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Ayn Rand - What Is Capitalism? (full course) — Transcript

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  1. 0:01ladies and gentlemen is Iron Man
  2. 0:04[Applause]
  3. 0:16[Music]
  4. 0:19ladies and gentlemen to begin at the
  5. 0:24beginning in once approach to political
  6. 0:27economy and to the evaluation of various
  7. 0:30social systems one must begin by
  8. 0:34identifying man's nature that is those
  9. 0:37essential characteristics which
  10. 0:40distinguish him from all other living
  11. 0:42species man's essential characteristic
  12. 0:46is his rational faculty man's mind is
  13. 0:49his basic means of survival his only
  14. 0:53means of gaining knowledge
  15. 0:55[Music]
  16. 1:01men cannot provide for his simplest
  17. 1:04physical needs without a process of
  18. 1:06thought he needs a process of thought to
  19. 1:12discover how to plant and grow his food
  20. 1:15or how to make weapons for hunting
  21. 1:18he needs a process of thought to
  22. 1:20discover how to light a fire how to
  23. 1:23weave cloth how to forge tools how to
  24. 1:28make a will how to make an airplane how
  25. 1:32to perform an appendectomy how to
  26. 1:36produce an electric light or an
  27. 1:38electronic tube or a cyclotron or a box
  28. 1:42of matches yet his life depends on such
  29. 1:45knowledge and only evolutional advocates
  30. 1:49consciousness a process of thought can
  31. 1:52provide
  32. 1:53a process of thought is an enormous ly
  33. 1:56complex process of identification and
  34. 1:59integration which only an individual
  35. 2:02mind can perform there is no such thing
  36. 2:07as a collective brain men can learn from
  37. 2:12one another but learning requires a
  38. 2:14process of thought on the part of every
  39. 2:17individual student man can cooperate in
  40. 2:20the discovery of new knowledge but such
  41. 2:23cooperation requires the independent
  42. 2:26exercise of his rational faculty by
  43. 2:29every individual scientist man is the
  44. 2:33only living species that can transmit
  45. 2:35and expand his store of knowledge from
  46. 2:38generation to generation
  47. 2:40but such transmission requires a process
  48. 2:44of thought on the part of the individual
  49. 2:47recipients as witness the breakdowns of
  50. 2:51civilization the dark ages in the
  51. 2:54history of mankind's progress when the
  52. 2:56accumulated knowledge of centuries
  53. 2:59vanished from the lives of men who were
  54. 3:02unable unwilling or forbidden to think
  55. 3:09[Music]
  56. 3:11in order to sustain his life every
  57. 3:15living species has to follow a certain
  58. 3:17course of action required by its nature
  59. 3:21the action required to sustain human
  60. 3:24life is primarily intellectual
  61. 3:28everything man needs has to be
  62. 3:30discovered by his mind and produced by
  63. 3:33his effort production is the application
  64. 3:38of reason to the problem of survival if
  65. 3:44some men do not choose the thing they
  66. 3:47can survive only by imitating and
  67. 3:50repeating a routine of work discovered
  68. 3:53by others but those others had to
  69. 3:56discover it or none would have survived
  70. 3:59if some men do not choose to think or to
  71. 4:03work they can survive temporarily only
  72. 4:07by looting the goods produced by others
  73. 4:10but those others had to produce them or
  74. 4:13none would have survived regardless of
  75. 4:17what choice is made in this issue by any
  76. 4:20man or by any number of men regardless
  77. 4:24of what blind irrational or evil course
  78. 4:27they may choose to pursue the fact
  79. 4:30remains that reason is man's means of
  80. 4:34survival and that men prosper or fail
  81. 4:37survive or perish in proportion to
  82. 4:40degree of their rationality
  83. 4:46since knowledge thinking and rational
  84. 4:50actions are properties of the individual
  85. 4:53since the choice to exercise his
  86. 4:56rational faculty or not depends on the
  87. 5:00individual man survival requires that
  88. 5:04those who think be free of the
  89. 5:06interference of those who don't
  90. 5:11since men are neither omniscient or
  91. 5:14infallible they must be free to agree or
  92. 5:17disagree to cooperate or to pursue their
  93. 5:21own independent course each according to
  94. 5:25his own rational judgment freedom is the
  95. 5:29fundamental requirement of man's mind
  96. 5:34a rational mind does not work under
  97. 5:38compulsion it does not subordinate its
  98. 5:41grasp of reality to anyone's orders
  99. 5:44directives or controls it does not
  100. 5:48sacrifice its knowledge its view of the
