But We Don't All Idealize Capitalism

Yesterday David Sucher wrote a post wondering how many ardent supporters of capitalism are, themselves, capitalists. In "We're All Capitalists," I took issue with David's definition of "capitalist," thinking it was too narrow. My sense is most people living in a capitalist economy are, like it or not, capitalists.

Today I see that David has updated his post to clarify his point:

The point of my post is that I wonder how much first-hand experience with capitalism it takes to be able to see its flaws? And whether many enthusiasts actually have that experience? . . . .

But when I look at the larger world -- at a Milton Freidman or a Bartley at the WSJ -- and I read repeatedly of the glories of the market and how everything will be solved with market-based solutions, well I have to remember that most of these academics and journalists have only been employees of capitalists and their book-learning is nice and stimulating but I wonder if their "faith" is based on seeing it from a distance, where so many things look better, and so must be taken with a grain of salt.

If I had to single out two groups of US citizens whose lives are most insulated from capitalism, I would choose tenured college professors and civil servants. If I were to single out two groups of US citizens least likely to be ardent supporters of capitalism, I would choose the same two groups. Much has been written on the liberalness of college professors, and I don't need to argue that AFSCME represents a consistently Democratic liberal political bent. In these two cases, it seems that distance from capitalism doesn't, on the whole, strengthen support for capitalism.

On the other hand, I can attest that, based on my own modest capitalist experiences and those of others I know who've served more time in the capitalist trenches, it's impossible to idealize capitalism or any system that relies on us mere mortals for its implementation. The invisible hand, on average, brings us to the right solution but in doing so, it permits us to do a lot of stupid things. It encourages us to elevate our concerns over others' concerns. It sometimes allows us to exploit regulation to our advantage. It sometimes squashes the little guy, upsetting our ingrained preference for the underdog. It can reward dumb luck and punish effort. When it rewards, it sometimes rewards too much and when it punishes, it sometimes punishes too much.

True capitalists are hardly purists. The system breeds opportunism, and a true opportunist will never turn away from a source of support, even if the source is the state and support undermines the purely capitalistic nature of the capitalist's enterprise.

Nevertheless, I think capitalism is the best system for encouraging good things and discouraging bad things. I don't idealize it, but I also cannot imagine living under any other system. I've never heard any of my capitalist friends yearn for more socialism (except, of course, to the limited extent a particular government program benefits them). In fact, a few of my friends have made the journey from the economic left to the economic right as a direct result of their capitalist experiences.

One of David's readers quoted Winston Churchill to the effect that capitalism is the worst economic system except for all the others that have been tried. I think the actual quote referred to democracy which, like capitalism, is best worshipped from afar and appreciated up close.