Are the OWS protesters angry about capitalism?
An economist friend drew my attention to this . I think it dates back to 1979 (the year I graduated from high school). It has gotten me to wonder about this Occupy [fill in the blank] movement鈥揳nd also how the point he is trying to make in this interview says about what the Occupy movement should really be about. Is it some inherent evil of capitalism that the 99 percent are outraged about? Is greed something you find only in capitalism and not in other economic structures? Is greed at all an essential quality of capitalism, or is it something a bit less evil鈥搒ay, 鈥渟elf interest鈥� in the utility maximizing or profit maximizing sense?
My daughter Emily (a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College) got me thinking about this last question. I have every incentive to pursue my 鈥渟elfish鈥� interests, optimizing with respect to market prices and my economic capacity. Does it mean I will not provide for my children or even other people鈥檚 children, or animals or the environment鈥搊r that I will argue that my taxes should be lower and my own part of government benefits larger? No, it depends on what is in my own individual utility function鈥搘hat makes me 鈥渉appy.鈥� Part of what may make some of us happy is a more equitable income distribution. (Economists model 鈥渁ltruism鈥� as having other people鈥檚 utility levels embedded within our own individual utility function.) Capitalism and the free market system are not necessarily incompatible with a more just society. It seems we might be blaming the economic system when the real problem is probably the political system. Neither an economic system nor a political system can change one鈥檚 basic human character. There will always be some not very nice and not very smart (i.e., not so 鈥渆volved鈥� or 鈥渃ivilized鈥�) people around, but society doesn鈥檛 have to fall because of them, depending on how much of a 鈥渟ay鈥� we give them in our society. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 the 鈥渇ault鈥� of a capitalist economic system at all.
It strikes me that the problem with our political system is that it鈥檚 become out of sync with our individual values鈥搕hose 鈥渟elfish鈥� interests (is that different from 鈥渟elf interests,鈥� btw?) that aren鈥檛 necessarily inconsistent with maximizing social welfare. Like Friedman says, there will always be many 鈥済reedy鈥� people in any kind of society鈥搄ust as much as there will always be many generous people in any kind of society. I鈥檇 like to believe that inherently, most of us are very 鈥済ood鈥� people. I think we鈥檙e very confused people though. We don鈥檛 know exactly what we want, and we don鈥檛 know how to communicate it within our political system. We鈥檙e easily told by our politicians and the media what we should want and value, rather than the other way around.
And then of course, there鈥檚 always my pitch for a 鈥渂enevolent dictatorship鈥� that I could fall back on鈥揺mphasis on 鈥渂enevolent.鈥� My daughter Emily points out that it is apparently the 鈥渇eminist鈥� in me that believes that that benevolent dictator would have to be a woman!
I find this question鈥揺xactly what are we outraged about and protesting about in the 鈥淥ccupy鈥� movement鈥搒o fascinating. I find this Friedman video so thought provoking. What do you think? Is it greedy capitalism, our dysfunctional political system, or some inherent human weakness in all of us? Please discuss!
