People ask, “Why is there poverty in the world?” It’s a silly question. Poverty is the default human condition. It is the factory preset of this mortal coil. As individuals and as a species, we are born naked and penniless, bereft of skills or possessions. Likewise, in his civilizational infancy man was poor, in every sense. He lived in ignorance, filth, hunger, and pain, and he died very young, either by violence or disease.
The interesting question isn’t “Why is there poverty?” It’s “Why is there wealth?” Or: “Why is there prosperity here but not there?”
At the end of the day, the first answer is capitalism, rightly understood. That is to say: free markets, private property, the spirit of entrepreneurialism and the conviction that the fruits of your labors are your own.
RE:Ideas profound.
by Jagadis Bose on Aug 01, 2008 08:39 PM Permalink
There were many wealthy people before the advent of capitalism. In facts the emperors and feudal lords of the feudal age were much wealthier than the rank of the file capitalist of today. So there goes your argument, but then simplistic arguments such as these are invariably wrong.
