Socialism's Second-Guessers

My latest Op-Ed, Socialism’s Second-Guessers, is now available at Pajamas Media. It looks at the meddling and second-guessing inherent in socialism (and then proposes an alternative). Here’s an excerpt of a point that perhaps is not made as often as it could be (though you’ll have to read the whole piece to get the full context):

Yet achieving justice isn’t capitalism’s only virtue. It also fosters social harmony. To see this, contrast it to socialism where, perforce, we’re each concerned with every decision anyone else makes. The result is a nation of intruding, whining, Monday-morning quarterbacks. Did GM overspend on advertising? Are doctors prescribing too many pain meds? Is Fannie Mae’s CEO paid too much? The list of potential affronts to redress (via government intervention) is endless.

Not so under capitalism. Here each person’s concern is exclusively with their own property. For instance, if I’m not a shareholder of a firm, I really don’t care what the CEO is paid. Indeed, if I think a particular company is overpaying its CEO, rather than it being a grievance — it’s an opportunity. Namely for me to start a business where I save money by offering reasonable compensation — thereby winning market share due to my lower costs. The beauty of capitalism is that it works by free competition; there’s no need to lobby the government to forcibly intervene in anyone else’s business.

Please feel free to stop by and leave comments, link to, or forward the piece, as all of these actions show the editors that there’s interest in this type of material.

Update: Thanks to Dr. Wolf (who's been featured here before) for linking to my article!