In the minds of many people around the world, including in the United States, the term “capitalism” carries the idea of unfairness, exploitation, undeserved privilege and power, and immoral profit making. What is often difficult to get people to understand is that this misplaced conception of “capitalism” has nothing to do with real free markets …
Socialism is the big lie of the 20th century. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery. In the same way that a Ponzi scheme or chain letter initially succeeds but eventually collapses, socialism …
Uh-oh! The new pope, Francis from the Pampas, has just warned us to beware the “tyranny” of capitalism. Each man worships his own gods. Some worship at the altar of Jesus of Nazareth. Some at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. The capitalists don’t bad-mouth Francis’ god. You’d think he would cut them the same …
The other night, I tuned into The Flaw, a 2011 documentary about the 2008 financial crash. While telling the crash story, the movie flashes in and out of a street tour offered by an ex-mortgage bond trader. The young man has the required effervescence to keep a dozen tourists entertained while they look at nothing …
Why learn economics? To know economics is to understand how the world works. Multitudes of people know nothing about the subject, and that is very sad. Economics relates to everything we do. Without that understanding, much of the operation of society will remain mysterious. Not only do you want to be the smartest person at …
The enormous tragedy for young people today is that so many are sealed off by law from any involvement in the commercial marketplace… until it is too late. This means that they know not the heartbeat of civilization itself. This terrible condition persists until their young adulthood. It is their luxury — for the first …
People talk like capitalism is some strange foreign invader, a mechanical system that was imposed on the world a couple hundred years ago, fueled by burning coal and emitting smoke, and certainly not anything organic to the social order. This is preposterous. The Christmas story that surrounds us in this season, told millions of times …
After the bust of 2008, well-connected corporations and banks lobbied for and received many billions in bailouts from the government. The public was outraged. The term “crony capitalism” came into new prominence as a designation for capitalists who live off the taxpayer. But how far do we want to take this language? In a mixed …
The Financial Times continues its series on “Capitalism in Crisis.” We’re getting a little tired of it. We were hoping at least one of the writers might tell us what the crisis was. Instead, we’ve gotten a variety of opinions; none offering much light on the nature of the crisis and several offering more darkness …
We are living under a form of monetary prohibitionism today, forbidden to use any means of payment other than that maintained by the state. And it is not unlike the alcohol prohibition of old. It redistributes wealth, steers gains to the unscrupulous, strengthens the state and promotes various forms of criminality.