  101. 5:51truth to anyone's opinions threats
  102. 5:54wishes plans or welfare such a mind may
  103. 5:59be hampered by others it may be silenced
  104. 6:02proscribed imprisoned or destroyed it
  105. 6:06cannot be forced a gun is not an
  106. 6:10identity the social recognition of man's
  107. 6:21rational nature of the connection
  108. 6:24between his survival and his use of
  109. 6:26reason is the concept of individual
  110. 6:29rights rights are a moral principle
  111. 6:34defining and sanctioning a man's freedom
  112. 6:37of action in a social context
  113. 6:39[Music]
  114. 6:43they are derived from man's nature as a
  115. 6:46rational being and represents a
  116. 6:48necessary condition of his particular
  117. 6:51mode of survival the right to life is
  118. 6:54the source of all rights including the
  119. 6:57right to property for a fuller
  120. 7:00discussion of Rights I refer you to my
  121. 7:02articles on men's rights and the nature
  122. 7:05of government in my book capitalism the
  123. 7:09unknown ideal in regard to political
  124. 7:13economy property rights require special
  125. 7:17emphasis man has to work and produce in
  126. 7:21order to support his life he has to
  127. 7:24support his life by his own effort and
  128. 7:26by the guidance of his own mind if he
  129. 7:30cannot dispose of the product of his
  130. 7:32effort he cannot dispose of his effort
  131. 7:35if he cannot dispose of his effort he
  132. 7:38cannot dispose of his life without
  133. 7:41property rights no other rights can be
  134. 7:45practiced
  135. 7:48now bearing these facts in mind consider
  136. 7:53the question of what social system is
  137. 7:56appropriate to men a social system is a
  138. 8:01set of moral political economic
  139. 8:04principles embodied in society's laws
  140. 8:07institutions and government which
  141. 8:10determined the relationships the terms
  142. 8:12of association among the men living in a
  143. 8:16given geographical area
  144. 8:20there are only two fundamental questions
  145. 8:24or two aspects of the same question that
  146. 8:28determine the nature of any social
  147. 8:31system does a social system recognize
  148. 8:36individual rights and does a social
  149. 8:40system ban physical force from human
  150. 8:44relationships the answer to the second
  151. 8:47question is the practical implementation
  152. 8:50of the answer to the first
  153. 8:55is man a sovereign individual who owns
  154. 8:59his person his mind his life his work
  155. 9:02and its product or is he the property of
  156. 9:05the tribe the state the society the
  157. 9:09collective that may dispose of him in
  158. 9:11any way it places that may dictate his
  159. 9:14convictions prescribed the course of his
  160. 9:17life control his work and expropriate
  161. 9:20his product does men have the right to
  162. 9:25exist for his own sake or is he born in
  163. 9:29bondage as an indentured servant who
  164. 9:32must keep buying his life by serving the
  165. 9:36tribe but can never acquire it free and
  166. 9:39clear this is the first question to
  167. 9:43answer
  168. 9:43the rest is consequences and practical
  169. 9:47implementations the basic issue is only
  170. 9:51is man free in mankind's history
  171. 9:57capitalism is the only system that
  172. 10:00answers yes
  173. 10:06capitalism is a social system based on
  174. 10:09the recognition of individual rights
  175. 10:12including property rights in which all
  176. 10:16property is privately owned
  177. 10:21the recognition of individual rights and
  178. 10:24Tails the banishment of physical force
  179. 10:27from human relationships
  180. 10:28basically rights can be violated only by
  181. 10:32means of force in a capitalist society
  182. 10:36no man or group may initiate the use of
  183. 10:40physical force against others the only
  184. 10:44function of the government in such a
  185. 10:46society is the task of protecting men's
  186. 10:50rights that is the task of protecting
  187. 10:53him from physical force the government
  188. 10:57acts as the agent of man's right of
  189. 11:00self-defense and may use force only in
  190. 11:04retaliation and only against those who
  191. 11:08initiate its use thus the government is
  192. 11:12the means of placing the retaliatory use
  193. 11:15of course under objective control it is
  194. 11:21the basic metaphysical fact of man's
  195. 11:24nature the connection between his
  196. 11:27survival and his use of reason that
  197. 11:30capitalism recognizes and protects in a
  198. 11:35capitalist society all human
  199. 11:38relationships are voluntary men are free
