I am getting more into “How Capitalism Saved America.” The topic in chapter 3 is the experience of the early settlers in what was to become the United States. In both Jamestown and Plymouth a collectivist approach was initially used, where all the people in the colony worked “to support the colony and to generate profits” for the underwriters of the colony.
Tag Archives: capitalism
Quote of the day – The effect of government spending
I’m currently reading “How Capitalism Saved America.” I am still in the first chapter or so, and I came across an interesting quote about the effect of government spending on the economy.
Except for spending to protect property rights, enforce the law, and protect citizens from for an aggressor, all government spending crowds out private spending and weakens the vitality of capitalism.
Given this, it is easy to imagine what damage the government is actually doing to the economy,
Quote of the Day – Need For Economic Freedom
After a few days of actually not reading much of anything, except a bit of the news, I am back to reading “How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present” by Thomas DiLorenzo.
This quote is from the first chapter and I have heard similar quotes in talks by Yaron Brook. It is definitely something to keep in mind whenever you hear government officials say they will make things better by increasing taxes and regulations.
Any discussion
Sorry, We Do Not Have Capitalism, So Stop Blaming It
Yesterday I shared on Facebook the link to a blog post by Rituparna Basu of the Ayn Rand Center, on Rand Paul’s argument for a doctor’s political freedom. I received the following comment:
Comments completely miss the mark. Doctors are slaves to the same system patients are slaves to. They are not making the money in our broken health care system. Capitalism ate democracy a long time ago. We need to stop blaming the surfs for all our problems.
My response:
You say capitalism, but it
What I did on my Vacation – Air Travel
Quote of the Day – Price Fixing and Antitrust
Still reading Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” and a passage jumped out at me regarding price fixing and anti-trust. Given recent news regarding Apple’s supposed price fixing in e-books, the on going concerns about Obamacare, not to mention such government practices as; rent control, price controls in all manner of agricultural products, this quote jumped out at me.
By what conceivable standard can the policy of price-fixing be a crime, when practiced by businessmen,
Quote of the Day- Superficiality of “Bigness”
I am still reading Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” and I came across the following quote. The context is a discussion of anti-trust laws but it applies equally to thinking about government and business.
In the absence of any rational criteria of judgement, people attempted to judge the immensely complex issues of a free market by so superficial a standard as “bigness.” You hear it to this day: “big business,”
Quote of the Day – Shopping as “Voting”
Once again Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” is the source for today’s quote:
Whenever you buy one product rather than another, you are voting for the success of some manufacturer. And, in this type of voting, every man votes only on those matters which he is qualified to judge: on his own preferences, interests, and needs. No one has the power to decide for others or to substitute his judgement for theirs; no one has the power to appoint himself “the
Quote of the Day – Economic and Political Power
It seems I can hardly open Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” without finding quotes worth sharing. This time it is about the difference between economic and political power:
Now let me define the difference between economic power and political power: economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment,
Don Watkins – Why Businessmen Should Not Give Something Back
Excellent talk by Don Watkins, co-author of “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government,” on the virtues of and values created by businessmen.