The Power of Self-Interest

Politicians bash businesses. "Stop the greed!" shouts Sen. Bernie Sanders. Many Republicans are equally ignorant. When some Florida businesses raised prices in response to sudden demand during a crisis (a useful signaling device in a free market), Attorney General Pam Bondi called that "sickening ... disgusting ... unacceptable!" Now she's U.S. attorney general. Sen. Josh Hawley attacks airline CEOs for charging different people different prices. "You make it clear," he sneered. "Money is your bottom line ... " Well, yes, Senator. That's the CEO's job. Sadly, bigshots trained as lawyers rarely understand the principles that make capitalism work so well. "The only way you can make money in business is by providing customers with value!" Yaron Brook, head of the Ayn Rand Institute, says in my new video. "The biggest problem we have in our culture is this perception that when you pursue your own self-interest, you are somehow a villain ... it's why socialism is still viewed as morally noble, capitalism as evil and bad." Ayn Rand was a philosopher who understood that others get richer because entrepreneurs pursue profit. Intellectuals hate her for saying that. Rands' books sold millions of copies, but the media trash her. HBO's John Oliver show joked, "Ayn Rand became famous for her philosophy of objectivism, which is a nice way of saying, being a selfish a--hole." "Being selfish is not the same as being an a--hole," responds Brook. It's just following "your rational, long term, self-interest. ... Her philosophy is smeared because it goes against 2,000 years of philosophy that tells us that the purpose of life and morality is to suffer and sacrifice." I wish politicians understood that entrepreneurial greed is why we have iPhones, refrigerators, cars that usually work, supermarkets that stay open all night, and many of the things that make our lives better. Governments sometimes try to build things, but they routinely fail. California promised high-speed commuter rail service. Seventeen years, and billions of tax dollars later, no trains. But in just three years, a "selfish" private company, Brightline, built a train line the carries commuters and tourists from Miami to Orlando. At no cost to taxpayers. The private sector routinely builds things that, over time, get better and cheaper. The price of TVs has fallen 97% since 1998. Why would capitalists, greedy people looking to make more money, (SET ITAL)lower(END ITAL) prices? Because they have to. Unlike government, capitalists have competitors. Those selfish people want our business, too. Pursuit of profit even fought racial discrimination. When some Southern states' Jim Crow laws imposed segregation, some greedy companies resisted the rules. One bus company even sued to end Jim Crow. Economist Thomas Sowell noted, "Only whites could vote, but whites and blacks could both supply money." "There's enormous profit-motive," Brook points out, "In you being the one that allows (SET ITAL)everybody(END ITAL) into your restaurant. ... In a true marketplace, discrimination can exist, but it doesn't exist for long." Ayn Rand said that selfishness even makes us love our families. "Imagine," says Brook, "going to the woman you're going to marry and saying, 'I'm not doing this for me. This is a massive sacrifice.' She would slap you in the face, as she should. I love my wife for self-interested reasons." Corporate greed, regulated by competition, is the main reason world poverty has dropped. For thousands of years, most people tried to survive on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. Fifty years ago, thanks to capitalism, just 35% did. Now it's just 9%. Some rich people got absurdly rich. So what? The poor got richer, too. Quietly, capitalism, harnessing individuals' greed, makes the world a better place.Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media."