Is the capitalist system merely about the selfish pursuit of profits?
According to the author’s observations of world affairs over the years, the truth about things that many people find strange and unreasonable is often not so absurd. On the other hand, many things that many people take for granted may not be true. Do ordinary people have many prejudices in their understanding of the market and the capitalist system?
Author: GUDORDI | 2024-04-19
Most cultural systems seem to believe that pursuing private interests is a dishonorable thing. Is this true? (Shutterstock)
Capitalism is working to produce more money but does not see the people.
──Lech Walesa, former President of Poland
America’s abundance was not created by public sacrifices to ‘the common good’, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance─and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way. What they have to discover, what all the efforts of capitalism’s enemies are frantically aimed at hiding, is the fact that capitalism is not merely the ‘practical’, but the only moral system in history.
──Ayn Rand
The author mentioned above about discussing the nature and operating principles of the market system with domestic officials, and mentioned Hayek’s opinion that the greatest function of the market system is to enable society to use information more effectively. The superiority of the market over the government in this regard is Obviously, because the market has much more information than the government, no matter how kind and capable the officials are, many expectations may just be “beautiful misunderstandings.”
Hayek's insights were ignored
Hayek’s views follow his 1945 paper “The use of Kowledge in Society”, although this paper is believed to be the first to explain the operation of economic systems since Adam Smith. Principle is one of the most important documents, but it is a pity and regret that not many people in the academic circle seem to know this debate paper. This is actually not difficult to understand. The “Austrian School” to which Hayek belonged has not always been mainstream. Some economists even believe that because this school does not use mathematical theories very much, it should be regarded as political and social thought and cannot be accepted as orthodoxy. Economics, this is the misfortune of modern economics.
The official believed in his heart that a selfless and capable government was superior to the market, so he proposed that the government had far more information than ordinary people imagined, and it was constantly improving. Technology was clearly on the side of the government, which was better than relying on the market to pursue private interests. He believes that the most balanced and socially just approach is for the government to dominate all important aspects of society and then allow the private market a certain space for participation and development.
This sounds reasonable. Most cultural systems seem to tend to view the pursuit of private interests as a dishonorable thing, often closer to a “necessary evil” that must be tolerated.
Is the pursuit of self-interest a necessary evil?
In Chinese society for the past 2,000 years or so, mainstream metaphysics seems to believe that society can be divided into four classes: scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants. Businessmen are regarded as people who only strive for fame and wealth all day long, and even There is a saying that “every business must be treacherous.” The problem is that business and the pursuit of self-interest are necessary evils in the operation of society. If people are not allowed to compete for fame and profit, social and economic development will lack motivation. From this, it is obviously reasonable for a government that represents justice to balance the market of fame and profit. But is capitalism only about pursuing personal interests?
This is a very deep question. The sentence quoted by former Polish President Warsaw at the beginning of the article reflects many people’s stereotypes about capitalism, but if we read Rand’s statement carefully, we will see another picture. Which picture is more consistent with the truth? I intend to leave it to the readers’ discretion.
However, according to the author’s observations of world affairs over the years, the truth about things that many people find strange and unreasonable is often not so absurd. On the other hand, many things that many people take for granted may not be true. Do ordinary people have many prejudices in their understanding of the market and the capitalist system?
