Capitalism: Bill Gates unclear on the concept?

According to an article by Pete Winn on CNSNews.com, Bill Gates may not completely understand capitalism, the process by which he’s earned his [m|b]illions.

While not dismissing capitalism outright, he seemed to claim that it wasn’t helping the poorest people in the world fast enough.

David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute said “What I think he’s missing there is that capitalism hasn’t failed the poorest people in the world - it simply hasn’t been tried in the poorest countries in the world.”

What does help people is property rights, the rule of law, and a market economy.

In many countries of the world, capitalism hasn’t been tried. Socialism, fascism, communism, and dictatorships of various kinds, have all been tried to the detriment of citizens. A recent example, that of Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe, shows that taking property and work incentives from people only makes a country and its economy worse. On the other hand, the economy of the United States from the late 1700’s took off like a rocket because of private ownership, rule of law, personal freedoms, etc.

Apparently, capitalism works, but seems to be a hard concept to grasp for many people, even those who have benefited greatly.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

I just finished reading Thomas Woods’ book “The Politically Incorrect Guide to History“, part of the PIG series of books. You may also want to read a review of “PIG Science” by a friend of mine. Both are available in our local library, and may be available in yours, too.

This book by Dr. Woods is interesting reading, highlighting events and facts about American History that you probably didn’t read in school or in the usual books on American History. Much of this amounts to what you’ve heard and read in the media isn’t really the whole story! Now, that may be a surprise to you, in which case you might want to read this book even more.

The book discusses events from the colonial origins of the U.S., through the Clinton presidential years. What you thought was true might need some revision.

I’d encourage you to visit the link above, which has extracts from the book, then read the whole book for yourself, and make your own conclusions.

There are at least 2 criticisms that can be made of a book like this. One, it “cherry picks” some of the more sensational events, rather than presenting a systematic look at American History (the book is too short for that). Two, a lot of the book is the visual equivalent of the sound byte. Some information is given, but you’d have to check the references to get a better picture.

On the other hand, it does have lots of interesting quotes to think about, and many references are given if you want to follow-up any given topic.

Maybe this will change your view of some events in American History, but even if it doesn’t, it does present some information that should be included in a fuller picture of the usual history we think we know.

“[It is] working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the states, and the government of all be consolidated into one.” - Thomas Jefferson, on the federal judiciary

Why intellectuals hate capitalism

“Why intellectuals hate capitalism” is an interesting short article on the World Magazine website.

That article summarizes a longer article “Why capitalism is good for the soul” by Peter Saunders.

Is the argument an interesting economic one? Is it a policial one?

It seems that a good part of the hostility some have for capitalism is a moral issue, one of Pride. Some intellectuals think that they can run things, and us, so well that something other than capitalism is needed. But we’ve seen over the decades that communism, socialism, etc., all fail, and not just because they haven’t been implemented properly.

Those systems are fundamentally flawed. And the thinkers promoting them may be morally flawed as well.

But the best explanation for the intellectuals’ distaste for capitalism was offered by Friedrich Hayek in The Fatal Conceit. Hayek understood that capitalism offends intellectual pride, while socialism flatters it. Humans like to believe they can design better systems than those that tradition or evolution have bequeathed. We distrust evolved systems, like markets, which seem to work without intelligent direction according to laws and dynamics that no one fully understands. (from the Saunders article)

Something to think about and discuss with the next person you hear bashing capitalism.