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Don’t Tell Bernie, But Capitalism Has Made Human Life Fantastically Better
Back in 1995, now-Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said, “I personally happen not to be a great believer in the free enterprise system for many reasons.”
And having watched Sanders during this primary season, it doesn’t appear to me that the self-described democratic socialist has much changed his opinion of capitalism. Which is both amazing and appalling. The single greatest story of human achievement of the past 2,000 years is the dramatic rise in living standards of the past 200 years. It’s an astounding ascent — see above chart — driven by innovative, entrepreneurial capitalism. Free enterprise. Economic freedom.
Yes, workers in advanced economies today are many multiples wealthier — almost incalculably so — than their counterparts in the early 19th century. But here is another way of looking at, thanks to a new study by consultancy Deloitte showing how technology-driving innovation has radically altered lives in Britain for the much better:
1) Technology has created more jobs than it has destroyed in the last 144 years.
2) It has been saving us from dull, repetitive, and dangerous work. Agriculture was the first major sector to experience this change. In 1871 it employed 6.6% of the workforce of England and Wales. Today that stands at 0.2%, a 95% decline.
3) Overall, technological innovation has resulted in fewer humans being deployed as sources of muscle power and more engaged in jobs involving the nursing and care of others. Just 1.1% of the workforce was employed in the caring professions during the 1871 census. By 2011, these professions employed almost a quarter of the England and Wales workforce.
4) Technology has boosted employment in knowledge-intensive sectors such as medicine, accounting and professional services.
5) Finally technology has lowered the cost of essentials, raising disposable incomes and creating new demand and jobs. In 1871, there was one hairdresser for every 1,793 English and Welsh citizens; now there is one for every 287. In 1948, a Freed-Eiseman 16-inch TV cost $795 in the US, roughly a quarter of the average annual salary, or roughly $12,000 today. A top of the range TV can be bought today for less than $1,000. On a quality-adjusted basis, the decline in prices is even more pronounced. US CPI data show that the price of a TV has fallen by 98% since 1950.
So thanks to the technology-driven innovation of entrepreneurial capitalism, we live richer, fuller lives that would be unimaginable to workers in the early 1800s or even later 1800s. Economist Robert Gordon describes the “special century” after 1870 in his new book, “The Rise and Fall of American Growth” as “more important to economic progress than have been all other centuries.” Or as my colleague Michael Strain has written:
Over the past two centuries, growth has increased living standards in the West unimaginably quickly. Many more babies survive to adulthood. Many more adults survive to old age. Many more people can be fed, clothed and housed. Much of the world enjoys significant quantities of leisure time. Much of the world can carve out decades of their lives for education, skill development and the moral formation and enlightenment that come with it. Growth has enabled this. Let’s keep growing. …
Growth facilitates the flourishing life. By creating a dynamic environment characterized by increasing opportunity, growth gives the young the opportunity to dream and to strive. And it gives the rest of us the ability to apply our skills and talents as we see fit, to contribute to society, to provide for our families. A growing economy allows individuals to increase their living standards, facilitating economic and social mobility.
How could anyone not be a great believer in competitive, market-driven capitalism?
The left do love their hockey-stick graph. Let see how they react to this one
Ironically, even the socialists today have a higher standard of living due to the results of capitalism.
But the problem is that standard of living is not the measurement of success for socialism, control of the masses is.
Hell, if you leave people to make their own choices, you end up with 25 kinds of deodorant on the shelf. Only central planning can remedy such appalling waste.
Nah. Correlation is not causation.
The rise in wealth tracks with the growth in government.
Ergo, it is government and not capitalism that helps people.
Jim, Jim, Jim,
Have I taught you nothing? Surely you aren’t obsessed with this logic-knowledge thing are you? With the Bern up is down, backwards is forwards, left is right, inside is out, black is white, red is blue,..etc. You get the picture. The Bern is in his very own space-time continuum. From there he can see Elizebeth Warren’s smoke signals. There is no limit to stupidity in his universe.
Far Out!
Regards,
Jim
Anybody know why farm labour in England and Wales increased between 1901 and 1921?
When I’m president, I will bring back good paying American farm jobs!
~ The Donald
Like all socialists, the fact that Capitalism has made human life better is exactly why he is opposed to it.
Someone tell Bernie indeed, but first make sure he removes 50 years of compacted ideological wax. And then he’d nod and say that as long as the prosperity was unequally distributed, it was immoral.
I wish there were a GOP candidate who would (or could) defend capitalism as ably as James does.