  200. 11:42to cooperate or not to deal with one
  201. 11:45another or not as their own individual
  202. 11:48judgments convictions and interested
  203. 11:51date they can deal with one another only
  204. 11:55in terms of and by means of reason that
  205. 11:59is by means of discussion persuasion and
  206. 12:03contractual agreement by a voluntary
  207. 12:06choice to mutual benefit the right to
  208. 12:10agree with others is not a problem in
  209. 12:13any society it is the right to disagree
  210. 12:17that is crucial it is the institution of
  211. 12:21private property that protects and
  212. 12:25implements the right to disagree and
  213. 12:27thus keeps the road open to man's most
  214. 12:31valuable attribute the key
  215. 12:34mind this is the Cardinal difference
  216. 12:39between capitalism and any form of
  217. 12:42collectivism the moral justification of
  218. 12:49capitalism does not lie in the altruist
  219. 12:52claim that it represents the best way to
  220. 12:55achieve the common good it is true that
  221. 12:59capitalism does if that catchphrase has
  222. 13:03any meaning but this is merely a
  223. 13:06secondary consequence the moral
  224. 13:09justification of capitalism lies in the
  225. 13:12fact that it is the only system
  226. 13:15consonant with man's rational nature
  227. 13:18that it protects man's survival qua men
  228. 13:22and that its ruling principle is justice
  229. 13:29every social system is based explicitly
  230. 13:33or implicitly on some theory of ethics
  231. 13:37the tribal notion of the common good has
  232. 13:42served as the moral justification of
  233. 13:44most social systems and of all tyrannies
  234. 13:48in history the degree of a society's
  235. 13:52enslavement or freedom corresponded to
  236. 13:55the degree to which that tribal slogan
  237. 13:58was involved or ignored the common good
  238. 14:02or the public interest is an undefined
  239. 14:07an undefinable concept there is no such
  240. 14:12entity as the tribe or the public the
  241. 14:16tribe or the public or society is only a
  242. 14:21number of individual men nothing can be
  243. 14:25good for the tribe as such
  244. 14:28good and value pertain only to a living
  245. 14:33organism to an individual living
  246. 14:36organism not to a disembodied aggregates
  247. 14:40of relationships when the common good of
  248. 14:46a society is regarded as something apart
  249. 14:50from and superior to the individual good
  250. 14:53of its members it means that the good of
  251. 14:57some men takes precedence over the good
  252. 15:00of others with those others consigned to
  253. 15:04the status of sacrificial animals what
  254. 15:09makes the victims accept it and permit a
  255. 15:13society to perpetrate a moral atrocity
  256. 15:17of that kind the answer lies in
  257. 15:22philosophy in philosophical theories on
  258. 15:25the nature of moral values there are in
  259. 15:34essence three schools of thought on the
  260. 15:37nature of the good the intrinsic the
  261. 15:40subjective and the objective the
  262. 15:43intrinsic theory holds that the good is
  263. 15:47inherent in certain things or actions as
  264. 15:51such regardless of their context and
  265. 15:54consequences regardless of any benefit
  266. 15:58or injury they may cause to the actors
  267. 16:01and subjects involved it is a theory
  268. 16:06that divorces the concept of good from
  269. 16:09beneficiaries and the concept of value
  270. 16:12from value and purpose claiming that the
  271. 16:17good is good in by and of itself the
  272. 16:23subjective theory holds that the good
  273. 16:26bears no relation to the facts of
  274. 16:29reality that it is the product of a
  275. 16:32man's consciousness created by his
  276. 16:35feelings desires intuitions or whims and
  277. 16:39that it is merely and
  278. 16:41arbitrary posture or an emotional
  279. 16:44commitment the intrinsic theory holds
  280. 16:50that the good resides in some sort of
  281. 16:53reality independent of man's
  282. 16:56consciousness the subjective theory
  283. 16:59holds that the good resides in man's
  284. 17:01consciousness independent of reality the
  285. 17:07objective theory holds that the good is
  286. 17:10neither an attribute of things in
  287. 17:13themselves nor of men's emotional states
  288. 17:18but an evaluation of the facts of
  289. 17:22reality by man's consciousness according
  290. 17:27to a rational standard of valid
  291. 17:30rational in this context means derived
  292. 17:34from the facts of reality and validated
  293. 17:38by a process of reason the objective
  294. 17:43theory holds that the good is an aspect
