I know a couple of those assholes.
One way classical liberals have done ourselves no good is to talk about market economies as if they were some sort of meritocracy where people with more skill, or better values, or who work harder get rewarded for it. The worst version is to blithely associate being rich with moral merit.
This is completely wrong, and dangerously so. The best discussion of this might still be in chapter 6 of Hayek’s *Constitution of Liberty*.
Markets do not reward “skill.” They don’t reward “hard work.” They don’t reward “moral merit.” They reward the creation of value for others. Period. In a genuine market, the path to material wealth is by doing things that others value. Your wealth is a reflection of the ways in which you’ve improved the lives of those who have paid you for what you produce. Mutually beneficial exchange – value for value.
You can be an asshole and still make people’s lives much better off. If you have a great idea, you might not have to work very hard to bring it to fruition. Your labor might not be especially skilled if you’re willing to do work that others value but are unwilling to do. Your wealth is not a sign of your moral worth as a person. It’s a sign that you created value for others. Now that’s morally praiseworthy in my book, but there’s also a bunch of other dimensions to being a moral person that you might lack.
Markets don’t reward merit. And wealth is no indicator of such merit. The sooner we get away from that misunderstanding the better. The rich aren’t better people. In a genuine market, they’re just better at creating value for others.
Duh. Coming up with a good idea don’t = moral. If you get your morals from TV, well then, fuck you, and all your cable enablers.
Please elaborate.
Methinks you watch too much TV.
Anyone who watches main stream news would qualify.
There is no value in cable , yet there are many weird people keeping the cord.
Well, we have not have a so-called free genuine market for a long time. Most rich people living in my area are not from here, and produced nothing of lasting value.
Other than property taxes and spending money locally?
True Capitalism has never been tried…
Creating credit from air…oh what a bankers dream concept of capital especially when you charge the suckers compounded interest in return…
“It’s Free Markets That Reduce Inequality, Not Capitalism Or Socialism”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/04/13/its-free-markets-that-reduce-inequality-not-capitalism-or-socialism/?sh=782b59006ec7
cc: Adam SmithNow why am I reminded of: “If you own a business, you didn’t build that.”
” Your wealth is not a sign of your moral worth as a person. It’s a sign that you created value for others. ”
And, in the case of windmills and solar panels, that value you created could be far worse than valueless.
Jamie I believe the operative word is creating “value”.
It used to be that way, vowg.
But the word value has gone through the same kind of ridiculous meaning warp as literally.
Remember the old line, rich people are different. Yeah, they have more money.
The way this was explained in ECON 101 many years ago was “The baker doesn’t care if your family starves, but he can feed his own family by selling you bread. You’re both selfish as hell and don’t give a toss for the other guy, but a free exchange of goods allows you both to benefit.”
Harvey Weinstein made movies that a lot of moviegoers valued, right?
And he gave lots of jobs to those who were willing to, um, offer something in trade for them.
It’s all about value. In a year where ordering on line and delivery were at peak ultima maximum, Canada Post manages to lose $799 million
https://www.blacklocks.ca/post-office-deficit-plan-secret/
Admittedly Canadian dollars, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.
“Admittedly Canadian dollars, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.”
What does CAD$799 million sound like in other currencies?
Maybe one can buy Park Place or Boardwalk with that amount, or a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
The mind boggles.
Get the government out of the business of business. And healthcare.
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and render unto God that which is God’s.
The good, true, and beautiful myriad inventions have served to raise us up and bless us with the fruits of capitalist and humanist labour and intention, while the opposite of such efforts resulted in all you see and emulate, right down to the tattoo and urban phrase, on your stupid TV and insidious social media platform circle of hell.
Happy Pride month. Remember the fleeting one day that few of us honoured the fallen, on Memorial Day, so as to make the world safe for debauchery.
Have a nice day.
But, but, but … Markets don’t provide … *ahem* … “equity”. If Markets don’t provide … “equity” … then governments must “level the playing field”. Let’s start with black folk. Yeah, yeah … you “racists” will NEVER EVER vote for “reparations” … 150 years after slavery ceased. So, we invented the word “equity”. Equity is direct government payments to “underserved” communities. Yeah … underserved because the public school system is crap. “Underserved” … because they couldn’t be bothered to wake up in time for school. “Underserved” … because they were bred out of wedlock.
Oh wait! You’re poor, and ‘white’? You don’t deserve “equity” … you have your “white privilege”. You probably got a B- in math … you … you … “math-racist”!
“Equity” … is a sham.
“Equity” … is racist.
Lie, cheat, steal, screw other people over to get what you want. Thank you Amazon
Some say it was Mario Puzo, some say De Balzac but it’s true in a lot of cases, “Behind every great fortune there is a great crime.”
Excuses make our own failures and shortcomings so much easier to live with. No, it isn’t me who didn’t work hard enough or smart enough, it’s all those rich, lazy slobs who didn’t play fair. Because I’m awesome. Totally awesome.
How about we define “rich”.
That’s the shitty game the left gets away with. Demonizing the “rich”.
To the person with nothing, 10k is rich.
To the person with 10k, 100k is rich
And so on.
Very few consider it is them who are being demonized with “rich” as a perjorative.
Most are happy resenting those who have more than them.
And ultimately that’s who the “rich” are. Someone who has more than you, whoever you may be.
And as such most are happy to nod and agree when the rich are vilified.
Next time someone complains about the rich ask them to give you a hard number
This is why the people who are most full of venom at the “1%” are the “9%” below them.
This isn’t what it’s about. Being a “good person” doesn’t require you to be “good” in every dimension, or even to be “good” by whatever measure the measurer wants to subjectively use. Misunderstanding that basic premise is why we have people tearing down statues of great people who were, as humans, also flawed. Whining about this is petty and small, and we used to dismiss such people out of hand. It is now “elite” to complain that someone who has accomplished more good in the world than you is somehow not worthy of respect because of some real or imagined moral failure.
And being “mean” isn’t a moral failure, in and of itself.
All of this is true but the modern experience here in canuckistan is that wealth is obtained by sucking government tit. This is why there is a constant demand for more government.