Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Steve Forbes: The Morality of Capitalism

Rate this topic


dream_weaver

Recommended Posts

Steve Forbes talks at Notre Dame about morality of capitalism

"The idea of having the word 'morality' associated with capitalism, free markets, free enterprise sounds a little strange because capitalism certainly in popular culture is never seen as a moral system," Forbes said. "It's seen as being based on greed. It puts profits before people. Markets are cold, heartless and hard. The strong crush the weak. The rich get richer and poor always struggle."

But in real life, Forbes said, capitalism is moral.

Free markets, he said, promote cooperation among people of different backgrounds. They turn shortage into abundance, luxuries into commodities.

And the true source of capital, he added, is the human mind — the ingenuity that can take something like oil and make it valuable.

Actually, they turn commodities into luxuries, unless he just means the peddling of luxuries.

 

Edited by dream_weaver
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overall we've been seeing a definite rise in the idea of Capitalism as a moral system IMO, its certainly progress. I'd attribute it with the rising popularity of the New Left once again, and its associated diatribes about how Capitalism is some inherently exploitative system we must constantly flagellate our entire civilisation and values for. A lot of people dont like that they're all being barraged constantly with how evil they are simply for selling their labour or goods.

Also on-topic, one of the guys who runs Whole Foods has been pretty outspoken lately about Capitalism and free markets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rYPp4ofXAs

Edited by Faust
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...