Liberty MavenCapitalism is not the evil as Michael Moore would describe it
September 24th, 2009 12:12 pm | by Mike Miller | Published in Bailouts, Big Government, Communism, Free Market, Liberty, Market Regulation, Politics, Socialism, Walter E. Williams, fascism, nationalization | 5 Responses
Each of Walter E. Williams’ weekly syndicated columns are fantastic, but the most recent one (entitled Lying Propaganda) is particularly worth your time. He refers to Michael Moore’s upcoming movie (”Capitalism: A Love Story”) and decides it’s a good idea to put out a bit of “defensive mental preparation“, as it puts it, in order nip in the bud the simple lie that we have a system of [pure] capitalism in this country and that such a system is the source of the world’s troubles.
There has never been a pure free market capitalistic system just as there has never been a pure communist or socialist system, where there is government ownership of the means of production and each individual has equal access to society’s resources. However, we can rank economies as to whether they are closer to capitalism or closer to communism or socialism. If one ranked countries according to whether they were closer to the capitalistic end of the spectrum or the socialistic or communistic end, then ranked countries according to per capita GDP and finally rank countries according to Freedom House’s “Map of Freedom in the World,” he would find a pattern that is by no means a coincidence. The people in those countries closer to the capitalist end of the economic spectrum have far greater income and enjoy greater human rights protections than those toward the socialist and communist end.
According to the London Telegraph article, Moore’s film features priests who say capitalism is anti-Christian by failing to protect the poor. This is pure nonsense and revealed as such by asking, “If you’re an unborn spirit, condemned by God to a life of poverty but allowed to choose the country in which to be poor, would you choose a country near the communist end of the economic spectrum or the capitalist end?” If you chose the United States, you’d find that according to the government surveys, the typical “poor” American has cable or satellite TV, two color TVs, and a DVD player or VCR. He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrigerator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer, and whether he has health insurance or not, he is able to obtain medical care when needed. Try to find that in Cuba, Russia, China or North Korea. If we buy into the nonsense of Moore’s priests, the world’s poor people are incredibly stupid. Whether fleeing legally or illegally, their destination country is likely to be closer to capitalism than their departure country.
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September 24th, 2009 at 4:40 pm (#)
I'm not much into inane commentary, but re: capitalism, there is no historical evidence to support your thesis. I suppose "capitalism" could remain static and still work, but there's no historical precedent to this either. For such a thing to exist, honest human beings would have to be involved through the entirety of the activity, and eventually, lack of materials, or interest would kill it. Continued growth is impossible. Finally in my view, only in theory does capitalism work, and clearly there may be some market forces that are dependable, but because of precedent, for the most part, there are no forces that work ALL the time, and certainly when you need them. The welfare of the people would have to be the prime reason for the capatalistic effort, not the current motivations.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:42 pm (#)
further, when famous economists are guessing, or admitting they don't know about the workings of capitalism, or what passes for capitalism, it's hard to believe ANYBODY has a real understanding of this economic construct EXCEPT in theory.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:51 pm (#)
as far as the monetary system goes, until fractional banking is beheaded, there will be no stable monetary system. Saddam Hussein found this out the hard way by charging the US in Euros for the some 80% of the crude that the US purchased in the "Oil For Food" program. The US was up the proverbial stump because it couldn't print Euros. Only Dollars which, it seems are becoming unpopular in the world as petrodollars, and reserve currency. Until either people trade in a medium that EVERYONE EXCEPTS AS FACT and is forever enshrined at a specified value with no exceptions, or bases their currency on this "enshrined medium" without exception, then as we are seeing even now, runaway inflation, countries trying to dump their dollars whilst looking for more secure currencies to hold their "house of cards" economies together. It seems until the dollar tanks, and people hopefully pursue at least a stronger economic basis such as above, then it seems a cyclical global economic catastrophe and the ensuing wars which inevitably follow, will be all we and our progeny have to look forward to.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:55 pm (#)
My Dear Mike,
I say ole Bean!! I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with your scholarly, knowledgeable, view!
September 24th, 2009 at 7:18 pm (#)
tedbohne, I disagree with your earlier comments, but I definitely agree with you that the central bank (Federal Reserve) and fractional-reserve banking must be abolished. I also agree that permanent growth is unattainable. Of course none of this has anything to do with capitalism.