The Rising Tide of Capitalism

The Rising Tide of Capitalism

The Quote by Adam Smith on the Rising Tide of Capitalism:

” It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labour, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.” -Adam Smith on the Rising Tide of Capitalism

My Take:

I love this quote by Adam Smith about the rising tide of capitalism from The Wealth of Nations because it shows exactly what the benefit of capitalism is.

At best, socialism or mercantilism keep the level of wealth in the world the same. Because of that, there are always masses of poor in those nations. No wealth is created to lift them out of poverty. That is where the rising tide of capitalism comes into play.

Capitalism, unlike socialism, helps the poor. As long as business owners are free to pay their workers what they please and don’t have to deal with ridiculous government regulations like the E-cig ban in Michigan, capitalism creates tremendous amounts of wealth in society.

That newly created wealth makes everyone richer. The producers who take on more risk earn more (which is why wealth inequality isn’t a problem), and they spend that money freely, thus boosting the economy.

In a socialist system, however, that is not the case. Instead of wealth being created, it is destroyed as bureaucrats waste it on ridiculous military and vanity projects, or through mismanagement. Hence why private companies always beat public projects.

A tremendous number of books show that. The Billionaire Raj and The Republic for which It Stands show how businesses thrive and the rising tide of capitalism “lifts all boats” and helps the poor. Atlas Shrugged and famous quotations from it, such as Francisco D’Anconia’s quote about money, show the deleterious effects of government regulation. And as this Adam Smith quote shows, The Wealth of Nations is a great resource to learn about why capitalism works.

If you care about helping the poor, support capitalism. The rising tide of capitalism will lift them out of poverty. Socialism will just make everyone poor because socialism is suicide. College conservatives need to make their peers see the value of capitalism over socialism when it comes to diminishing poverty.

The only way to do so is to constantly defend it, especially through the use of well thought out quotations such as this Adam Smith one on the rising tide of capitalism.

We must defend the idea that the rising tide of capitalism lifts all boats because it is, I think, one of the most important and irrefutable lessons of history.

For most of recorded human existence, life was, in the words of Thomas Hobbes, “nasty, brutish, and short.” But now, whatever the liars on the left that are in support of expanding programs such as the failed war on poverty say, life is no longer that way. Life now is, for most people in America, at least, full of abundance and joy. Why is that?

By: Gen Z Conservative, author of the blog www.genzconservative.com