ANTI-CAPITALIST
I’m dismayed by the current level of hatred directed towards capitalism. In my lifetime I’ve never heard such expressions of bitterness. This is the consequence of left-wing professors and the liberal media poisoning the well. Liberal parents have managed to turn their offspring into good little Marxists or at least into people who share Marxist animosity towards free markets and capitalism. They grossly exaggerate the so-called sins of capitalism and believe any canard no matter how baseless. Here is an example in a recent email I received.
Mr. Cook,
It’s very tiring to constantly read your apologetic definition of successful corporations and capitalists as having got that way “because they did a superior job of meeting the product needs of the people in the best, most economical way. The hallmark of big business is mass production for the benefit of the masses.”
Nonsense. The most successful ones – and rightly the ones most despised – got that way because of their ruthless, “no holds barred” mindset. Ever hear of the robber barons? How about Bill Gates and all the anti-competitive lawsuits Microsoft defended itself against?
Let’s not forget Merck, who waited for years and thousands of deaths from the known side effects of Vioxx before pulling it from the market. All that happens to such companies is a piddling fine (in reality, out of shareholder dividends) that are hardly a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile, they keep the billions in profits and the lowlife, responsible decision makers get rewarded with big bonuses, options, etc. and are not held accountable (no personal financial fines or jail time).
Statin drugs have never been proven to be of benefit for women; yet they are still promoted. The seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines are another scam, but the government goes along with it since they are owned by the drug companies, and will do anything to ensure their profits, which in turn keeps the campaign contributions coming in.
You said that the hallmark of big business is mass production for the benefit of the masses. How do the masses benefit from hedge funds? From day-trading speculators, who boost prices of such things as oil well above their supply-demand value? From the trash running Goldman Sachs and the rest responsible for the global meltdown? From when companies dump untreated toxic waste into streams and rivers, all to save a buck. . .I can go on for pages, but what’s the use. I can’t tell if you are too blind to acknowledge these realities about capitalism, or you think your readers are so stupid that we believe your idealistic fairy tales.
Ron,
People on the left are great at digging up 10 or 15 companies as examples of abuses. But, what about the millions of companies (like mine) who provide valuable products and services without any kind of problems. Without them we would still be living in caves. Despite your dislike these corporations have rescued us from disease and starvation and provide us with goods and luxuries that make our modern life what it is.
Socialism on the other hand has invented or created nothing. There is no alternative to capitalist abundance but socialist poverty and misery. That is the unarguable lesson of economic history.
Jim Cook
Ron jumps to the conclusion that Wall Street rather than Washington was responsible for the mortgage mess. The left never sees the government at fault for anything. He trots out that old bugaboo about the robber barons. Does he mean Rockefeller who pushed down the price of oil so people could afford it? Maybe, he means Henry Ford who built automobiles for the masses or Carnegie who made steel widely available and spent his fortune building public libraries. He even defames Bill Gates. Capitalism is evil because of Bill Gates? Maybe he should move to Cuba. They don’t have modern electronics there so you can’t blame Microsoft for anything.
Such exaggeration. Is any company dumping untreated toxic waste into a river these days? Not unless they want a lawsuit and a jail term. Are drug companies purposely selling unproven or harmful drugs that kill people? What a jaundiced view of humanity.
Believe it or not, speculation, market making, trading and hedging serve to make prices orderly and less expensive. When it doesn’t happen that way it’s generally because someone is getting around the law. It’s our government’s role to protect us from outside enemies, domestic criminals, law breakers and con artists. There are going to be crooks under capitalism, just as there are crooks within the government. The Madoffs and the manipulators are examples of government regulatory failures. Don’t blame capitalism. If you’re looking for crimes and horror stories look at socialism. It managed to murder 100 million people in the last century.
What is it with today’s liberals mouthing Marxist platitudes and anti-capitalist drivel? They are the worst mealy-mouthed do-gooders in history. Their bumbling, exorbitantly expensive attempts at social justice have had a ruinous impact on the recipients of this welfare. Their constant engineering of higher taxes and easy money has wrecked the economy. Their subsidies have convoluted markets and put their foolish energy fads ahead of practical solutions. Their liberal agenda is the blueprint for national ruin. On top of these colossal failures they have the nerve to condemn capitalism.