From Larry Elder:
Given the evidence of the superiority of capitalism in achieving prosperity, isn’t it astonishing we still debate its merits?
Filmmaker Michael Moore actually made an anti-capitalism “documentary” called “Capitalism: A Love Story.” Moore says: “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people.” Is it relevant that Moore’s net worth is reported around $50 million, give or take a few mil, and that his accumulation of wealth occurred within the system of free markets that he trashes?
Another Hollywood leftie, Ed Asner, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. In a tax-the-rich cartoon video narrated by Asner, an evil rich man urinates on the poor. Charming.
Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, wrote “Wealth of Nations” in 1776. How do nations prosper, he asked? The answer, Smith said, is to encourage competition between suppliers — whether of goods or services — to please customers. Smith wrote, “In general, if any branch of trade, or any division of labour, be advantageous to the public, the freer and more general the competition, it will always be the more so.”
Abraham Lincoln was not an economist but would have been quite at home with the free-market school: “There is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. …The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself; then labors on his own account for another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is … the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all — gives hope to all, and … improvement of condition to all. If any continue through life in the condition of the hired laborer, it is not the fault of the system, but because of either a dependent nature which prefers it, or improvidence, folly, or singular misfortune.”
