Should I write a book on the history of capitalism?
I am eighteen years old… This idea started as a book about capitalism for youngsters. If you find jokes in the text, or things like "tell your parents this word!" it’s because it was originally intended for kids. But I was figuring that I’d go full out adult audience. This was supposed to be the beginning of Chapter 1: A Brief History of Capitalism. But I was thinking, perhaps, I’d just write a whole book on the history of capitalism. And then maybe put descriptions of other economic systems, with interesting anecdotes about them, perhaps, in the last chapter of the book, before the epilogue which naturally would be titled "The Future of Capitalism." Lol… What do you think? Should I go for this, or would I just be wasting my time?
The central tenets of capitalism, though some of them had been in existence and floating around for centuries, were established by the Scottish economist Adam Smith with the 1776 publication of the Wealth of Nations. This voluminous text, from its advent to the present day, has been extraordinarily influential. It was always in the minds of America’s Founding Fathers, and the precepts it laid out would allow for America to become the most powerful nation on the planet within two short centuries.
Adam Smith’s landmark work was received with much fanfare in Europe, and it caused many of the colonial powers (such as Great Britain, Spain, and France) to alter their economic systems. Before this historic transition many European nations had had mercantilist economies. Mercantilism is an economic system which requires colonies and says that government control of commerce is absolutely vital to a nation’s prosperity. Mercantilism, along with other economic systems besides capitalism, will be discussed in further detail in a later chapter.
A term that any student of capitalism should know is "laissez-faire (lay-zay-fair)." This is a term that comes from the French language, and it means something like "let-do" or "let-be" in English. Laissez-faire is one of the central themes in the Wealth of Nations, and it simply means that the government should not interfere in the economy of its nation; this was in many ways diametrically opposed to mercantilism, the absolute favourite system of many European monarchs up until the late eighteenth century. There should be a "free-market," ("free market economy" is really a term that is interchangeable with "capitalism"). The idea is that the government need not regulate the national economy because the economy will regulate itself. We will look more at the functionings of capitalism, and see how an economy can regulate itself, in a later chapter.
The first truly capitalist nation, most historians believe, was the Dutch Republic, which was established in the late sixteenth century (1589). This small European country, because of the great enterprise and industry of her people, entered a golden age of economic prosperity in the seventeenth century in which it became the dominant force in global trade. Little Holland, in union with the six other provinces of the Netherlands, became a mighty power to be reckoned with because of her economic system. The success of the Republic foreshadowed the success of the United States of America, which would declare independence from Britain in 1776, the same year the Wealth of Nations was published.
Another great example of the power of capitalism to make a nation mighty is that of West Germany. After World War II Germany, who had been defeated by the forces of Britain, the Soviet Union, America, and the other Allied powers, was cut in half! Berlin, the capital of Germany, was itself divided. The two opposing forces were the nations of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) like America, Britain, France, and Italy, and the communist Soviet Union. Immediately after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, the notorious Cold War had begun. Ironically, the two principal adversaries in the Cold War, America and the Soviet Union, had formerly been Allies (it makes you wonder: Why can’t everyone just get along?)!
The new nation of West Germany was backed by the NATO powers, whereas East Germany had a puppet comunistic government and was backed by the Soviet Union. Within ten years West Germany, war-ravaged as she was, was the most powerful economy in Europe! In the German language West Germany, war-ravaged as she was, was the most powerful economy in Europe! In the German language, West Germany’s, miraculous economic recovery is referred to as the "Wirtschaftswunder (veer-shahfts-voon-der)." Impress your parents at the dinner table with this word.
As opposed to the great success of West Germany, East Germany was in turmoil. The inhabitants of that country were always trying to escape to the western counterpart. This became such an issue for the Soviets that, in 1961, they built the
Our founding fathers were protectionists
"Free commerce and navigation are not to be given in exchange for restrictions and vexations, nor are they likely to produce a relaxation of them"
–Thomas Jefferson: Report on Foreign Commerce, (1793)
"manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as to our comfort; and if those who quote me as of a different opinion, will keep pace with me in purchasing nothing foreign where an equivalent of domestic fabric can be obtained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand"
– Thomas Jefferson; from letter to Benjamin Austin (Jan 9, 1816)
and they bailed out Wall Street
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1792
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