freedom is moral

At its core, capitalism is moral

At the most foundational level, capitalism is moral.

The only way to succeed in the long-term is to treat customers well and honestly. That will provide money to the company to continue paying staff and vendors as well as leaving a profit for owners.

If a company does not deliver a quality product or service that customers value with higher utility to them than the cost to provide by the company, then the company won’t be around long.

At the core level, it is moral to satisfy your customers with profit left over.

CPA Ron Baker makes this point more eloquently than me in his LinkedIn article, Are Corporations Socially Responsible?

By the way, the answer is yes.

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

If a corporation provides value to customers, both the company and customer will be better off after the transaction than before. That is a positive social value.

Doing so, within the framework of the law (as Milton Freidman points out) is the duty of a business and it is also highly socially responsible.

(more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

Why do we study economics? Because of the suffering of people left behind in poverty.

Many countries around the world have seen their economies grow and enjoy the improved nutrition, health care, comfort, and consumer goods that go along with growth. Other countries, locations, and people groups have been left behind.

Why should we care about growth?

Consider a billion people struggling in India while a billion people in China have a per capita GDP today that is equal to what we had in the U.S. back in 1972.

(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update. The question I’ll ask here: Is it moral that the policies that let a billion people move out of grinding poverty in one place were not applied to lift up a billion of their next-door neighbors?)

The Economist explained the issue this way on 5/24:

The increase in (China’s) average annual GDP per head from around $300 to $6,750 over the period (of the last 30 years) has not just brought previously unimagined prosperity to hundreds of millions of people, but has also remade the world economy and geopolitics.

That’s great. I am sincerely happy for the people of China. The next sentence asks us to consider a billion people who got left behind:

India’s GDP per head was the same as China’s three decades ago. It is now less than a quarter of the size. … India’s economy has never achieved the momentum that has dragged much of East Asia out of poverty.

So what, I hear some say.

Consider the human cost: (more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

How did we get to the place where we can ask “Why Does 1% of History Have 99% of the Wealth”?

Why we are so much better off than 200 years ago? Explained in 3 minutes. Check out the video by Prof. Dierdre McCloskey:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0nsKBx77EQ&feature=player_embedded]

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)

Here’s my 200 word summary of the video:

Until 1800, the average person made the inflation-adjusted equivalent to $3 a day. It’s been that way for thousands of years. Starting in 1800, a graph of average income looks like a hockey stick, going almost straight up after being flat for thousands of years.

Why?

(more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

What strange, mysterious, magical force is loose that increased US production of both oil and gas by one-third in six years?

Is it targeted federal subsidies?  Breakthrough law from the Congress?  Socialist industrial policy?  Keynesian monetary policy?  Blockbuster documentary from Hollywood that changed minds across the country?  More support for college loans? A landmark special on network TV? Quantitative Easing?

No. It’s none of those things.

Barron’s is pondering the question as well:  The Secret of U.S. Energy Success.

Federal subsidies have produced a substantial increase in some things. The editorial provides a partial list. Subsidies have given us…

..our national surpluses of grain, milk, unemployment, nonprofit companies, disabilities, and mortgage debt.

Those subsidies didn’t produce the massive increase in oil production in Bakken and Eagle Ford.

The best paragraph from the editorial: (more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

Happy Thanksgiving! – “The true patron of this holiday feast – property rights”

The story of how the Pilgrims went from starving to plenty that I didn’t hear in school. In William Bradford’s own words: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=66QdQErc8JQ#t=135] The video title is The Pilgrims and Property Rights: How our ancestors got fat & happy. Communal property was not acceptable to the married menfolk or the Read more…

By Jim Ulvog, ago

Looking for the cause of poverty? It isn’t capitalism. Look for some other Cs – corruption, collusion, and cronyism

It’s not capitalism that has crushed millions of people into the dust of poverty across Africa and many other places and times around the world. Capitalism lifts people out of the dust.

What keeps the poor in grinding poverty?

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger’s column Capitalism’s Corruptions discusses the real causes of poverty (more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

Moral Foundations of Capitalism – Margaret Thatcher’s explanation

Capitalism is based on morality.

It is not based on self-centered greed. Quite the opposite. It is based on serving others.

Capitalism rewards people who serve others and meet their needs. Only after meeting someone else’s needs does the provider get a reward.

In 1995, Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain expounded on The Moral Foundations of Society.

A few of many topics she covered in that speech were the moral foundation of democracy, law, and the founding of the U.S.

Let’s see what she said about Capitalism.  Following quotes are reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College:

The Moral Foundations of Capitalism

(more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago

Capitalism is based on morality

It seems as I try to explain why freedom is moral, I find the issues and explanations go deeper than I realized. Don’t quite know when I came to the conclusion that freedom is the moral option – it seems I’ve always believed that.

In The Moral Case for Capitalism: More than Utility, Jacqueline Otto explains that capitalism and morality go hand-in-hand:

Capitalism is designed to marry a man’s moral and material growth, so that both can be fully mature. (more…)

By Jim Ulvog, ago