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fee.org/articles/young-people-reject-capitalism-in-name-socialism-in-fact/
Millennials Reject Capitalism in Name – but Socialism in Fact
Terminology Confuses Real Preferences
B.K. Marcus
excerpt:
“In an apparent rejection of the basic principles of the US economy,” writes Max Ehrenfreund at the Washington Post, “a new poll shows that most young people do not support capitalism.”
Notice the intimation that capitalism is the system we already have — not, as pro-capitalist philosopher Ayn Rand called it, the “unknown ideal.” But Ehrenfreund takes a half step back from the implication: “Capitalism can mean different things to different people.” Nevertheless, he concludes, “the newest generation of voters is frustrated with the status quo, broadly speaking.”
So we’re not entirely sure what “capitalism” means to those surveyed, but we think it has something to do with the system we currently live in. Young dissatisfaction with the status quo is probably a good thing, but the labels used in simplistic survey questions — and in headlines — just add ever more confusion to discussions of economic freedom.
As I wrote about my anti-capitalistic youth in “Why Students Give Capitalism an F,”
“Capitalism” was just the word we all used for whatever we didn’t like about the status quo, especially whatever struck us as promoting inequality. I had friends propose to me that we should consider the C-word a catchall for racism, patriarchy, and crony corporatism. If that’s what capitalism means, how could anyone be for it?
But even advocates of economic freedom are divided on the word capitalism. Some see it as the correct name for the system we support, including individual liberty, private property, and peaceful exchange. Of particular significance to Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, the term “refers to the most characteristic feature of the system, its main eminence, viz., the role the notion of capital plays in its conduct” (Human Action, chapter 13).
In other words, the profound abundance that the market has produced for all of us is the result of private investment and economic calculation.
Others point out that the term was coined by the enemies of the free market, and that it has too long a history as the designation for cozy business-government partnerships and legal privilege for the rich and powerful. (See FEE contributor Steven Horwitz’s “Is the Name ‘Capitalism’ Worth Keeping?”)
Millennials Reject Capitalism in Name – but Socialism in Fact
Terminology Confuses Real Preferences
B.K. Marcus
excerpt:
“In an apparent rejection of the basic principles of the US economy,” writes Max Ehrenfreund at the Washington Post, “a new poll shows that most young people do not support capitalism.”
Notice the intimation that capitalism is the system we already have — not, as pro-capitalist philosopher Ayn Rand called it, the “unknown ideal.” But Ehrenfreund takes a half step back from the implication: “Capitalism can mean different things to different people.” Nevertheless, he concludes, “the newest generation of voters is frustrated with the status quo, broadly speaking.”
So we’re not entirely sure what “capitalism” means to those surveyed, but we think it has something to do with the system we currently live in. Young dissatisfaction with the status quo is probably a good thing, but the labels used in simplistic survey questions — and in headlines — just add ever more confusion to discussions of economic freedom.
As I wrote about my anti-capitalistic youth in “Why Students Give Capitalism an F,”
“Capitalism” was just the word we all used for whatever we didn’t like about the status quo, especially whatever struck us as promoting inequality. I had friends propose to me that we should consider the C-word a catchall for racism, patriarchy, and crony corporatism. If that’s what capitalism means, how could anyone be for it?
But even advocates of economic freedom are divided on the word capitalism. Some see it as the correct name for the system we support, including individual liberty, private property, and peaceful exchange. Of particular significance to Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, the term “refers to the most characteristic feature of the system, its main eminence, viz., the role the notion of capital plays in its conduct” (Human Action, chapter 13).
In other words, the profound abundance that the market has produced for all of us is the result of private investment and economic calculation.
Others point out that the term was coined by the enemies of the free market, and that it has too long a history as the designation for cozy business-government partnerships and legal privilege for the rich and powerful. (See FEE contributor Steven Horwitz’s “Is the Name ‘Capitalism’ Worth Keeping?”)