Capitalism

America’s Road to Serfdom

Terry Paulson
Terry Paulson

6/21/2010 – Terry Paulson –

Thanks to the attention from Glenn Beck, a recent top seller on Amazon.com is Austria’s Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. The book was written in 1944 to fight the drift from individual freedom and free-market competition to a growing dependence on economies controlled by central planning authorities. To Hayek, Stalin’s Soviet Russia was no better than the Nazi “National Socialists.” In all its forms, the increasing spread of socialism has and would always be a threat to individual freedom and economic progress.

Hayek’s book remains a wakeup call to apathetic citizens who take for granted that the improvements achieved through democracy, individual freedom and capitalism have been “acquired once and for all.” Hayek knew what history confirms; freedom must be earned and reearned in every generation. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Liberal Assault on the Poor

Jacob Hornberger
Jacob Hornberger

5/7/2010 – Jacob Hornberger –
Liberals say that they love the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. Unfortunately, however, the economic philosophy that liberals favor constitutes a direct assault on the economic well-being of the poor, along with nearly everyone else in society.

Liberals claim to combat poverty in two principal ways.

First, they use the force of government (e.g., income taxes) to take money from those who have earned it in order to give it to the poor.

Second, they restrict people’s use of their property to enable the poor to have access to such property.[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Should We Abandon Capitalism?

NewsReal Blog | by F. Swemson | 3/4/2010

As a system, absolutely not, as for the term itself though, perhaps we should.

In an article in the Telegraph on Thursday 3.04.10, the Chairman of Marks & Spencer, the leading department store in London, made some interesting remarks about capitalism. He spoke mostly about the perception of capitalism and the free market system, in the eyes of people around the world, and the fact that the term itself has begun to become so negative, that they forget the fact that capitalism is the only system which has ever worked, and that every time it was tried, communism led to misery, oppression, and the murder of millions. He even suggested that we find another name for it. Why not ? The progressives found another name for communism, didn’t they? [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Obama Rewards Losers, Punishes Winners

Townhalll | by Larry Kudlow | Jan. 16, 2010

President Obama’s misbegotten bank tax is precisely the wrong policy at precisely the wrong time. It will wind up backfiring across the board. Why? Because bank consumers and borrowers are the ones who will wind up paying this tax, creating an obstacle to economic recovery.

Obama is actually rewarding losers and punishing winners — exactly the reverse of free-market capitalism. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Mayflower’s Pilgrim Capitalists

RealClearMarkets | by Steven Malanga | Nov. 25, 2009

Reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower, an account of the voyage of the Pilgrims and the settling of Plymouth Colony, what strikes me most is not simply the extraordinary suffering of those who made the crossing, or how close to failure the entire venture teetered for years, or even the author’s recounting of the first celebration we’ve since dubbed Thanksgiving.

What leaps out from the pages of the history, probably because it’s so little a part of the common narrative of the Pilgrims, is a crucial decision by the colony’s governor, William Bradford, to change the fundamental organization of Plymouth’s economy, a move which secured the colony’s future. As Philbrick describes it, after three years in America the Pilgrims “stumbled on the power of capitalism” and in the process ensured the colony’s survival. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Pilgrim’s Failed Experiment with Socialism

The Freedom Post | Nov. 25, 2009

With the United States under direct assault from the evils of Socialism (or other forms of “Collectivism” including: Communism, or Fascism…pick your tyranny), and with Thanksgiving Day upon us, it’s timely, appropriate, and necessary to visit the nation’s very first attempt with Socialism, nearly four centuries ago. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Why Obamanomics Will Not Improve the Economy

American Thinker | by Monty Pelerin | Nov. 23, 2009

The economic programs and policies currently in place are truly astounding. I don’t think I have ever seen a more harmful economic environment for the country. While some of these programs started with Bush, the Obama administration has advanced them to insane levels. Logic, economics, common sense, and history must be defied to believe a recovery is possible in this environment. The nation’s standard of living will be substantially lowered without prompt changes in policy. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Entrepreneurs Go on Strike

American Thinker | by C. Edmund Wright | Nov. 20, 2009

Can Barney Frank dunk on Lebron? No, he cannot. Nor can anyone else in Washington. Nor can they catch passes from Ben Rothlisberger in the Super Bowl or strike out Derek Jeter in the World Series. They are not equipped to do so. So what?

This ridiculous image speaks to the business malaise infecting the economy since Obama took office. The point is that politicians are equally ill-equipped to run the auto industry or the health industry or the lending industry or the insurance industry — and their determination to do so is sucking all the dynamism from the entrepreneurial class in this country. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Market, School of Virtue

Acton Institute | by Stephen Grabill | Nov. 4, 2009

Does the market inspire people to greater practical virtue, or does it eviscerate what little virtue any of us have?

Far from draining moral goodness out of us—as many think—the free market serves as a “school of the practical virtues.” Rather than elevating greed and self-sufficiency, the market fosters interdependence and cooperation. Its rewards do not go to those who are the most isolated, self-absorbed, or cut off from society, but to those who sustain mutually prosperous relationships with others. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Capitalism: A Love Story

American Spectator | by James Bowman | Oct. 6, 2009

There is one scene in Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story where its writer, director, hero and sole credited actor is examining the copy of the Constitution that is on display in the National Archives. He asks a guard — this is the kind of thing Mr. Moore routinely does for effect, pretending he doesn’t know that the guards are not constitutional experts — where in the document before him there is any mention of free markets, free enterprise or capitalism. He can’t seem to find those words. Could it be that they’re not there? And, if they’re not, does that mean that they’re not constitutionally protected? Not, of course, that one could imagine its mattering to him if they were. But without a specific mention, presumably, we must suppose that these “evil” things — he has the testimony of two lefty priests and a bishop to that effect — must have been snuck into America’s constitutional arrangements at a later date by, well, capitalists — or other, equally unscrupulous sorts. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail