"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate." --Bertrand Russell

oday, all the apologists of the laissez-faire capitalism are pointing gloatingly to the collapse of the Soviet Union to prove that there is no workable alternative to what they have glowingly if inaccurately described as the "free-market" system. Everywhere, we are told, capitalism is triumphant. In the words of the Financial Times: "For millions around the world, the American flag is a symbol of an economic and social system that works." Such arguments usually take as a starting point that the American kind of capitalism, in particular, is the only viable economic system and that there is no alternative. American-styled capitalism is both the highest form of civilization and a reflection of the natural human order. But not just that: the capitalist system is eternal. There is no point in trying to resist or supercede it. It is, so to speak -- the best possible system money can buy!

These ardent supporters of American ultra-capitalism point out that the United States of America has the most prosperous economy in the world, which they attribute to its dynamic capitalist system, less fettered by government than any of the other leading economies. To most such advocates, the U.S. economy is doing so well that it's difficult even to imagine something better. Statistic after statistic is paraded before the media to convince Americans that they never had it so good. "It doesn't get any better than this," they enthuse to fellow Americans. And indeed, when these ideologists and propagandists describe their beloved system, it sounds so idyllic: The economy keeps growing and growingand growing, more and more good things are turned out all the time! Day in and day out, Americans now hear about their "booming economy," "low unemployment," "nonexistent inflation" and so on.

Listening in amazement to this litany of praises, I keep stumbling up against a host of questions nobody seems to be asking: Why is there also more and more endemic poverty in America? Why is there permanent homelessness, hunger, crime and all the other social ills that come from not having a secure job with decent pay? If the American kind of unbridled capitalism is really the best and greatest of all possible systems, how is it that there is so much human suffering here in the midst of their "paradise"?

The proponents of the American system intone that the free market will automatically generate the most efficient and productive economic result. The Market is like a religion to them. But the truth is that the capitalist market does not function simply as an impersonal mechanism. What it is allowed to do is a function of political choice, and in America, the choice has been to subordinate all economic life to the interests of a single, tiny social class. Stripped to its essentials, the American capitalist market is about a tiny minority of rich individuals selfishly pursuing their own private self-interest. Mickey Kraus, the editor of New Republic, explained it succinctly: "You cannot have capitalism without selfishness, or even greed, because they are what make the system work." While greed may indeed be the motivation of the rich, and indeed even of a percentage of the bedazzled poor, who knows what percentage of the American population would prefer to simply pull their weight, earn a decent living, and live in harmony with their neighbors? As to the system working, this book will document the extent to which it doesn't.

The drive for profit in the American system is indeed ruthless. It's based entirely on what some have presumed to call "rational self-interest." As the celebrated U.S. historian, Howard Zinn, points out, "the idea [in America] is that if everyone pursues their rational self-interest, the economy will grow and the world will be a better place." No matter how you try to rationalize or obfuscate what is going on here, the reality is that the result of all this selfish pursuit is that there is a small number of fabulously wealthy individuals in America while a vast number of people must struggle merely to make ends meet.

Unlike other industrial countries which impose some income ceilings through progressive taxation or other means, the American system permits -- and encourages! -- unlimited profit. It places control of the wealth that is produced by millions of hard-working people in the hands of a very small group, who have no regard whatsoever for the well-being either of the public or the environment, as they proceed to use their existing wealth to make even more. There seems to be no notion that those who are already obscenely rich should recognize any limitations on their wealth, or indeed, any obligations to those from whose efforts it is derived. ...

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