The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

70 THE FREEMANterms, according to their ownability, for and with their ownmoney. They deal directly withone another, not through the government- thereby saving the expenseof useless bureaucracy.(Properly, government should enterthe picture only upon request,i.e., in the event of a legal disputeor a criminal offense, to determinethe legality of a given situation interms of the natural rights of theindividuals involved. Needless tosay, no government, includingours, has yet confined itself to thisrole. This doesn't mean it isn'tpossible or desirable.)Capitalism also contains its ownbuilt-in checks and balances. Peopleare required to exercise soundjudgment, or suffer the consequencesof their own folly. Itdoesn't carry any guarantees. Onerisks failure along with the prospectof success. And if we are honest,we know that there are no realguarantees possible in life - notin theory, or in reality. Life is aprocess of change and risk, growthand setback, and ultimately whatone can realistically hope for is toachieve a just measure of successcommensurate with one's ownability. This is what capitalism is,and does. It puts the responsibilitywhere it belongs - on the individual- which is, after all, the meaningof independence. One is not independentif he is not responsiblefor his own needs. Nor can onebecome independently responsibleif the government intervenes tomake it impossible.Economic Disaster FollowsMonetary ManipulationThe greatest economic disasterin America's history came afterthe Federal Reserve Act had relievedpeople of the responsibilityand the means of making an accuratejudgment. The subsequentfrantic efforts of government to"create" a sound economic balancethrough legislative force havebrought us to our present state ofchronic insecurity and collectivedependency.Yet government is rarely blamedfor our economic difficulties. Afterall, hasn't it been.trying to curethem for over 40 years? Capitalismis blamed.The accusation that capitalismexploits the worker has been repeatedso often that it is generallyaccepted as true with no furtherthought. Let it be stated here forthe record that capitalism is thesystem for the working man. Itdoes not reward the idle - only theman who is willing to work for hiswages. Consider the present situationin our "mixed" economy. Arewe to believe that the working manis not exploited when a portion ofthe money he earns is forcibly extractedfrom his wages to support