The possessive of it is "its". I realize grammar is not important in the internet age, but I'm an old timer.

In law school in 1997, some professors took the attitude that capitalism is evil, and that if you believe in capitalism, you are evil. Therefore, since you're deemed evil, they would not even have a discussion with you, much less a debate, on the topic.

It's amazing to me. How could the arbitrary rule of the few ever be considered better than the mass rule, if you will, of the millions of decision makers which make up the marketplace? It's an increasingly common attitude, however, driven by the so-called "intellectuals" in academia, politics and the media all of which operate in capital market fashion.

Well, I've seen China up close and personal, and I don't need to see anything else. I'll take capitalism every time, and the freedom it gives me to try.

David

Perhaps you'd like Andrew Bernstein's new book, "The Capitalist Manifesto".


" Subtitle: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case For Laissez-Faire



The Capitalist Manifesto defends capitalism as the world's most moral and practical social system. This book is written for the rational mind, whether the reader is a professional intellectual or an intelligent layman. It makes the case for individual rights and freedom in terms intelligible to all rational men.



"The key to explaining capitalism's unparalleled economic success is dual: to show that it alone is the system that guarantees individual liberties, and to demonstrate that political liberty is an indispensable requirement of man's life on earth." -- Andrew Bernstein "



http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/store/prodinfo.asp?number=CB81B&variation=&aitem=23&mitem=41

Some of this challenge to business is well founded when you view the historical context of the roots of our capitalistic society. Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, rationalist thinkers, Bernard Madeville with his Fables of the Bees, Baruch Spinoza, and then Adam Smith all set the stage for the arrival of the "economist'. David Ricardo, Jean Baptiste Say, Stanley Jevons and more. The legal and institutional structures built around the formation of various laws were usually supportive of the social status quo. Eventually all of the philosophical tones set moved into ideology. And that is the danger and the challenge today. Do we value what humans produce or do we value humans?

It truly is extraordinary what capitalism does for the individual and a people.

You are right when you say "that there is an underlying assumption in our culture (demonstrated through the movies) that business and the free market is a bad thing, and the heroes are the ones who escape being downtrodden by it."

How absolutely true. Odd that the Hollywood "capitalist" culture uses its own medium to attack itself.

It think there is great hope though as the movie, video and music industries are continually decentralized and we get real choices and options on what not only to watch but what we can produce.

Yes, I agree that capitalism has served me and all of us in so many ways. And... I can't help but raise the issue of the enormous problems that have arisen with capitalism. Fairly or not, I think our environmental crisis is directly related to capitalism.

And by the way, does all of this have anything to do with organizing?

'How about a movie in which a firm prospers under threat of competition by selling things that people want at an affordable price, paying its workers the market wage, and breaking no laws, thereby advancing the common good?'

I guess Frank Capra's film 'It's a Wonderful Life' comes pretty close, hence the enduring feelgood factor from watching this paen to small town america sixty years after it was made. It usually moves me to tears.

Mr. Koren,

I would disagree. Stalinist Russia and the China of Mao weren't exactly enviro-friendly. It's not capitalism that is ecologically unfriendly. Any post-Industrial revolution society demonstrates this; where labour is divided, ecological inefficiencies arise. I for one wouldn't wish to return to agrarian society.

I have to laugh at the implication that the only alternative to capitalism is some sort of communist dictatorship or subsistance farming model. What capitalism does really well is widen the gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in society (not all boats rise with the tide during economic good times). A truly caring society ensures the well-being of all its citizens. I would argue that the European social democratic model is a fairer, more egalitarian model.