What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It’s really a silly question, because the answer is so simple. It turns out that it’s human greed that gets the most wonderful things done. When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I’m talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves. Let’s look at it.
This winter, Texas ranchers may have to fight the cold of night, perhaps blizzards, to run down, feed and care for stray cattle. They make the personal sacrifice of caring for their animals to ensure that New Yorkers can enjoy beef. Last summer, Idaho potato farmers toiled in blazing sun, in dust and dirt, and maybe being bitten by insects to ensure that New Yorkers had potatoes to go with their beef.
Here’s my question: Do you think that Texas ranchers and Idaho potato farmers make these personal sacrifices because they love or care about the well-being of New Yorkers? The fact is whether they like New Yorkers or not, they make sure that New Yorkers are supplied with beef and potatoes every day of the week. Why? It’s because ranchers and farmers want more for themselves. In a free market system, in order for one to get more for himself, he must serve his fellow man. This is precisely what Adam Smith, the father of economics, meant when he said in his classic “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776), “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." By the way, how much beef and potatoes do you think New Yorkers would enjoy if it all depended upon the politically correct notions of human love and kindness? Personally, I’d grieve for New Yorkers. Some have suggested that instead of greed, I use “enlightened self-interest.” That’s OK, but I prefer greed.
Free market capitalism is relatively new in human history. Prior to the rise of capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving one's fellow man. Capitalists seek to discover what people want and then produce it as efficiently as possible. Free market capitalism is ruthless in its profit and loss discipline. This explains much of the hostility toward free market capitalism; some of it is held by businessmen. Smith recognized this hostility when he said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." He was hinting at government-backed crony capitalism, which has come to characterize much of today’s businesses.
Free market capitalism has other enemies -- mostly among the intellectual elite and political tyrants. These are people who believe that they have superior wisdom to the masses and that God has ordained them to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider to be good reasons for restricting liberty, but every tyrant who has ever lived has had what he considered good reason for restricting liberty. A tyrant’s agenda calls for the attenuation or the elimination of the market and what is implied by it -- voluntary exchange. Tyrants do not trust that people acting voluntarily will do what the tyrant thinks they should do. They want to replace the market with economic planning and regulation.
The Wall Street occupiers and their media and political allies are not against the principle of crony capitalism, bailouts and government special privileges and intervention. They share the same hostility to free market capitalism and peaceable voluntary exchange as tyrants. What they really want is congressional permission to share in the booty from looting their fellow man.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
ie any nut with a gun/weapon can come to your house and take what's yours? without punishment of the law/consequences? every atheist would kill you and take everything that's yours if there were no laws/regulations, ie no god, no hell, no remorse.
ie any nut with a gun/weapon can come to your house and take what's yours? without punishment of the law/consequences? every atheist would kill you and take everything that's yours if there were no laws/regulations, ie no god, no hell, no remorse.
greed is good ??
No, you don't understand the role of government. Government's purpose is to set the ground rules and so everyone plays by the same rules then let the market decide. If you hadn't gone to public school, you just might have been able to comprehend the article. However, your government that you support redistributes wealth. There is no difference between allowing you to come into my home and robbing me at gun point than you hiding behind uncle sam's guns (which you fully support) and robbing me. Your still taking my liberty at gun point and you have no right to it. Our founding document states that is my god given right. You have no right to it. You didnt earn it. The first scenario is called illegal plunder and the later is legal plunder. I suggest you look up the word plunder.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
No, you don't understand the role of government. Government's purpose is to set the ground rules and so everyone plays by the same rules then let the market decide. If you hadn't gone to public school, you just might have been able to comprehend the article. However, your government that you support redistributes wealth. There is no difference between allowing you to come into my home and robbing me at gun point than you hiding behind uncle sam's guns (which you fully support) and robbing me. Your still taking my liberty at gun point and you have no right to it. Our founding document states that is my god given right. You have no right to it. You didnt earn it. The first scenario is called illegal plunder and the later is legal plunder. I suggest you look up the word plunder.
Sometimes Sal has a way to make one Pound their head against a brick wall... Way over his head.. Good answer Bro.
ie any nut with a gun/weapon can come to your house and take what's yours? without punishment of the law/consequences? every atheist would kill you and take everything that's yours if there were no laws/regulations, ie no god, no hell, no remorse.
greed is good ??
Go ahead and admit it Sal. You could not have possibly read this article all the way through. Your post actually makes William's point whether you realize it or not.
Here is a challenge for you. Read it through at least twice. Read it slow enough to comprehend it. Then try to make an intelligent argument against it if you can.
C. Davis
__________________ Am I greedy because I don't want to give you what is mine?
or
Are you greedy because you want to take what is not yours?
Government's purpose is to set the ground rules and so everyone plays by the same rules then let the market decide.
i totally agree. It should be that way for every business and industry. However, for decades the largest farms/ranches in TX and those huge agribusinesses in Idaho have been on the federal dole.
Farm welfare is a rare bi-partisan issue in congress. Over 75 percent of farm subsidy money goes to ten percent of recipients.
Don Fischer is the current farm welfare prince of Comanche county, OK. Don received $67,000 in farm welfare in 2010. Find the farm welfare prince in your county:
ie any nut with a gun/weapon can come to your house and take what's yours? without punishment of the law/consequences? every atheist would kill you and take everything that's yours if there were no laws/regulations, ie no god, no hell, no remorse.
greed is good ??
No offense intended, but I think you should read the article again. Apparently you, like, totally missed the point.
May The Sheep Be With You
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Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
I Love Greed!
Sometimes Sal has a way to make one Pound their head against a brick wall... Way over his head.. Good answer Bro.
