Posted on 09/14/2015 6:45:31 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Is capitalism moral or greedy? If it's based on greed and selfishness, what's the best alternative economic system? Perhaps socialism? And if capitalism is moral, what makes it so? Walter Williams, a renowned economist at George Mason University, answers these questions and more.
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It’s all in Adam Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”.
Capitalism is moral because it exemplifies freedom. It is the people en masse defining the market, not the government. You still need regulation to protect from market manipulation and fraud.
There are two fundamental components of the economy: production and distribution. In capitalism, the private sector controls both. In communism, the government controls both. In socialism, the government controls distribution.
I say both socialism and communism are indeed evil - a higher bar to jump than “immoral”. As such, since I’m catholic (though not actually practicing) I’ll argue this from that point of view - my disclosure.
As a quick aside, if you like the idea of “separation of church and state”, realize that capitalism is the separation of the economy and state.
Socialist governments have inordinate power because of their control in the economy. Those who desire power can easily talk people using the government to “help the poor”, especially if you are the poor one.
But it doesn’t take a government to hand someone a sandwich. Charity has always existed for this purpose, which is the focus of my argument. There were even quite a few charitable hospitals around the US before the depression.
Helping the poor has always been a part of catholicism. If you want to sum up catholicism (or Christianity) in a single line (in my opinion) turn to 2 Corinthians 13:14, the conclusion of a letter from Paul:
“The grace of the lord jesus Christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with all of you.”
These three things in Catholicism are all god - the holy trinity. If you don’t like that, you can consolidate things further by simply stating that god is love.
So what does this have to do with the evil of socialism? Well, the only person in the bible that had routine, conversational level, experience with god was Moses. Everyone else is left with their non-somatic senses, i.e., you can’t see, hear, smell, touch, or taste god, but you can experience god with “feeling” from the inside. An emotional or spiritual reaction.
Now, I don’t care how many checks you’ve written to charity. Have you ever actually helped a stranger by “donating” your own time and assistance? If you have, even if you weren’t thinking “charity”, you may find you have an unusual experience.
When you give assistance to someone who truly needs it, and visibly reacts to that with appreciation, it can actually bring tears to your eyes. The emotion you have at this moment is not one of sadness, but one of love. Thanks to your act, you are now experiencing the love of God. This is why you are being slightly overwhelmed. Unlike Moses, you cannot gaze upon the face of God. You can only feel the presence.
By doing these things you are being brought closer to god and your own salvation. There is NO such reaction, to writing a check, or, even more detached, having the government use your employer to withhold income from you.
Satan is known as “the great deceiver”. Satan wants to keep you from salvation.
With socialism and communism, we have adherents proselytizing that you are helping the poor under “their” system. They are attempting to convince you that this is charity.
This is a deception. Charity is not just writing the check, it is the act that allows you to experience god. By having the government “perform” charity in your name, you may be deceived into thinking that by supporting this government process, you are somehow charitable and hence a good person (one who will obtain salvation). This may detract from your desire to perform acts of direct (actual) charity.
This is what I call, the evil of socialism and communism. With purposeful deception, you are denied the love of god and salvation through your own acts, because you think it’s already being done for you, like maid service.
How moral is that?
Agree. It also rests on the ideals of personal freedom and responsibility. It is interesting how many label capitalism as competitive and socialism as cooperative. In fact capitalism rests on the ability to cooperate, to voluntarily trade one service or good for another; while socialism relies on forced cooperation.
Indeed, I would like to ask professionals or any wage earner if they think it is greedy to expect more pay for more effort and time in their jobs?
Capitalism is the worst system.
(except for all the others)
Capitalism is a term Marx coined because the words “free market” makes sense to people on an instinctual level. I will stick to calling it the free market as I refuse to let socialists of any stripe control the language. That being said we are very far from a Free Market economy in the US.
That’s why I call it “individual, free enterprise capitalism” to distinguish it from state-controlled capitalism. The Soviet Union was a fully capitalist country, but it was the government/the group/oligarchy/elites that controlled the capital and not the individual.
“By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread.” Genisis 3:19
“Then people go out to their work, to labor unto evening.” Psalms 104:23
Labor is our duty, which idleness shirks. The rewards of labor are profits, which, being the fruits of righteousness, are the owner’s to dispose of at his will. Christ commissioned us to be compassionate and generous; He Himself was penniless. But He did not demand it of us. He simply spoke of the joys of selfless giving.
Thus, I am inclined to believe that a voluntary capitalism is far more moral than coerced collectivism. The latter is no more than theft.
“What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.” - Arthur Jensen (Network)
An interesting — and spiritually sound — line of reasoning.
Monarchy can be good or bad.
Communism is always bad.
Socialism is just the first step on the way to Communism.
“The goal of socialism is communism.”
~Vladimir Lenin
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