|
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
 |
Townhall
Greed
By John Stossel
Oct 24, 2012
On TV, my Fox colleague Bill O'Reilly says, "The recession was brought
on largely by greedy Wall Street corporations."
Give me a break.
Bill's smart. If he believes such things, we who care about freedom
have done a poor job communicating economics.
Blaming problems on "greed" is a mindless cliche.
Yes, Wall Street was greedy -- but that's nothing new. Greed is a
constant. Did you ever turn down a raise? We need a free market because
it restrains greed. Laws against theft and fraud help, but competition
does more. With this election approaching, and statist,
eager-to-regulate candidates in ascent, we need more Americans to
understand this.
The statist left says it's government's job to protect consumers and
help poor people. But greed -- more precisely, the pursuit of
self-interest in the free market -- would work better. The market (if
not corrupted by corporate welfare and bailouts) harmonizes the
interests of diverse people who don't even know each other and might
not even like each other. It motivates them to work hard to serve
customers.
When markets are free (alas, ours is not; in America today, too often
people "partner" with politicians and get rich through government),
those who charge too much, or skimp on quality or service, lose money
to competitors who serve people better.
What could be more humane? Nothing has done more than markets to lift
people out of the mud and misery of primitive life.
But progressive blogger Sally Kohn argues: "We all have a little greed
in us. The question is, what values do we hold alongside greed as a
society ... so that we operate for the better good of everyone?"
What values? My vision of the "better good" may be different from hers.
I don't want government to decide for me…
Read the rest of the article at Townhall
|
|
|
|
