The-Morality-of-Capitalism-PDF

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well-being reflects a potentially cataclysmic state of affairs—a dangerexacerbated by successive political administrations repeatedlypromising all sorts of benefits to their constituencies.To deal with the challenges that face us, we have to clear awaycertain misconceptions.Job creation is not a role of the state. For jobs to be sustainable,they have to be created by the private sector. Governmentgeneratedjobs are at the taxpayers’ expense and amount tosubsidized employment. Being unsustainable, they have no positiveeconomic consequence. The private sector is the main creatorof wealth, and the state sector a consumer.Money is merely a medium of exchange for goods and servicesand should therefore relate to and reflect productivity. When Ivisited post-communist Russia and Czechoslovakia in 1991, thejoke doing the rounds was that the workers pretended to workand the government pretended to pay them. Thus, in my opinion,when we talk about meaningful job creation we should focussolely on the private sector.This begs the question as to which policies should apply toprivate enterprises. Which ones will enhance their productivityand which retard it? What should be done?Let’s examine the principles that underlie the simplest of exchangesbetween two parties. Simple transactions can serve as anexample and a microcosm of the bigger economy. They shouldinform policymakers as to which policies are most compatiblewith human nature, because the human factor is pivotal in theeconomic context. Start far back in time with a hypothetical cavemanwho is skilled at hunting but inexpert at making a weaponfor hunting. Our caveman meets a skilled weapon maker andagrees to exchange part of his quarry for a weapon. Both mencome away from the transaction feeling they have profited bygetting in return something of greater value to them than whatthey gave away. Sooner or later, the weapon maker finds that ifhe specializes in weapon making, instead of going hunting, hecan barter the weapons for fur, meat, ivory and so on. He is inbusiness. He prospers and all his customers prosper because theyare now using more efficient hunting weapons.What is important to note about this scenario is that there97
is no force or fraud involved. No third-party involvement. Noparty that prescribes the rules of conducting business. The rulesthat the transacting parties uphold come about spontaneously.They comply as though with a natural order. This is what thelate economist Friedrich Hayek referred to as the spontaneousorder, and part of this order is that private property is reciprocallyrespected.From this simple example, one can extrapolate that in themodern day economy, in a country where the government refrainsfrom interfering in the economic arena, there will be higheconomic growth and concomitant socio-economic benefits. Inother words, if a government promotes the economic freedom ofproducers and consumers and allows them to engage in transactionsthat do not entail force or fraud, the country, and its people,will prosper. This is a sure way to reduce unemployment, improveeducation, and create better health care.These fundamental principles apply to all economies, regardlessof the cultural context within which each has taken shape. Thepersistent “work ethic” myth warrants critical attention. Thisview implicitly reinforces national or ethnic group stereotypesin terms of having or lacking a work ethic, the logical extensionof which is that the poor are poor because they lack a work ethicand the rich are more successful because they do have one—a verydangerous view to uphold, especially when it coincides with race.Before the Berlin Wall came crashing down in 1989, WestGermany was the second biggest economy in the world while EastGermany was an economic disaster zone. These were the samepeople, same culture, and the same families in some cases beforethey were divided after World War II. A similar judgment canbe made with regard to the two Koreas: the South an economicgiant and the North an economic abyss that continues to absorbforeign aid. Again, same people, same culture. And what of thecontrast between Mainland China and Hong Kong, before 1992when Deng Xiaoping ushered in radical free market reforms afterannouncing that it was glorious to be rich and that it didn’t matterif the cat was black or white so long as it caught mice? Yetagain, same people, same culture, and the same telltale economic98
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The Morality of CapitalismWhat Your
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ContentsIntroduction: The Morality
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Introduction: The Morality of Capit
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China, Morocco, the United States,
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in a friendly sense.” 9 The word
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Marx saw the “bourgeoisie” as i
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usinesses rising and falling more r
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and one an economist, and an interv
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Section IThe Virtues ofEntrepreneur
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is why I was mentioning the sophomo
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our society are motivated by purpos
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promote microfinance in poor countr
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ownership of wealth, was highly str
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in the world for a couple of hundre
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without a strong business sector th
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lightning rod and Watt’s steam en
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Competition and CooperationBy David
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advocates of “back to nature”
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that the associations within civil
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For-Profit Medicine and the Compass
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Profit and CompassionThat’s too s
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The Paradox of MoralityBy Mao Yushi
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after assessing the situation, sett
Page 52 and 53: efrigerators and color TVs, are onl
Page 54 and 55: epair trade are crowded out by the
Page 56 and 57: person, followed the principle of e
Page 58 and 59: if in return for A taking the bigge
Page 60 and 61: The Moral Logic of Equality and Ine
Page 62 and 63: equality in exchange is economicall
Page 64 and 65: eliminate or to establish inequalit
Page 66 and 67: earned by the poorest 10% of the po
Page 68 and 69: Adam Smith and the Myth of GreedBy
Page 70 and 71: them to lobby the state to create c
Page 72 and 73: strangers, but when we haggle for t
Page 74 and 75: Ayn Rand and Capitalism: The Moral
Page 76 and 77: the welfare state, which redistribu
Page 78 and 79: Welfarism: The Unchosen ObligationT
Page 80 and 81: Egalitarianism: “Fair” Distribu
Page 82 and 83: A worker is hired because of the an
Page 84 and 85: To live by reason we must accept in
Page 86 and 87: Economic outcomes in the market—t
Page 88: is a social asset is incompatible w
Page 92 and 93: The Market Economy and the Distribu
Page 94 and 95: no unfavorable, economic results. O
Page 96 and 97: owner, actual or potential, reflect
Page 98 and 99: losses prompted by the chance of, o
Page 100 and 101: We are not saying, of course, that
Page 104: discrepancies. The difference was c
Page 108 and 109: Global Capitalism and JusticeBy Jun
Page 110 and 111: preferences, and infrastructure. It
Page 112 and 113: Human Betterment through Globalizat
Page 114 and 115: any particular sophistication. Afte
Page 116 and 117: These young people are returning be
Page 118 and 119: etterment through exchange and the
Page 120 and 121: of diverse cultures. In this manner
Page 122 and 123: primitive magical-religious communi
Page 124 and 125: to censure, repression, and margina
Page 126 and 127: That is why the best defense of our
Page 128 and 129: A Little Further Reading for Fun an
Page 130 and 131: Dr. Tom G. Palmer is executive vice
Page 132 and 133: 14 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
Page 134 and 135: Index of Proper Names(Chinese names
Page 139 and 140: The Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Fou
Page 141 and 142: Students For LibertyA Free Academy,
Page 143 and 144: Additional Resources for LibertyThe
Page 145: “We need to change the narrative
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