Here is the letter American Conservative.
editor, American conservative
Editor:
My friend Alex Salter argues that we should embrace “crowd capitalism” (“Capitalism’s search for the common good” April 15) In doing so, he insisted that “collective capitalism” was something new – capitalism not only from all forms of socialism, but also from the “organized capitalism” known to Americans and Western Europeans, on the one hand. And, on the other hand, it can be of the kind famously championed by classical-liberal scholars such as FA Hayek and Milton Friedman.
I say “supposedly” because Alex never sees capitalism below the “common good” reforms championed by Hayek and Friedman. This neglect is fatal because the minimal form of mixed capitalism was elaborated and supported by scholars such as Hayek and Friedman (and today, most powerfully, by Deirdre McCloskey)—scholars who, by the way, believed in the capitalism they advocated. It served the common good. Alex’s case goes beyond simply listing the aspirations of the weaker “collective capitalists”; For readers of the essay, the main details of how the practice of “common-good capitalism” differs from the practice of Hayek and Friedman’s capitalism are still a mystery.
One problem with capitalism, as understood and proven by classical-liberal scholars such as Hayek, Friedman, and McCloskey, is that it encourages people to embrace “common-good capitalism” as something new and superior to all other species. People support vague ambitions sold in the name of platitudes to deny the deepest issues of capitalism.
best regard
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
And
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