  295. 17:47of reality in relation to men and that
  296. 17:51it must be discovered not invented by
  297. 17:55men fundamental to an objective theory
  298. 17:59of values is the question of value to
  299. 18:04whom and for what an objective Theory
  300. 18:08does not permit context dropping or
  301. 18:11concept stealing it does not permit the
  302. 18:14separation of value from purpose of the
  303. 18:19good from benefices and of man's actions
  304. 18:22from reason of all the social systems in
  305. 18:27mankind's history capitalism is the only
  306. 18:31system based on an objective theory of
  307. 18:36values the intrinsic theory and the
  308. 18:41subjectivist theory or a mixture of both
  309. 18:44are the necessary base of every
  310. 18:47dictatorship tyranny or variant of the
  311. 18:50absolute state whether they are held
  312. 18:53consciously
  313. 18:55subconsciously in the explicit form of a
  314. 18:59philosophers treatise or in the implicit
  315. 19:02cares of its occurs in an average man's
  316. 19:06feelings these theories make it possible
  317. 19:09for a man to believe that the good is
  318. 19:13independent of man's mind and can be
  319. 19:16achieved by physical force if a man
  320. 19:21believes that the good is intrinsic in
  321. 19:24certain actions he will not hesitate to
  322. 19:28force others to perform them if he
  323. 19:31believes that the human benefit or
  324. 19:33injury caused by such actions is of no
  325. 19:37significance
  326. 19:38he will regard a sea of blood as of no
  327. 19:41significance if he believes that the
  328. 19:44beneficiaries of such actions are
  329. 19:47irrelevant or interchangeable he will
  330. 19:51regard a wholesale slaughter as his
  331. 19:54moral duty in the service of a quote
  332. 19:58higher good unquote it is the intrinsic
  333. 20:03theory of values that produces a robbed
  334. 20:07spear a Lenin Stalin or a Hitler
  335. 20:11it is not an accident that Eichmann was
  336. 20:16a Kantian if a man believes that the
  337. 20:22good is a matter of arbitrary subjective
  338. 20:25choice the issue of good or evil becomes
  339. 20:29for him an issue of my feelings or
  340. 20:33there's no bridge understanding or
  341. 20:38communication is possible to him reason
  342. 20:42is the only means of communication among
  343. 20:45men and an objectively perceivable
  344. 20:49reality is their only common frame of
  345. 20:53reference when these are invalidated
  346. 20:57that is held to be irrelevant in the
  347. 21:00field of morality force becomes man's
  348. 21:04only way of dealing with one another
  349. 21:07if the subjectivist wants to pursue some
  350. 21:11social ideal of his own he feels morally
  351. 21:16entitled to force man what for their own
  352. 21:19good
  353. 21:20unquote since he feels that he is right
  354. 21:24and that there is nothing to oppose him
  355. 21:27but their misguided feelings
  356. 21:30thus in practice the proponents of the
  357. 21:35intrinsic and the subjective schools
  358. 21:38meet and blend it is doubtful whether
  359. 21:44anyone can hold either of the theories
  360. 21:47as an actual if mistaken conviction but
  361. 21:52both serve as a rationalization of power
  362. 21:56lust and a rule by brute force
  363. 22:00unleashing the potential dictator and
  364. 22:03disarming his victims the objective
  365. 22:10theory of values is the only moral
  366. 22:13theory incompatible with rule by force
  367. 22:18capitalism is the only system based
  368. 22:22implicitly on an objective theory of
  369. 22:25values and the historic tragedy is that
  370. 22:29this has never been made explicit if one
  371. 22:35knows that the good is objective that is
  372. 22:39determined by the nature of reality but
  373. 22:43to be discovered by man's mind one knows
  374. 22:47that an attempt to achieve the good by
  375. 22:50physical force is a monstrous
  376. 22:53contradiction in terms which negates
  377. 22:56morality at its root by destroying man's
  378. 23:00capacity to recognize the good that is
  379. 23:03his capacity to value force invalidates
  380. 23:08and paralyzes a man's judgment demanding
  381. 23:12that he act against it thus rendering
  382. 23:15him morally impotent
  383. 23:18a value which one is forced to accept at
  384. 23:22the price of surrendering one's mind is
  385. 23:25not a value to anyone
  386. 23:28the forcibly mindless can neither judge
  387. 23:31nor choose nor value an attempt to
  388. 23:35achieve the good by force is like an
  389. 23:38attempt to provide a man with a picture
  390. 23:41gallery at the price of cutting out his
