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Why Is Capitalism So Unpopular?
Ludwig von Mises Institute ^ | September 7, 2009 | Art Carden

Posted on 09/07/2009 9:31:43 AM PDT by lbryce

Henry Hazlitt once said that good ideas have to be relearned every generation. Among the intellectuals of our time, capitalism is wildly unpopular. This in spite of the fact that it is the only social system that has permitted prosperity and flourishing.

Why they continue to oppose the free market in the face of such evidence is a matter of debate.

Some have argued that intellectuals dislike capitalism because they feel it doesn't offer them just rewards for their labors. Indeed, academic books do not sell particularly well, and it is easy for the dedicated scholar to feel a degree of envy when he sees "lesser" minds like John Grisham or J.K. Rowling bringing in boatloads of money for writing relatively straightforward fiction. (And that is to say nothing of professional athletes or, those most foul of professional villains, corporate CEOs.)

(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: business; capitalism; freeenterprise; government
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To: lbryce
Henry Hazlitt once said that good ideas have to be relearned every generation

I don't believe it's every generation. More like every three. Depression era grandparents have largely passed way, and taken much wisdom with them. Their parents rebelled against them--stupidly. Then they had kids, who now have kids. Those kids will be similar to depression era grandparents before it's all said and done. And so on.

As for the rest, the reason intellectuals hate capitalism is simple. It's rebellion against Nature. Capitalism is natural. Any deviation from capitalism is imposed on man in some form of tyranny, well-meaning or otherwise.

To me, the hippie/left culture is a rebellion against death, against Nature. They simply cannot accept life on its own terms--hence, they wage war against inequality, against war, against climate change. Look at the natural world. It is filled with violence, war, death, and cataclism. It's just the way it is. They think they can perfect life. They are wrong.

Also, they do it to get chicks. They can't do sports, they aren't good looking, or fun to be around, so they go for nerdy chicks by being intellectual radicals. It all boils down to the basics in the end.

21 posted on 09/07/2009 10:01:26 AM PDT by Huck ("He that lives on hope will die fasting"- Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac)
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To: nmh
The bottom line is ... there are just some things man doesn't know, nor CAN he.

The epitome of pride is to say you know God's creation as God knoes His creation.

22 posted on 09/07/2009 10:03:29 AM PDT by knarf
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To: Huck

Actually, if you look at voting history, the boomers voted GOP at a higher rate than the Depression/GI Generation. I can’t believe how many folks I meet who fall for LIBERAL Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” propaganda.


23 posted on 09/07/2009 10:03:41 AM PDT by Clemenza (Remember our Korean War Veterans)
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To: 4rcane

Your guess of Americans is wildly optimistic. There are probably 200 million ordinary Chinese who love capitalism and probably just as many citizens of the rest of Asia and Africa. Why? Because many of these folks are peasants and working-class who have seen their lives improved throught their own hard work. In the past, my most productive employees were studious kids from Nigeria, India, Ethiopia and Korea. Not only did they work overtime, but several started their own businesses with family members.

Many Europeans and Americans are constantly looking for an entitlement or susidy while professing to be capitalists. So that’s why I don’t believe your 150 million number. As others stated above, I’m surprised it’s popular anywhere, given the constant propaganda.


24 posted on 09/07/2009 10:03:49 AM PDT by 12Gauge687 (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice)
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To: Clemenza

Has our country gotten better or worse since the boomers?


25 posted on 09/07/2009 10:12:23 AM PDT by Huck ("He that lives on hope will die fasting"- Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac)
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To: Clemenza

I’m thinking about the GOPers that the boomers must have voted for....Nixon, Reagan, Bush1, Bush2. Hmm, I guess one out of four ain’t bad?


26 posted on 09/07/2009 10:13:45 AM PDT by Huck ("He that lives on hope will die fasting"- Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac)
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To: lbryce

Why is Capitalism so unpopular?

The easy answer that is always ignored and looked down upon and which is the single reason people grow to hate capitalism... STOPPING SENSE! (lack thereof)

The single thing as far as I know which is not taught in any university business curriculum. How much is enough? At what point does an individual come to know they have “Won the game” and its time to either quit or just not take any more and do what they enjoy doing for the simple pleasure of doing it?

Put 100 people in a sealed room.. there is a table which seats 10. The only rule is that you MUST have a seat at the table in order to eat. Ten people in the group will fight their way to the table, and the rest will come crawling to the table starving and be kicked away. That mentality is the downfall of Capitalism. It is the stuff revolutions are made of. It is the reason that ultimately the “Barbarians” will storm the gates of the walled communities.

Could it be the reason for the proverb about the rich man, the camel and the needle??

Does not matter what side of the political aisle they are on they never seem to know when to stop. Seems the more money and power people have.. the less they THINK they have. Seems to me the liberal elite are worse offenders than us conservatives.

My motto has always been... “There is only one reason to work and that is to make enough money so you don’t have to”

Capitalism is without doubt the best system there is...but us capitalists continue to ignore the lessons of history and shoot ourselves in the foot every time.

I am betting Zero or his ilk would never have even gotten near the White House... if only for a little “Stopping Sense”


27 posted on 09/07/2009 10:14:23 AM PDT by flash2368 (Scary Times)
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To: Huck
Has our country gotten better or worse since the boomers?

Speaking as a late boomer, I say worse. I hate what the leftist boomers have done to this country over the past 50 years.

