In praise of brevity...

In Shakespeare's Hamlet (2:2:86-92), the right-hand man of Hamlet's stepfather, King Claudius, Polonius, has been employed to spy on the prince and report on his bizarre behavior. As Polonius prepares to deliver the results of his investigation to the King and Queen, Polonius launches into a windy preface.  Polonius' speech doesn't make sense because it is self-contradictory, as he wastes time denouncing the time wasted by rhetorical speechifying.  Polonious states:

     My liege, and madam, to expostulate
     What majesty should be, what duty is,
     What day is day, night night, and time is time,
     Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;
     Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
     And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
     I will be brief. Your noble son is mad....

Unlike Polonius's preface, Dr. Walter E. Williams offers a concise understanding of capitalism and a free market economy in one brief column.  And he does so by turning socialism's critique of capitalism---its adherents are "greedy"---against its critics.

Yes, "brevity is the soul of wit."  Or, in this case, of incisive explication.

"What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done?" Dr. Williams asks.  He responds:

It turns out that it's human greed that gets the most wonderful things done. When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior.  I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.

Using the example of Texas ranchers and Idaho potato farmers fighting nature's elements to ensure that New Yorkers can enjoy their beef and potatoes, Dr. Williams asks: "Do you think that Texas ranchers and Idaho potato farmers make these personal sacrifices because they love or care about the well-being of New Yorkers?"

Dr. William's question is rhetorical because answer is as obvious as it is irrelevant.  Texas ranchers and Idaho potato farmers brave the elements because they want more for themselves.  They are greedy, perhaps motivated by "enlightened self-interest" but, for Dr. Williams, that is to sanitize reality.

The genius of capitalism, Dr. Williams opines, is that it "has made it possible to become wealthy by serving one's fellow man. Capitalists seek to discover what people want and then produce it as efficiently as possible."

No doubt about it: "free market capitalism is ruthless in its profit and loss discipline."

But, that does not mean capitalism supports "government-backed crony capitalism, which has come to characterize much of today's businesses." And it also does not tolerate intellectual elites or political tyrants, the "people who believe that they have superior wisdom to the masses and that God has ordained them to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us."  Their goal is to restrict liberty and access to a free market where citizens can engage in voluntary, peaceable exchange based upon---omigosh---greed, and replace it with statist economic planning and regulation.

What has all of this to do with the Occupy Wall Street crowd and the Obama administration?

The Motley Monk encourages reading Dr. Williams' column to learn the answer to that question.  One hint, based upon a question Dr. Williams raises: "By the way, how much beef and potatoes do you think New Yorkers would enjoy if it all depended upon the politically correct notions of human love and kindness?"

Let the discussion begin...




To read Dr. Walter E. Williams column, click on the following link:

http://cnsnews.com/blog/walter-e-williams/i-love-greed