Over at his blog philosopher
James Otteson provides a interesting quote from Hernando de Soto's book,
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. de Soto writes
I am not a die-hard capitalist. I do not view capitalism as a cred. Much more important to me are freedom, compassion for the poor, respect for the social contract, and equal opportunity. But for the moment, to achieve those goals, capitalism is the only game in town. It is the only system we know that provides us with the tools required to create massive surplus value. (p. 228).
In other words, capitalism gets the job done, other systems don't.
That reminds me of Churchill's comment on democracy: ". . it's the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
ReplyDeleteCapitalism isn't perfect but it's less imperfect than the alternatives.