I got this from the Ayn Rand Institute regarding our little warm fuzzies the other day - any thoughts?
Buffett and Gates Ignore the Fundamental Cause of World Poverty
June 27, 2006
IRVINE, CA--Commentators are hailing Warren Buffett’s $30 billion contribution to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation as a historic day for the alleviation of poverty and sickness around the world. They, like Buffett, think that tens of billions of dollars of charity directed by Bill Gates’s brilliant mind will change the world.
But, said Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, “While Gates and Buffett are brilliant businessmen, they and other philanthropists ignore the fundamental cause of poverty, including poor health care, around the world: lack of capitalism. Wherever and to whatever extent capitalism exists, the productive ability of individuals is unleashed, enabling them to make their lives progressively better. The West used to be as poor as Africa today; it is capitalism that made us rich.”
“If the tribalist or religious dictatorships of Africa and the Middle East do not renounce their destructive political systems and adopt capitalism, even $100 billion in charitable handouts will make little difference in their lives.”
“Anyone who is truly committed to helping the world’s poor should first and foremost use their charitable dollars and their public platforms for the promotion of capitalism"
5 comments:
uh, is there even an argument in there? just sounds like 'capitalism is the be all end all solution to mankind's problems'. kind of reminiscent of the way evangelicals 'discuss' christianity.
also, can you think of two greater promoters of capitalism than buffett and gates? hello!?
the aim of the foundation is not 'eradicating poverty' per se. number one on the list is finding a cure for AIDS. then, Malaria. then, good education for all. what good is a capitalist or any other system if the workforce is dead?
would the ayn rand foundation like to see that money used to find a way to oust all un-capitalist governments by force? talk about a waste of money!
perhaps jealousy plays a part. they don't have the merit, and therefore they don't have the choice.. but that's capitalism, baby!
also, Yaron.. lol
I agree with horse to an extent. I'm not sure we can say that Gates and Buffet were "promoters" of capitalism. They were definitely its beneficiaries, and by extension, since it served them so well or they used it so well, they could be said to be "promoters" of it i suppose. As far as the aims of the foundation, the Ayn Rand institute really doesn't have any business commenting on that. If Yaron thinks that capitalism is all the impoverished need to solve all their problems, he is as blind as the evangelicals horse referred to. He does have a point though. Most extreme poverty in the world exists in third world countries, where there is either war, famine, and never any government to speak of. I think it is true that capitalism inherently provides opportunities for those who wish to take advantage of them, and that a functioning capitalist economy creates the most wealth. If there was any kind of capitalist-resembling system in place, many of those people in the most impoverished places would be better off. But capitalism alone is definitely not the answer to all poverty. Yaron? More like, Yawrong.
From what Gates and Buffet have said in the past concerning capitalism it is fair to say they both view capitalism as the best way to maximize human potential. I also think making American Education the counterpart to Global Health in the foundations prime directive further proves this point.
That said I do agree with most of Yaron's comments. It is capitalism that has unleashed our human potential and made us rich...and the lack of willingness to adopt capitalism by other governments will seriously impede the eradication of poverty and poor health care. However, his view that the only way to solve these problems is through the trickle down effects of capitalism is seriously flawed. It for sure isn't the only way and I don't even think it's the best way.
First off, his suggestion that reads like a proposal to spend all the money funding a worldwide advertising campaign about the benefits of capitalism is ludicrous. Poor countries lack education...and to try to get a group of people to rally around an abstract idea like capitalism would be extremely inefficient, and more bluntly, borders on impossible. I believe it worked for the U.S. because a group of highly educated people decided it was the way they wanted to run their country...not because everyone coming to the U.S. understood capitalism and wanted it that way.
When dealing with situations where people are uneducated and poor I believe the best way to basically manipulate capitalist support, is to teach through example. Although spreading capitalism isn't a stated goal of the foundation, I believe many of the areas they talk about funding in the future go in this direction.
They talk a lot about doing microfunding, which sounds to me like lending poor people money to start their own business while maintaining a financial interest in their success. I think it ties the investor directly into the success of the business...so if it fails the investor looses money and if it succeeds they profit. Basically, playing the role of World Bank, but instead of passing out loans that only make the countries poorer when they have to pay them back (and allowing the governments to spend the money as they see fit), there is an investment risk involved and the money goes right to the businessman. I can only see this promoting capitalism as these people start to run businesses and gain a hands on learning of how capitalism works. I can't imagine a better or more hands on approach to spreading capitalism.
I think the Institute is way off on their assessment of the situation and it only further distances me from a philosophy I've started to question recently. I thought maybe it was just me, and that I was forgetting the basics of Ayn's teachings, but comments like that make me think the only Randians I agree with are James and Sarah.
Maybe we all missed the point of Atlas Shrugged?
*shrug*
Hey does Yaron know about the great depression?
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