28 posted on 09/07/2009 10:14:26 AM PDT by paulycy (Screw the RACErs.)
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To: lbryce

Our Senators and Representatives give government contracts to their family members companies or friends or what ever betters them.

It is on going exchange of favors in our legislative bodies. In obscured ways and means, of course.

God help us in our day, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.


29 posted on 09/07/2009 10:15:01 AM PDT by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: Huck
Depends. We do have lower income taxes and less financial controls. The problems we have, IMHO, are due more to a festering (and breeding) underclass (made worse by illegal immigration), as well as the fact that much of the "middle class" (especially in places like New Jersey) is dependent on the state bureaucracy for sustenance (whether as government employees or in positions dependent on transfer payments, like nursing and teaching).

Cultural rot? Well, when my grandparents were growing up in Jersey City, you had open prostitution and widespread illegal gambling. Political corruption was just as bad as it is today.

Another big difference is the fall of the WASP elite, which had more of an emotional/cultural stake in the nation then that which replaced them. Of course, such folks didn't much care for my ancestors (the restrictions on immigration passed in the 1920s EXPLICITLY targeted eastern and southern Europeans), but at least they didn't seek to actively undermine national identity and security.

30 posted on 09/07/2009 10:18:34 AM PDT by Clemenza (Remember our Korean War Veterans)
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To: lbryce
Why not cut to the chase and call it what it really is: status envy. Intellectuals aren't worshiped for the place in society they think they deserve - that which they are told they deserve by those that surround them - so, they put down what the market extols and rewards whether it's deserved or not.

Yes, getting lots of letters behind one's name takes a lot of work - so does being a classical musician (trust me as classical vocalist on this one) - and the rewards aren't much, but, right now in history, that's not what the market will fund with ease. That doesn't make robinhoodism right and it doesn't make interference in other families affairs right either. The class on right and wrong seems to be the one part of school they skipped.

31 posted on 09/07/2009 10:19:35 AM PDT by Desdemona (True Christianity requires open hearts and open minds - not blind hatred.)
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To: lbryce

Yes, a very interesting article. Capitalism is not a problem with intellectuals in the true sciences but is particularly galling to those ‘intellectuals’ who like to deal with people in the aggregate: social ‘scientists’, politicians and political ‘scientists’, etc. These are the people who cause most of the problems in the world.


32 posted on 09/07/2009 10:28:26 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: lbryce

“Why Is Capitalism So Unpopular?”

For the same reason so many people disbelieve in Satan.


33 posted on 09/07/2009 10:51:10 AM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: PGR88
I prefer the words “freedom of the person and his property.”

YES! Capitalism isn't really isn't an ism. It is just freedom and what happens in the absence of man-made isms. Isms are theoretical systems created by the mind of man. "This is the way I, in my infinite wisdom, think things should be." Free markets are what happens without the isms. It is just freedom. It is letting reality rule. Instead of trying to bend reality to our whims.

34 posted on 09/07/2009 10:55:37 AM PDT by all the best
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To: lbryce

Why Is Capitalism So Unpopular?
It isn’t. Capitalism is a very popular word made up by Karl Marx to demonize “Free Enterprise”.
The reason you hear so much demonizing of “Capitalism” is that those who work don’t have the time to spout anti-Marxist rhetoric. The socialists don’t work, they exist on handouts.


35 posted on 09/07/2009 11:13:57 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Obama's New New Deal = The Raw Deal)
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To: Huck

“I’m thinking about the GOPers that the boomers must have voted for....Nixon, Reagan, Bush1, Bush2. Hmm, I guess one out of four ain’t bad?”

Nixon or Hubert Humphrey

Reagan or Carter II

Bush1 or Dukakis

Bush2 or Gore

Which one?


36 posted on 09/07/2009 11:22:19 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin
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To: 4rcane
6 billion people on earth and I’m guestimating that theres only 200 million that support capitalism, 150 million in the US

Obviously there are a lot more than that who make their living from capitalism, but don't understand the process at all; for them, the wealth around them might as well have been created by pixies and goblins. This is the base of socialist parties like the Democrats, British Labour, etc.

37 posted on 09/07/2009 11:34:09 AM PDT by denydenydeny ("I'm sure this goes against everything you've been taught, but right and wrong do exist"-Dr House)
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To: lbryce

Many people have a pre-scientific world view where they interpret natural phenomena in terms of the actions of good and evil entities or powers.When this world view is applied to the realm of economics,they interpret economic results as being caused by the will of an arbitrary power- above all evil “big business”.And they believe that their protection depends on the good will of a bigger tougher, stronger arbitrary power- namely the government- which will act on their behalf. For people of this mentalilty,the solution to any apparent economic problem is for the government which is more powerful than the businessman, to use its power on behalf of the people.


38 posted on 09/07/2009 11:40:12 AM PDT by mjp (pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, independence, limited government, capitalism})
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To: lbryce

Because capitalism was come to mean multinational corporations that have no loyalty to America.

Forty years ago, for example, a bank did not cross state lines and thus a bank was a good civic citizen of the local community. The loyalty and motivation of a local bank was not in doubt.


39 posted on 09/07/2009 11:54:49 AM PDT by donna (No more twitterpated RINO talk!)
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To: Ferris
There are no final wars.

Only the dead have seen the end of war. Also, economic action and even political disagreement over it, is not war.

Give up the entire idea that anything ever finally resolves for ever. It is of a piece with the mistake noted in the article.

40 posted on 09/07/2009 12:01:43 PM PDT by JasonC
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