567 words The Freeman page 1 of 3 Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533 (914) 591-7230 Capitalism Wins on Moral Grounds by Ken S. Ewert Following World War II, many economists believed that socialist economies would soon out-produce the capitalist West. This seems rather ludicrous today, and it is no surprise that the dismal postwar performances of non-market economies have provoked thinkers on the Left to take a much more sympathetic view of free markets. What is still rather surprising, however, is that the Christian Left persists in advocating socialist policies. Why? Perhaps because unlike secular socialists, the Christian Left is motivated less by pragmatic considerations and more by moral questions in its advocacy of government interventions. They staunchly oppose the free market because they believe that capitalism is based on selfishness, fosters materialism, and allows the economically powerful to oppress the poor. But is the free market guilty as charged? It is accused of being a selfish system, but is the factory worker in the Soviet system less selfish than the American capitalist? Is greed any less prevalent in the "planned" systems which, as we now know, are marked by bribes, theft from state enterprises, and political purges? There is no reason to think so and the explanation for this is clear: selfishness isn't a moral disease caused by an economic system, but rather a result of man's fallen nature. It is not out of his environment, but out of his heart (as Christ said) that a man is defiled. The free market is also thought to encourage people to become materialistic. Advertising often is cited as an example. But does advertising really make people materialistic? No, materialism, like selfishness, comes from within a person. If I am filled with avarice when I see an advertisement for a new Mercedes, I cannot blame the advertisement since it only conveys information about available choices -- it does not create my desires. After all, I could feel equally acquisitive if I saw the Mercedes on the street. Furthermore, materialism, like selfishness, will occur under any economic system. Witness, for example, the response of shoppers as a store puts out a new rack of genuine cotton shirts in Krakow. A third moral indictment is that the market permits the economically powerful to exploit the poor. But in the free market, even the richest person can get what he wants only by first offering something in exchange. For example, an employer can get what he wants -- employees -- only by offering a high enough wage to attract workers. His "power" over his employees is the ability to make them an offer that is better than their alternatives. The free market disciplines the employer -- as it does all other economic actors -- to serve his fellow man in order to attain his own goals. It is often forgotten that when government officials control an economy, it is still people -- with their selfish, materialistic, and power-seeking tendencies -- who make decisions. Like anyone else, they often have their own interests at heart. Through corporate bail-outs, price supports, licensing monopolies, tariffs, restrictions against nonunion workers, and other discriminatory legislation, politicians can increase their power (and sometimes their wealth) by cultivating the support of special interest groups. Everyone else pays the bills. While proponents of the free market cannot make utopian promises to change man's inner nature, competition in the market does guard against the abuse of power which is so prevalent in the political realm. For this reason alone, capitalism deserves a higher moral rating. __________________________________________________________ Mr. Ewert is a graduate student at CBN University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This article is adapted from the March 1989 issue of The Freeman.