I am certain that as readers become more familiar with my writing, my interest in economics will become ever apparent. Not too long ago I bought a copy of Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom which I bought alongside Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. Around the same time, I also purchased Thomas DiLorenzo's How Capitalism Saved America. Regrettably, I have yet to read any of the above mentioned books. I have quite a few books I have bought which are waiting to be read and I look forward to getting to them one at a time. I have a feeling that the DiLorenzo book will be of greatest importance in the coming years, considering that capitalism, which has a made our country the great nation it is, will be under an increasing amount of attacks as a result of the fallout from the financial crisis.
Capitalism gets blamed. In my eyes that is simply a narrow-minded view which appeals to the lowest common denominator. Considering my free thinking self not a member of the lowest common denominator, such accusations are an insult to my intelligence. Capitalism did not cause this, greed did. Many will say, "That's my point, capitalism = greed." Unfortunately, there are so many people in our country and abroad who do not understand that capitalism and greed are not one in the same, neither do they always go hand in hand. We all must understand that correlation and causation are not synonymous.
Dr. Robert Murphy, P.H.D in Economics, summed it up best when he said that "capitalism" was a term coined by Karl Marx himself, and used for propaganda purposes against the merits of this very system. It is a shame that when entering discussion about these ideas, supporters of "capitalism" must be forced to agree to the terms set forth by a man so confused as Marx. The term that Dr. Murphy states as being a better descriptor for the system is "propertyism".
Individuals are allowed to own businesses, which is quite different from running a business owned by the government. Individuals are permitted to own private property (not owned by the government). Upon this private property, the business owner can run a business. He or she runs the business the way they see fit, independent of government, sells what he wants to sell without the government telling them what to sell, sells how much he wants to sell without the bureaucrats telling him how much to sell, and sells the products at the price of his choosing, free from government imposed price controls. This is capitalism. Every business, no matter how small or large, falls into this category. Yes, it is very possible that in the process of running a business in a capitalist society, businessmen can make enormous amounts of money, but total earnings are not what makes a business capitalist. The freedom with which a business owner can operate makes it capitalist. Even ma and pa, who own a tiny rinky dink fish bait shop out in the middle of nowhere, are capitalists.
Greed certainly can exist in capitalism, but it can exist anywhere. I don't think it has to do with the freedom in which a business can operate, rather with a separate mentality of he who runs said business. I'm not sure greed can be regulated. I find it quite amusing that the government thinks they are able to do such a thing. They want to regulate the market place to try to rid ourselves of greed. Folks wholeheartedly jump behind such proposals because on the surface it sounds like a good idea. The entire endeavour is given a big title: "This is the Magical Government Regulatory Plan that will Save the Universe!" So, people, without thinking, say, "Oh, I guess it's the magical regulatory plan that will save the universe. It must be good. They said so and I can't think for myself."
Does anybody ever ask themselves if greed in governemt is possible? We focus on trying to rid ourselves of greed in the market place, by giving more and more power to the government, and we loose sight of the fact that as the government gains power (because we let it), government becomes increasingly greedy. Wanting more and more control. Desiring more and more decision making ability. We the people sit on the side of the road with less and less say, less and less power. I thought it was supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, by the people. We are quickly turning into a system with a government of the politicians, for the bureaucrats, in spite of the people. How can we regulate greed by replacing the existing greed with other sources of greed? The body from which the greed comes may change, but greed remains. I ask all to consider this in light of the recently proposed bailouts.
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Great post. Socialism, communism and central planning in general concentrate economic and political power in the hands of the few, to the great detriment of the many. Modern liberals and central planners are unwilling to wrap their minds around this irony, so essential is it to their conceptions of economics and "justice". It never occurs to them that the usurpation of individual economic power by central planning bureaucracies would concentrate human greed in those same bureaucracies; and once those bureaucracies achieve power, they set about aquiring more of it. The self-professed liberal of every age has viewed collective action as imbued with virtues of a higher order than individual liberty and property rights.
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