  391. 23:44eyes values cannot exist cannot be
  392. 23:48valued outside the full context of a
  393. 23:52man's life needs goals and knowledge the
  394. 23:59objective view of values permeates the
  395. 24:03entire structure of a capitalist society
  396. 24:07the recognition of individual rights
  397. 24:11implies the recognition of the fact that
  398. 24:14the good is not an ineffable abstraction
  399. 24:18in some supernatural dimension but a
  400. 24:21value pertaining to reality to this
  401. 24:24earth to the lives of individual human
  402. 24:28beings note the right to the pursuit of
  403. 24:32happiness it implies that the good
  404. 24:35cannot be divorced from beneficiaries
  405. 24:38that men are not to be regarded as
  406. 24:41interchangeable and that no man or tribe
  407. 24:45may attempt to achieve the good of some
  408. 24:48at the price of the emulation of others
  409. 24:55the free market represents the social
  410. 24:58application of an objective theory of
  411. 25:02values since values are to be discovered
  412. 25:06by man's mind men must be free to
  413. 25:09discover them to think to study to
  414. 25:12translate their knowledge into physical
  415. 25:14form to offer their products for trade
  416. 25:18to judge them and to choose be it a
  417. 25:22material goods or an idea a loaf of
  418. 25:26bread or a philosophical treatise since
  419. 25:30values are established contextually
  420. 25:32every man must judge for himself in the
  421. 25:36context of his own knowledge goals and
  422. 25:39interests since values are determined by
  423. 25:43the nature of reality it is reality that
  424. 25:47serves as man's ultimate arbiter if a
  425. 25:51man's judgment is right the rewards are
  426. 25:54his if it is wrong he is his only victim
  427. 25:59it is in regard to a free market that
  428. 26:02the distinction between an intrinsic
  429. 26:06subjective and objective view of values
  430. 26:09is particularly important to understand
  431. 26:13the market value of a product is not an
  432. 26:17intrinsic value not a value in itself
  433. 26:21hanging in a vacuum every market never
  434. 26:25loses sight of the question of value to
  435. 26:29whom and within the broad field of
  436. 26:33objectivity the market value of a
  437. 26:36product does not reflect its
  438. 26:40philosophically objective value but only
  439. 26:43its socially objective value
  440. 26:47by philosophically objective I mean a
  441. 26:51value estimated from the standpoint of
  442. 26:55the best possible to men that is by the
  443. 26:58criterion of the most rational mind
  444. 27:01possessing the greatest knowledge in a
  445. 27:04given category in a given period and in
  446. 27:07a defined context nothing can be
  447. 27:10estimated in an undefined context for
  448. 27:14instance it can be rationally proved
  449. 27:17that the airplane is objectively of
  450. 27:21immeasurably greater value to men to men
  451. 27:24at his best than the bicycle and that
  452. 27:28the works of Victor Hugo are objectively
  453. 27:32of immeasurably greater values and true
  454. 27:35confession magazines but if a given
  455. 27:41man's intellectual potential can barely
  456. 27:45manage to enjoy true confessions there
  457. 27:48is no reason why his meager earnings the
  458. 27:52product of his effort should be spent on
  459. 27:55books he cannot read or on subsidizing
  460. 27:59the airplane industry if his own
  461. 28:02transportation needs do not extend
  462. 28:05beyond the range of a bicycle nor is
  463. 28:10there any reason why the rest of mankind
  464. 28:13should be held down to the level of his
  465. 28:16literary taste his engineering capacity
  466. 28:19and his income values are not determined
  467. 28:25by fired nor by majority rule just as
  468. 28:29the number of its adherents is not a
  469. 28:32proof of an ideas truth or falsehood of
  470. 28:36an art works merit or demerit of a
  471. 28:40products efficacy or in efficacy so the
  472. 28:44free market value of goods or services
  473. 28:47does not necessarily represent their
  474. 28:51philosophically objective value but only
  475. 28:54is their socially objective value
  476. 28:57that is the sum of the individual
  477. 29:01judgments of all the men involved in
  478. 29:04trade at a given time the sum of what
  479. 29:08they valued each in the context of his
  480. 29:12own life
  481. 29:14thus a manufacturer of lipstick
  482. 29:17may well make a greater fortune than a
  483. 29:20manufacturer of microscopes even though
  484. 29:23it can be rationally demonstrated that
  485. 29:26microscopes are scientifically more
  486. 29:29valuable than lipstick but valuable to
