Morale et marchés

"Profit foes accept the ‘zero-sum’ fallacy and the myth that factors of production create equal value. Disdain for profit reflects a deeper distrust of its ethical essence – rational self-interest. Profit is crucial to capitalism, but even in our personal (non-commercial) lives, we’re rational and right to maximize the benefits versus the costs of our actions. On economic, ethical, and personal grounds, profit deserves our unabashed allegiance." - Richard Salsman

"A free society depends not only on rational philosophy, capitalist economics, and rights-respecting politics but a psychology of mental health rooted in self-esteem and its corollaries (self-confidence, self-responsibility, self-reliance). Many people are anxious, angry, and even phobic about living in a free, vibrant, dynamic culture. Preferring security to liberty, they lose both."

“For the past five years at Duke University, I’ve conducted a popular seminar which assesses both the pros and cons of capitalism. In this session, I recount the seminar’s origins, share the syllabus, review the readings, and convey some student reactions. My introduction reads: ‘Capitalism is a formidable and durable social system worthy of scientific, objective study. Only three centuries old, it has both proponents and opponents, each wielding strong and weak arguments. In this seminar, we investigate, analyze, and debate the nature of capitalism and assess the validity (or not) of various pro-con claims.’”

A free society welcomes manageable flows of goods, capital, and people over its borders, whether incoming or outgoing. A state is defined as the institution with a monopoly on the legitimate use of retaliatory force within a specific territory – and the last feature requires fixed and protected borders. An indispensable job of a legitimate government includes managing the borders, setting liberal terms, processing the flows, and interdicting dangers (hostile actors, transmissible diseases). America’s most capitalist era (1865-1915) coincided with the “Ellis Island model” and we need that again, instead of the false choice of “open borders” (with no processing) or “closed borders” (with despotic-type walls).

Central banking is not—as most economists claim—a benign institution that ensures our economic and financial well-being. It is central planning applied to money and banking and as such it proliferates statist regimes, to the detriment of liberty and prosperity.

"AI is just a fancy name for automation—which is the embodiment of advanced human intelligence in tools and machines—and like all technology it should be welcomed, not feared, curbed, or banned. History shows that fire, the wheel, the gun, electricity, nuclear power, and many other technologies have been enormously beneficial to humans; that they’ve also been misused by evil actors only means we should prevent evil, not invention."

"The U.S. won the “Cold War” but hasn’t won a “hot” war since World War II. It’s been 0-5 since 1945. Korea. Viet Nam. The Gulf War. Iraq. Afghanistan. Why? The U.S. has had a large, strong economy, the best weaponry, and superb soldiers; yet it loses to far-inferior foes, costing thousands of American lives, trillions in American wealth, and a large measure of national pride. Instead of being guided by national self-interest, U.S. foreign policy embodies the alleged “nobility” of self-sacrifice (altruism) and thereby appeases and emboldens enemies. Presidents and military leaders (“top brass”) have accepted much of the anti-Americanism preached for years at universities and even in military academies. This can be fixed, but it’ll require a moral revolution – a case for both realism and egoism in foreign affairs." View Full Transcript Episode Transcript

“Critical Race Theory”(CRT) claims that contemporary America is systemically, institutionally, and structurally racist. In the same vein, President Obama in 2015 told NPR that in America “the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination in almost every institution of our lives is still part of our DNA. We are not cured.” In fact, only America’s South was systemically racist–-and not after the 1960s. CRT is not new but reflects an odd amalgam of false theories: Marxism (“inherent conflict”), Christianity(“original sin”), and determinism (“no one can choose to be color blind”). CRT demands that Americans become more race conscious than they are. Reason and volition are the antidotes to CRT (and racism)."

Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode from back in May of 2021 in which Dr. Salsman discusses the idea of free college, President Biden's proposal for student debt forgiveness, and what thoughtful students think about it: “For decades U.S. public policy has subsidized college tuition and professors’ research while guaranteeing a burgeoning pile of student loans,” says Salsman. “Now politicians and pundits of every persuasion demand tuition price controls or free tuition plus ‘forgiveness’ of student debt. Is there a link between the first set of policies (subsidies) and the second set? What are the moral, economic, and political arguments for and against making college “free” and canceling student debt? Is it possible both sets of policies are morally unjust, economically destructive, and politically coercive?”

Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode from back in April of 2021 in which Dr. Salsman discusses anti-capitalist aspects of the environmental movement: “Initially called the 'ecology' movement, proponents seemed merely to want cleaner air and water, for the benefit of humans (while denying that capitalism alone delivers it),” explains Salsman. “Before long, the movement became ‘environmentalism,’ with the premise that ‘nature’ has intrinsic value (apart from man) and man is non-natural (not part of nature, hence expendable).”

Join Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., in fresh episodes of Morals & Markets "From the Vault." These episodes were from early episodes of Morals & Markets from before it became a podcast. Tune in to this episode in which Dr. Salsman discusses PPE Programs at Universities: "Until recently, the social sciences in academic - philosophy, politics, and economics - have existed in narrowly-specialized silos, detached from each other (and from reality). Thankfully, in recent decades an interdisciplinary approach has evolved, in the form of "PPE" programs, with studies that conform far better to the real world. The best and brightest students are drawn tothis integrated, non-paritsan approach and profit by it. In this webinar, Dr. Salsman, who teaches in Duke's PPE program, discusses the origins, content, spread, and future of these programs."

