The Capitalist Manifesto

I was encouraged to read the Capitalist Manifesto by Andrew Bernstein, and although I think it is a fine book and would encourage many to read it, for me it was a bit too much "preaching to the choir". I've already been over a lot of this ground with Hayek, Freidman, and like Bernstein, Ayn Rand. I'd like to find an author from the left that came close to being as fun to read and had as much an effect on readers as Ayn. My personal opinion over the years is that isn't possible, since economic freedom, rule of law and allowing individuals to choose what to do with the fruits of their labors is as necessary to economic success of a country as oxygen is to most life on this planet. The collectivist ideas flat out don't work, and all manner of attempts have failed to change that result, so writing something like this from the left would be like writing about a flat earth.

Bernstein goes over the good comparisons ... Hong Kong, East and West Germany, North and South Korea, Cuba and the USSR vs the USA. These have been well covered in many other books, and the results are completely clear. He also does a good job of questioning the idea that the Scandinavian countries are the exception, that socialism actually works there. It appears that we may have a case there of "killing the goose that laid the golden egg". Relatively pure capitalism was used in the past to create the wealth, and today that wealth is being squandered and the future borrowed against. One could argue that much the same thing is going on in the US with the entitlement programs like Social Security.

Where he does a little better job is in pointing out the fallacies of "the glorious pre-technology, pre-capitalist" past. Hobbes pretty much defined it, life was "nasty, brutish, and short". The VAST majority, like 90%+ lived in filth, disease, chaos, starvation, and pain for mercifully short lives. The myth of the "primitive secular Eden" is more widely held these days than the account of Eden in Genesis which those of us who are Christian hold to be true. Bernstein tars religion with the same brush as other partakers in the feudal system and given the history of the Catholic church there is merit there. Whatever the fault, when the masses are chattel that are not educated and allowed to improve themselves and their state, their lot is horrific. Church, King, or modern state, without the power of access to knowledge and the ability to profit from their labors, the material existence of the mass of humanity is not to be envied.

It is unleashing the power of the mind and the willingness to leverage it that makes capitalism great. By allowing "creative destruction", capitalism stays vibrant and in it's purest forms prevents the winners from one age from locking in their wins by stopping advancement and keeping things the way they like them, since the last round turned out in their favor. In general I agree with him, but it is at this point that I have trouble with the "pure approach". I understand why Bernstein takes it, like Rand he wants to leverage the obvious success of the capitalist system into a philosophy of life that "explains everything" in a tidy way. "The good is what provides the most/best life" ... the cynic in me says "he who dies with the most toys wins". Simple yes, but sadly lacking any real meaning.

This is where I part ways with the manifesto. If we are here by randomness and there is nothing beyond this, then other than maximization of pleasure, what would all this be for? The old supposed deep philosophy is "what will it all matter in 100 years"? Which of course is a way of saying "nothing", but in fact if it doesn't matter then, it doesn't matter now either. Dying with the most toys, dollars, friends, pets, or even books is still dying, and as in all things human, that is the final, not optional reality.

He also does nice defenses of attempted arguments against capitalism as causing war, being responsible for slavery, taking advantage of 3rd world poor people, and even defends the much maligned "robber barons". It is a solid work in defending the utility of the tool of capitalism, his only weakness is that he (like Rand) wants to decide that an economic model can be expanded to explain life, the universe and everything. Standard human idolatry, to convert "A good" into THE GOOD, and the ALL. We have a built-in desire to want more than meaninglessness, and also a built in compass that allows us to allow that answer to find us. Many decide that answer is not for them and go off and invent one. In the end, Bernstein looks at the universe and sees it as a nail to the capitalist hammer.