  487. 29:34whom a microscope is of no value to a
  488. 29:38little stenographer struggling to make
  489. 29:40living a lipstick to her may mean the
  490. 29:45difference between self confidence and
  491. 29:47self doubt between glamour and Rajai
  492. 29:51this does not mean however that the
  493. 29:54various ruling a free-market are
  494. 29:56subjective if the stenographer spends
  495. 29:59all her money on cosmetics and has none
  496. 30:03left to pay for the use of a microscope
  497. 30:05for a visit to the doctor when she needs
  498. 30:09it she learns a better method of
  499. 30:12budgeting her income the free market
  500. 30:16serves as her teacher she has no way to
  501. 30:19penalize others for her mistakes if she
  502. 30:24budgets rationally the microscope is
  503. 30:26always available to serve her own
  504. 30:29specific needs and no more as far as she
  505. 30:33is concerned she is not taxed to support
  506. 30:38an entire Hospital a research laboratory
  507. 30:41or a spaceships journey to the moon
  508. 30:44within her own productive power she does
  509. 30:47pay a part of the cost of scientific
  510. 30:51achievements when and as she needs a she
  511. 30:54has no social duty her own life is her
  512. 30:59only responsibility and the only thing
  513. 31:02that the capitalist system requires of
  514. 31:05her is the thing that nature requires
  515. 31:08rationality that is that she live an act
  516. 31:12to the best of her own judgment within
  517. 31:17every category of goods and services
  518. 31:20offered on a free market it is the
  519. 31:24purveyor of the best product at the
  520. 31:27cheapest price who wins the greatest
  521. 31:30financial rewards in that field not
  522. 31:34automatically nor immediately nor by
  523. 31:37fire but by virtue of the free market
  524. 31:41which teaches every participant to look
  525. 31:44for the objective best within the
  526. 31:47category of his own competence and
  527. 31:51penalizes those who act on irrational
  528. 31:54considerations now observe that the free
  529. 31:58market does not level man down to some
  530. 32:01common denominator that the intellectual
  531. 32:05criteria of the majority do not rule
  532. 32:08every market or a free society and that
  533. 32:12the exceptional man the innovators the
  534. 32:15intellectual Giants are not held down by
  535. 32:19the majority in fact it is the members
  536. 32:23of this exceptional minority who lift
  537. 32:27the whole of a free society to the level
  538. 32:30of their own achievements while rising
  539. 32:33further and ever further a free market
  540. 32:39is a continuous process that cannot be
  541. 32:43held still and upward crosses the
  542. 32:46demands the best the most rational of
  543. 32:49everyman and rewards him accordingly
  544. 32:53while the majority have barely
  545. 32:56assimilated the value of the automobile
  546. 32:59the creative minority introduces the
  547. 33:02airplane the majority learn by
  548. 33:06demonstration the minority is free to
  549. 33:09demonstrate
  550. 33:10the philosophically objective value of a
  551. 33:15new product serves as the teacher for
  552. 33:18those who are willing to exercise their
  553. 33:21rational faculty each to the extent of
  554. 33:24his ability those who are unwilling
  555. 33:27remain unrewarded as well as those who
  556. 33:32aspire to more than their ability
  557. 33:35produces the stagnant the irrational the
  558. 33:40subjectivist have no power to stop their
  559. 33:43betters the small minority of adults who
  560. 33:48are unable rather than unwilling to work
  561. 33:51have to rely on voluntary charity
  562. 33:55misfortune is not a claim to slave labor
  563. 34:00there is no such thing as the right to
  564. 34:03consume control and destroys those
  565. 34:06without whom one would not be able to
  566. 34:10survive
  567. 34:11as to depressions and mass unemployment
  568. 34:15they are not caused by the free market
  569. 34:18but by government interference into the
  570. 34:22economy the mental parasites the
  571. 34:27imitators who attempt to cater to what
  572. 34:30they think is the public's known tastes
  573. 34:33are constantly being beaten by the
  574. 34:36innovators whose products
  575. 34:39praise the public's knowledge and taste
  576. 34:41to ever higher levels it is in this
  577. 34:45sense that the free market is ruled not
  578. 34:48by the consumers but by the producers
  579. 34:51the most successful ones are those who
  580. 34:55discover new fields of production fields
  581. 34:58which had not been known to exist a
