Hang the rich

I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, "Hang the rich." Now if that isn't a glittering jewel of an example of ignorance, I don't know what is.

This kind of ignorance of capitalism approaches profound. One might wonder whom they expect will give them a job and sign their paychecks. Someone on welfare? A panhandler on a street corner, perhaps? We NEED the rich. They have the resources, they are willing to take the risk to form and fund businesses. If the risk pays off and the business becomes viable, it will eventually hire and pay people to work. And of course, it will make a profit.

So, what is capitalism? Capitalism is the legal, willing exchange of goods or services between parties. That's it. Any time an exchange of something valuable occurs in this context, capitalism has happened.

Capitalism is the natural state of Man as he conducts his life in interaction with others. This exchange has happened ever since one man has had interrelationships with another. It is not evil, it does not need to be controlled or curtailed. It only needs to be unleashed. It is not a system, it has its own natural rules, it can only operate in an environment of legality, and yes, morality, and because it is non-coercive, it always results in the satisfaction of all parties.

We must emphatically note that stealing, committing fraud, or harming someone are all illegal. Therefore they cannot be capitalism. Capitalism must be legal activity, so anything illegal is not capitalism. Monopolies, cheating, and selling inferior products are not features of capitalism. They are violations of capitalism.

Likewise, selling dangerous products has nothing to do with capitalism. If the goods are dangerous, there is no willing exchange. A true capitalist will be highly motivated to sell a safe product, because capitalism will not permit him to continue to sell his products otherwise.

In addition, safe, effective, well-designed products sell, while inferior, faulty products do not. Therefore, capitalism is self-correcting and self disciplining. Government intervention is ideally minimal. It ought to create the legal environment needed to engage in capitalism, but nothing else. Where government is friendly to capitalism, capitalism thrives.

There is no need for heavy-handed central planners. In fact, if we truly understand capitalism, we will immediately realize that oppressive central government is the enemy of liberty, and liberty facilitates capitalism. In an economic system as complex as ours, it is clear that the sheer magnitude of factors in play will elude the comprehension, let alone control, of the central planners. Big government can only fail here.

But even so, since capitalism is a natural facet of human activity it will function in any environment. Where government is hostile to capitalism or is malfunctioning or non-existent, capitalism still thrives, perhaps as a black market. Here, the disciplines required to engage in capitalism are enforced by the participants, since the legal environment of government is missing, antagonistic, or faulty.

Boiled down to its essence, capitalism is humanity. It uplifts, innovates, improves, and creates. It satisfies needs, it prospers the poor, it feeds the world. Capitalism is the most beneficial, moral, and life-affirming activity engaged in by man.