There is lots of good stuff here. I particularly liked his discussion of so-called capitalists starting around 30:00. "Some people call that 'crony capitalism', but I'm not sure the adjective is even necessary." Yes!
My only complaint about this speech is that he's using the terms "selfish" and "individualist" in the wrong context, i.e. as fallacy versions. "Selfish", i.e. the idea that helping myself harms another, only applies in a zero-sum context, not a positive sum context, and it's the latter which applies to productive trading societies. "Selfish" and "individualist" are bad words in hunter-gatherer scavenger environments, but are not in societies that have been around since the neolithic period, when we domesticated plants, animals, invented money and trade and exist by producing rather than scavenging.
He's also misunderstanding capitalism. Capitalism is free enterprise. Free from what? Free from government tinkering and steering, including cronyism. Cronyism is not capitalism. To not make the distinction between free enterprise and the system prevalent in Mussolini's fascism is a "capital" mistake of grave proportions.
***** "Gangster" austrian demagogues? The Austrian school of economics is completely free enterprise. Keynesian economics is the one which recommends governments rigging markets as a supposed means of keeping currency (and goods and services) flowing in a current. Of course...it doesn't work.
Exceptional profit opportunities destroy themselves...and that's good news. Company ABC puts out a trendy wildly popular gadget that makes exceptional profits when sold. Competing companies get on board to take away market share, diminishing demand for ABC's product. Increased investors in ABC make greater production of the profitable gadget possible, increasing supply. The upshot of increasing supply and diminishing demand causes the price equilibrium of the gadget to fall closer to production costs, ergo less profit. In order to keep making exceptional profits, one must CONSTANTLY innovate better gadgets, cheaper means of production, or both. "Greed" i.e. profit motive DRIVES our constantly improving standard of living. The average "poor" American lives a better life than the rich did 50-70 years ago. This is due solely to capitalism.
I wonder if Mr Ridley considered the huge amount of energy embedded in the manufacture of his shirt and whether that energy will still be available when the dramatic production decline rates inherent when shale rock is "fracked", means wells can't be drilled fast enough to replace existing production. Some might say all this specialisation Mr Ridley is so fond of, is actually a product of the huge energy surplus gained when we started combusting finite fossil fuels, rather than solely human "ingenuity". Perhaps fairy dust will be the next energy source to be exploited;-)
In Mr Ridleys' case the phrase rational optimist is somewhat of an oxymoron.Some might describe the psuedo science of economics as a system for turning natural resources into waste in the shortest possible time. In case Mr Ridley hasn't noticed, the developed world has exported it's pollution to the developing world!
![เจอประจำ ตอน เปิดเทอมวันแรก [EP.29]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eFK-B836i60/mqdefault.jpg)
Well said Mr Ridley an optimist and a Northumbrian.Does it get any better.
There is lots of good stuff here. I particularly liked his discussion of so-called capitalists starting around 30:00. "Some people call that 'crony capitalism', but I'm not sure the adjective is even necessary." Yes!
My only complaint about this speech is that he's using the terms "selfish" and "individualist" in the wrong context, i.e. as fallacy versions. "Selfish", i.e. the idea that helping myself harms another, only applies in a zero-sum context, not a positive sum context, and it's the latter which applies to productive trading societies. "Selfish" and "individualist" are bad words in hunter-gatherer scavenger environments, but are not in societies that have been around since the neolithic period, when we domesticated plants, animals, invented money and trade and exist by producing rather than scavenging.
He's also misunderstanding capitalism. Capitalism is free enterprise. Free from what? Free from government tinkering and steering, including cronyism. Cronyism is not capitalism. To not make the distinction between free enterprise and the system prevalent in Mussolini's fascism is a "capital" mistake of grave proportions.
***** "Gangster" austrian demagogues? The Austrian school of economics is completely free enterprise. Keynesian economics is the one which recommends governments rigging markets as a supposed means of keeping currency (and goods and services) flowing in a current. Of course...it doesn't work.
Could have done without the highly debatable Darwinism reference but otherwise a good speech.
Exceptional profit opportunities destroy themselves...and that's good news. Company ABC puts out a trendy wildly popular gadget that makes exceptional profits when sold. Competing companies get on board to take away market share, diminishing demand for ABC's product. Increased investors in ABC make greater production of the profitable gadget possible, increasing supply. The upshot of increasing supply and diminishing demand causes the price equilibrium of the gadget to fall closer to production costs, ergo less profit. In order to keep making exceptional profits, one must CONSTANTLY innovate better gadgets, cheaper means of production, or both. "Greed" i.e. profit motive DRIVES our constantly improving standard of living. The average "poor" American lives a better life than the rich did 50-70 years ago. This is due solely to capitalism.
I wonder if Mr Ridley considered the huge amount of energy embedded in the manufacture of his shirt and whether that energy will still be available when the dramatic production decline rates inherent when shale rock is "fracked", means wells can't be drilled fast enough to replace existing production.
Some might say all this specialisation Mr Ridley is so fond of, is actually a product of the huge energy surplus gained when we started combusting finite fossil fuels, rather than solely human "ingenuity".
Perhaps fairy dust will be the next energy source to be exploited;-)
In Mr Ridleys' case the phrase rational optimist is somewhat of an oxymoron.Some might describe the psuedo science of economics as a system for turning natural resources into waste in the shortest possible time.
In case Mr Ridley hasn't noticed, the developed world has exported it's pollution to the developing world!
???
he should join liberal democrats