  582. 35:01given product may not be appreciated at
  583. 35:05once particularly if it is too radical
  584. 35:08and innovation but barring irrelevant
  585. 35:13accidents it wins in the long run it is
  586. 35:17in this sense that the free market is
  587. 35:20not ruled by the intellectual criteria
  588. 35:23of the majority which prevail only at
  589. 35:27and for any given moment the free market
  590. 35:32is ruled by those who are able to see
  591. 35:35and plan long range and the better the
  592. 35:39mind the longer during the economic
  593. 35:45value of a man's work is determined on a
  594. 35:49free market by a single principle by the
  595. 35:53voluntary consent of those who are
  596. 35:56willing to trade him their work or
  597. 35:58products in return this is the moral
  598. 36:02meaning of the law of supply and demand
  599. 36:06it represents the total rejection of two
  600. 36:10vicious doctrines the tribal premise and
  601. 36:14altruism
  602. 36:16it represents the recognition of the
  603. 36:18fact that man is not the property not
  604. 36:22the servant of the tribe that a man
  605. 36:25works in order to support his own life
  606. 36:28as by his nature he must that he has to
  607. 36:32be guided by his own rational
  608. 36:34self-interest and if he wants to trade
  609. 36:38with others he cannot expect sacrificial
  610. 36:42victims that is he cannot expect to
  611. 36:45receive values without trading
  612. 36:48commensurate values in return the sole
  613. 36:52criterion of what is commensurate in
  614. 36:55this context is the free voluntary
  615. 36:59uncoerced judgment of the traders
  616. 37:05the Magnificent progress achieved by
  617. 37:09capitalism in a brief span of time the
  618. 37:13spectacular improvement in the
  619. 37:15conditions of man's existence on earth
  620. 37:17is a matter of historical record it is
  621. 37:21not to be hidden evaded or explained
  622. 37:24away by all the propaganda of
  623. 37:27capitalism's enemies but what needs
  624. 37:30special emphasis is the fact that this
  625. 37:34progress was achieved by non sacrificial
  626. 37:38means progress cannot be achieved by
  627. 37:43force privations by squeezing a so
  628. 37:47called social surplus out of starving
  629. 37:50victims progress can come only out of
  630. 37:55individual surplus that is from the work
  631. 37:58the energy the creative overabundance of
  632. 38:02those men whose ability produces more
  633. 38:05than their personal consumption requires
  634. 38:08those who are intellectually and
  635. 38:11financially able to seek the new to
  636. 38:14improve on the known to move forward in
  637. 38:19a capitalist society where such men are
  638. 38:22free to function and to take their own
  639. 38:25risks progress is not a matter of
  640. 38:29sacrificing to some distant future it is
  641. 38:32part of the living present it is the
  642. 38:35normal and natural it is achieved as and
  643. 38:39while men live and enjoy their lives now
  644. 38:45consider the alternative the tribal
  645. 38:48society where all men throw their
  646. 38:52efforts values ambitions and goals into
  647. 38:55a tribal poo or common pot then wait
  648. 38:59hungrily at its rim while the leader of
  649. 39:02a clique of cooks stirs it with a
  650. 39:05bayonet in one hand and a blank check on
  651. 39:09all their lives in the other the most
  652. 39:12consistent example of such a system is
  653. 39:16the union of socialists
  654. 39:18republics half a century ago the Soviet
  655. 39:24rulers commanded their subjects to be
  656. 39:26patient bear privations and make
  657. 39:30sacrifices for the sake of
  658. 39:33industrializing the country promising
  659. 39:36that this was only temporary
  660. 39:38that industrialization would bring some
  661. 39:41abundance and Soviet progress would
  662. 39:44surpass the capitalistic West today
  663. 39:49Soviet Russia is still unable to feed
  664. 39:53her people while the rulers scrambled to
  665. 39:56copy borrow or steal the technological
  666. 40:00achievements of the West's
  667. 40:02industrialization is not a static goal
  668. 40:06it is a dynamic process with a rapid
  669. 40:10rate of obsolescence
  670. 40:12so the retched serves of a plan
  671. 40:16tribal economy who starved while waiting
  672. 40:19for electric generators and tractors are
  673. 40:23now starving while waiting for atomic
  674. 40:26power and interplanetary travel thus in
  675. 40:31a people's state the progress of science
  676. 40:36is a threat to the people and every
  677. 40:39advance is taken out of the people's
  678. 40:42shrinking Heights this was not the
