s embarrassed by the giant retailer’s “labor history.” Translation: Wal-Mart’s wages and benefits are high enough to attract capable workers, while being low enough to generate profits for shareholders. Oh, yes—the company also doesn’t welcome labor unions.

Message to the Boss: save your pity for somebody who needs it. The regular people who apply for jobs at Wal-Mart are not helpless victims—they are sovereign individuals who benefit from their employment contracts, just as you benefited from your record deal. Just check out this entertaining and insightful story by a senior writer at Wired magazine who applied for an entry-level job to see for himself if the union-sponsored gripe sites were telling the truth about Wal-Mart’s lowest-paid employees:

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