FTX 是一家加密貨幣交易所，幾乎從 2019 年開始就是欺詐性的。它最近的破產表明，它搶劫了數百萬人和數十億美元，然後將大部分錢花在了民主黨人身上。FTX創始人Sam Bankman-Fried（SBF）用“有效利他主義”掩蓋了他的欺詐行為，這是一種來自學術哲學的偽道德計劃，與利己主義利潤最大化相反。利他主義被錯誤地視為對他人善意的道德。SBF知道他正在延續一場欺詐——首先是道德的，然後是財務上的：他說，EA是“我們喚醒西方人玩的這個愚蠢的遊戲，我們說的都是正確的垃圾，所以每個人都喜歡我們。

共和黨在最近的眾議院選舉中獲得了更多的選票（50MM對44MM），但其普遍預期的「紅色浪潮」並沒有實現。經過兩年的民主黨無能，腐敗和惡習 - 通貨膨脹處於40年來的最高水準，沒有經濟增長，猖獗的犯罪，邊境無政府狀態，公民自由攻擊，禁止化石燃料，公共補貼的生殖器切割 - 共和黨人只贏得了眾議院席位的微弱多數，並失去了參議院的一個席位。為什麼？共和黨候選人品質差？不，選舉舞弊？不夠。墮胎問題？可能。但最簡單的解釋可能是最好的：大多數美國選民更喜歡非理性的反資本主義政策。

ESG是一種快速傳播的政策病原體，被環保主義者和其他反資本主義者部署，以影響生活的方方面面，尤其是公司和政治治理。ESG優先考慮「環境，社會和治理」目標，以稀釋和污染積極的治理形式，特別是經濟中的股東模式和政治中基於權利的憲政主義。ESG病毒的必要解毒劑包括理性，正義，利潤動機和資本主義。

獲得政治青睞的親信不僅包括企業「肥貓」，還包括大學生和大學生。拜登總統最近下令單方面取消學生債務（每個借款人最多2萬美元），這將花費大約5000億至7500億美元。除了拜登、國會或某個機構是否有權取消債務的問題外，這項政策是公正的還是不公正的？實用還是不切實際？那些沒有上過大學，沒有借錢，或者還清債務的人呢？為什麼學生債務如此之高？華盛頓為什麼要參與其中？拜登的政策對國債意味著什麼？畢竟，如果華盛頓可以單方面放棄欠別人的錢，為什麼它不能對欠別人的錢做同樣的事情呢？

現在聽到市場「敗壞我們的道德」的說法已經司空見慣了。這種情緒源於一個錯誤的前提，即自私地追求我們的利益、價值觀、財產和幸福是低級的、粗暴的、庸俗的和不道德的。所謂的“更高”和“更高尚”的東西超越了我們的自我，超越了這個地球。事實上，市場——無論是物質價值還是無形價值的交換——都依賴並獎勵文明的態度和行為。市場是人性化的;它們體現了理性和客觀價值;他們奉行正義;它們需要互惠;他們邀請我們展示我們內在最好的一面;他們給我們上課;他們還排斥和懲罰那些試圖實踐主要惡習（撒謊、欺騙、嘶吼和搶劫）的人。

人們普遍但錯誤地認為，金融經濟資本家在意識形態上必然是親資本主義的。為什麼會這樣？到目前為止，「覺醒」的首席執行官被廣泛認可（並受到稱讚）是反資本主義的，包括違反他們對股東的信託義務。三分之一的財富500強CEO簡歷上的「工商管理碩士」（MBA）研究生學位是CEO覺醒趨勢的主要原因。在之前的會議中，我們討論了公司治理「利益相關者」模式的法西斯主義性質;在本次會議中，我們將討論MBA課程如何以及為什麼宣揚這種思想和其他侵蝕資本主義的想法。

所謂的“利益相關者資本主義”模式，一個矛盾的術語，正在迅速取代股東資本主義模式（冗餘）。利益相關者模型需要數十個壓力團體（包括政治家和監管機構）來決定公司必須做什麼，特別是如果這樣做不那麼理性，利潤較低，並且反對股東的目標。一個相關的名稱，“ESG”，是中國社會信用體系的新興美國版本。資本主義既需要私有制，也需要對生產資料的控制，而法西斯主義既需要私有制，也需要公共控制;後者是利益相關者主義的本質。

許多國家最近對俄羅斯實施了經濟制裁。這合適嗎？有效？在《戰爭的根源》（1966）一書中，安·蘭德（Ayn Rand）認為“資本主義外交政策的本質是自由貿易——即取消貿易壁壘、保護性關稅和特權——開放世界貿易路線，讓所有國家的普通公民之間直接打交道的自由國際交流和競爭。但她也反對美國與美國宣誓的死敵（例如蘇聯）進行貿易。在本次會議中，我們將討論經濟制裁是否/何時合理及其典型影響（無論好壞）。與保護主義措施一樣，制裁對強加者的傷害往往大於被施加者。

正如理性利己主義是指導個人生活的唯一適當的倫理，它也是一個國家與其他國家關係的唯一適當的倫理指南。美國的本質是它的自由、權利和資本主義制度;因此，美國的自身利益在於維護這些價值觀，既不犧牲也不放棄這些價值觀，特別是不是為了所謂的“人道主義”（利他主義）動機，只是為了説明受害的外國人。美國必須理性地識別其盟友和敵人，然後採取相應的行動。它絕不能為其他大多假裝主權的國家提供國防。理性的利己主義既不能為和平主義、孤立主義辯護，也不能為帝國主義辯護。美國不能保留自己的本質或制度，也不能在不遵循利己主義原則的情況下再次找到只打和贏得正確戰爭的方法。她一定是世界的道德典範，但絕不是世界的員警。