  679. 40:47history of capitalism
  680. 40:51America's abundance was not created by
  681. 40:55public sacrifices to the common good but
  682. 40:59by the productive genius of freemen who
  683. 41:03pursued their own personal interests and
  684. 41:06the making of their own private fortunes
  685. 41:11they did not starve the people to pay
  686. 41:14for America's industrialization they
  687. 41:18gave the people better jobs higher wages
  688. 41:21and cheaper goods with every new
  689. 41:25machines they invented with every
  690. 41:28scientific discovery or technological
  691. 41:31advance and thus the whole country was
  692. 41:35moving forward and profiting not
  693. 41:38suffering every step of the way do not
  694. 41:50however make the error of reversing
  695. 41:53cause and effect the good of the country
  696. 41:57was made possible precisely by the fact
  697. 42:01that it was not forced on anyone as a
  698. 42:05moral goal or duty it was merely an
  699. 42:09effect the cause was a man's right to
  700. 42:13pursue his own good it is this right not
  701. 42:18its consequences that represents the
  702. 42:21moral justification of capitalism
  703. 42:24but this right is incompatible with the
  704. 42:29intrinsic or the subjective theory of
  705. 42:32values with the altruist morality and
  706. 42:35the tribal premise it is obvious which
  707. 42:40human attribute one rejects when one
  708. 42:44rejects objectivity and in view of
  709. 42:48capitalism's record it is obvious
  710. 42:51against which human attribute the
  711. 42:53authorized morality and the tribal
  712. 42:56premise stand united against man's mind
  713. 43:01against intelligence particularly
  714. 43:04against intelligence apply to the
  715. 43:07problems of human survival that is
  716. 43:11productive ability while altruism seeks
  717. 43:16to rob intelligence of its rewards by
  718. 43:20asserting that the moral duty of the
  719. 43:22competent is to serve the incompetent
  720. 43:25and sacrifice themselves to anyone's
  721. 43:28need the tribal premise goes a step
  722. 43:32further it denies the existence of
  723. 43:36intelligence and of its role in the
  724. 43:39production of wealth it is morally
  725. 43:43obscene to regard wealth as an anonymous
  726. 43:48tribal product and to talk about
  727. 43:52redistributing it the view that wealth
  728. 43:55is the result of some undifferentiated
  729. 43:58collective process that we all did
  730. 44:02something and it's impossible to tell
  731. 44:04who did what therefore some sort of
  732. 44:07equalitarian distribution is necessary
  733. 44:10might have been appropriate in the
  734. 44:14primordial jungle with a savage horde
  735. 44:17moving borders by crude physical labor
  736. 44:20though even there someone had to
  737. 44:23initiate and organize the moving
  738. 44:26to hold that view in an industrial
  739. 44:30society where individual achievements
  740. 44:34are a matter of public record is so
  741. 44:37crass innovation that even to give it
  742. 44:40the benefit of the doubt is an obscenity
  743. 44:44observe how seldom and how inadequately
  744. 44:49the issue of human intelligence is
  745. 44:52discussed in the writings of the tribal
  746. 44:55status altruist irritations observe how
  747. 45:00carefully today's advocates of a mixed
  748. 45:03economy avoid and evade any mention of
  749. 45:07intelligence or ability in their
  750. 45:10approach to political economic issues in
  751. 45:14their claims demands and pressure group
  752. 45:17warfare over the looting of the court
  753. 45:21total social product first quarter it is
  754. 45:25often asked why was capitalism destroyed
  755. 45:29in spite of its incomparably be netizen
  756. 45:32record the answer lies in the realm of
  757. 45:36philosophy capitalism could not survive
  758. 45:41in a culture dominated by mysticism and
  759. 45:45altruism no social system and no human
  760. 45:49institution or activity of any kind can
  761. 45:52survive without a moral base on the
  762. 45:56basis of the altruist morality
  763. 45:59capitalism had to be and was them from
  764. 46:03the start
  765. 46:05the guiltiest men today are not the
  766. 46:10collectivist
  767. 46:11the guiltiest men are those who lacking
  768. 46:16the courage to challenge mysticism and
  769. 46:19altruism attempt to bypass the issues of
  770. 46:23reason and morality and attempt to
  771. 46:27defend the only rational and moral
  772. 46:30system in mankind's history capitalism
  773. 46:34on any grounds other than rational and
  774. 46:38moral thank you
  775. 47:00you

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