Capitalism's myths and fallacies.

 

There isn't one form of capitalism. Tory politicians often talked about turning Britain into a Singapore upon Thames. Singapore is often portrayed as a bastion of free market capitalism but most of the land and housing is under the control of the government and there are a lot of state-owned enterprises.

Germany and Sweden are capitalist societies but they have worker representatives on many company boards. Many countries have mixed economies of both state and private. If you live in a country like Britain, you will rarely hear the term capitalism ever used. Politicians hardly ever talk about capitalism or the capitalist system and you won't find it mentioned in the press or media. It's a bit like Oscar Wilde's the love that dare not speak its name.

 I don't think that capitalism and freedom necessarily go hand in hand. There's no clear relationship between a country's economic freedom and its political freedom. Nazi Germany was a dictatorship but it still had private enterprise, firms like Krupp's and I.G. Farben and some German businesses used slave labour. The Nazis called I.G. Farben the citadel of Jewish capitalism because there were that many Jews on the company board. Among the products that the firm supplied to the Nazis, was Zyklon-B gas which was used in the extermination camps.

Chile under the military dictatorship of General Pinochet was a capitalist society but it wasn't a free country. There's private enterprise and billionaires in Communist China but it's not a free country. The philosopher and economist Friedrich Hayek, called himself a 'liberal' and he was a staunch advocate of capitalism, but he said, "Personally I prefer a liberal dictatorship to democratic government devoid of liberalism." Hayek spoke in support of Pinochet's Chile which pursued Hayek's economic liberal ideas. Hayek believed in freedom, but it was freedom for the pike and not for the minnows. Some so-called free marketeers think that there needs to be constraints placed on democracy because politicians often do the wrong things in order to win votes.

I think John Steinbeck sums up my feelings about capitalism in his book 'Cannery Row'. The marine biologist Doc, says to Mac and the Boys:

 "It has always seemed strange to me. The things we admire in men, kindest, generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success."

The economist Leon Walras, once said: "You can't defend capitalism on the grounds that it is natural. The only justification should be that it's efficient and increases wealth."

Some people have a tendency to think that there always has been a capitalist system, which is not the case. An inclination to "truck and barter" may be the basis of an economy but it doesn't make it a capitalist economy. In a country like Britain, capitalism as we understand it, is a comparatively recent innovation dating back to what we now call the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century. If you know anything about English history, you would wonder how we ever became a capitalist society. In a country like England, religion and traditional virtue, taught people that avarice was a vice, usury a misdemeanour and the love of money was considered detestable. Working for wages was frowned upon as was buying cheap to sell dear. William Shakespeare's father was prosecuted for lending money. The Christian Bible told people, " And having food and raiment let us be therewith content...For the love of money is the root of all evil."