Questioning capitalism ... A series of links

Capitalism's growth imperative and societal engineering

By Richard K. Moore, Chapter 1, section f, of A Guidebook: How the world works and how we can change it (2000)

People of the same trade seldom meet together… but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776

Globalization is above all about capitalism, and about removing all constraints to the efficient operation of capitalist economics. The constraints which are being rapidly removed include not only tariff barriers and import quotas, but also environmental protections, anti-trust laws, health and safety regulations, and indeed the power of nations to plan or control their own economic destinies.

The reasoning behind all this, we are told, is about the creation of ‘free markets' that will enable the ‘most efficient’ operators to succeed—and thereby benefit everyone in the long run. The experience of the Robber Baron era, not to mention the condition of the world today, shows us that this reasoning is faulty. Let's look at the reasoning in a bit more detail to understand where it goes astray. ... http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/25/098.html

ECONOMICS AND ETHICS

The defense of value-neutrality still stands, but the pillars seem to be weakening. http://www.nd.edu/~cwilber/pub/recent/ethichbk.html

Economist jokes ...

http://netec.wustl.edu/JokEc.html Although ethics teaches that virtue is its own reward, in economics we get taught that reward is its own virtue. .....

True story: The scene is a conference of professors of marketing. The keynote speaker is an eminent economist. The chairman, who sees himself as a bit of a wag, says,

"I would like to introduce my eminent colleague and friend. He's an economist, one of those people who turn random numbers into mathematical laws." The economist, not to be outdone, replies, "My friend, here, is a marketer. They reverse the process." .....

When an economist says the evidence is "mixed," he or she means that theory says one thing and data says the opposite.

Well, I started this out seriously, and will continue ... but these jokes are illuminating too. That last one could also read ... When an politician says the evidence is "mixed," he or she means that party policy says one thing and evidence says the opposite. This is my fave from above link:

Heard at the Wharton School.

Man walking along a road in the countryside comes across a shepherd and a huge flock of sheep. Tells the shepherd, "I will bet you $100 against one of your sheep that I can tell you the exact number in this flock." The shepherd thinks it over; it's a big flock so he takes the bet. "973," says the man. The shepherd is astonished, because that is exactly right. Says "OK, I'm a man of my word, take an animal." Man picks one up and begins to walk away.

"Wait," cries the shepherd, "Let me have a chance to get even. Double or nothing that I can guess your exact occupation." Man says sure. "You are an economist for a government think tank," says the shepherd. "Amazing!" responds the man, "You are exactly right! But tell me, how did you deduce that?" "Well," says the shepherd, "put down my dog and I will tell you."

But I digress ...