Capitalism

The Way Forward

Acton Institute | Rev. Robert A. Sirico | Nov. 5, 2008

What more proof do people need in light of the historical record that bureaucratic interventionism – I may as well say it out loud – socialism – is not the cure for what ails us but bad medicine, a poison that more and more is the principal thing that does ail us. And this medicine is precisely what has been prescribed, merely in various disguises, by almost all political leaders. Even people who have professed a free market orientation seem to have fallen prey to Bastiat’s aphorism that everybody has the illusion they can live at everyone else’s expense, without remembering that sooner or later the pocket in front of you will be empty as well. When the economic preoccupation is redistribution of wealth, rather than on removing the barriers to its production, we are in a precarious and increasingly vulnerable position. [Read more…]

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Free markets did not cause this crisis

Acton Institute | Oskari Juurikkala | Oct. 29, 2008

Many assert that the ongoing financial crisis was caused by rampant capitalism and free-market economics. I disagree – not because I’m a hard-nosed conservative or a reckless libertarian, but because it’s the conclusion one reaches by a reasoned analysis of the facts.

There are at least three distinct but related reasons for the crisis: the culture of greed and consumerism, irresponsible monetary policy, and misregulated financial derivatives. Are they rooted in free-market principles? Let’s see. [Read more…]

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Obama’s Adam Smith Problem

American Thinker | Ed Kaitz | Nov. 1, 2008

Barack Obama has advanced the astonishing thesis that by “spreading the wealth around” he’ll somehow create a more benevolent society. But we’ve seen above that since benevolence can never be extorted by force the only thing Obama will succeed in doing is spreading suspicion, resentment, and poverty – the condition of any society whose lawmakers “push too far.” A vote for John McCain on Tuesday can help keep America in the good hands of the humble yet brilliant Scottish economist who, in his race to develop a solution to the problem of scarcity, never lost sight of man’s most important virtue: freedom. [Read more…]

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The Holy Capitalists

New York Times DAVID BROOKS

What explains success? What forces drive some nations and individuals to move forward and grow rich while others stagnate? These happen to be the most important questions in the social sciences today.

In the scholarly arena, you see an array of academic gladiators wielding big books and offering theories.

Over here are the material determinists. Jared Diamond, with his million-selling “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” says the West grew rich not because of any innate superiority, but because Europeans happened to have the right kinds of plants. Felipe Fernández-Armesto, with his tome, “Civilizations,” argues that success is determined by climate and geography.

Over there are the cultural determinists. Thomas Sowell argues that ethnic groups develop their own skills and values and thrive or suffer as they compete, conquer and migrate. In his great opus, “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations,” David Landes shows how cultural mores shaped European empires and the Industrial Revolution.
[Read more…]

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