A lot of people are talking about the Occupy Wall Street movement and we did publish an article about the OccupyLincoln movement this weekend.
One of the central themes one can detect within this movement regards “corporate greed”, and it started with a specific criticism of the corporate greed on Wall Street and its influences on politics. Some of the participants in these occupation groups say government is being run by corporations.
The participants in this movement charge that corporate influence should be heavily taxed, heavily regulated and banished entirely from the political process. Apparently, removal of corporate influence will solve all problems.
Some members of the Occupy movement are actually blaming capitalism and say it is a failed system.
Such philosophy is inherently flawed because it leaves out a huge factor – government and the politicians who run it.
In a 1979 appearance on the Phil Donahue show, economist Milton Friedman addressed this whole subject, articulating it better than, perhaps, anyone else before or since. (E-mail subscribers, click here to view the video.)
Capitalism is a system that properly acknowledges human nature. It is human nature to operate on self interest. It is our efforts to deny this essential reality on both sides of the political aisle that is what is ailing this country at present.
It’s time to “Occupy Reason”…
The comments by Milton Friedman were actually near the end of an appearance on Donahue’s show, which covers many fundamental issues about economics, government, and public policy. Linda and I highly recommend to readers that it be viewed in its entirety. For those interested, here is the appearance in its entirety, in chronological order:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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