When Saddam was hanged, many publications all around the world shed crocodile tears over the ‘heinous murder’ of a mass murderer. I wonder whether any of those houses would have anything to say on Bill Gates being punished by a European court. One was a hard core criminal and death would have been the least punishment he had deserved. The other was a man we all owe a lot, being punished on the basis of unintelligible laws backed by a huge vacuum of Economic nonsense. While there would have been at least some men to damn Saddam, I don’t think an overwhelming majority would have any sympathy towards Gates.

Why is it that men have no empathy for victims when they are all praise for their tormentors? We will have to get to root of the problem to find an answer to it. It’s understandable that a complex mode of reasoning is needed in the case of Anti-trust laws and it is part of the reason why they hate Bill. It is impossible for a young or ill informed person to take a strong stance on such an issue. Does the same go for Saddam? Who knows not that he is a brute? It proves to us how much people can repress, how much they can hate a superior man, and how deep a fascination they have for the evil. They might deny it with all their sincerity not knowing the roots of their emotions.
Roots of Anti-Americanism, environmentalism, statism, and socialism all could be traced to it. If they find US imperialism brutal, wouldn’t the same go for what controlled nations do to their own citizens? Why do the men who plan on so short a range in the case of economy, think of the ‘environment’ in terms of generations? If men know it not on a conscious level, it is only because there is a lot of repression going on. Repression is the clue! The same reason could be given for anti-capitalistic mentality. People repress their feelings of inferiority and incapability in dealing with reality. Their repressed feelings come to the surface as anti capitalistic mentality

Capitalism is the only politico-economic system consonant with human nature. No other system pays respect to individual rights. Mankind made all its progress since the basic structure of the society was made capitalistic. The nations which were the most capitalistic made the greatest progress. The progress that the less free nations made were parasitic on the freer nations-through imported machinery and medicines from semi-capitalistic nations. The pace with which Capitalism wiped out famines, decreased the infant mortality rate and increased the life expectancy is shocking indeed. Population used to grow at a rate of around 3% in every century. But, population grew at the rate of 300% in the nineteenth century.
Most of the children used to die before the age of five before the advent of Capitalism. Capitalism gave them a chance of survival. Industrial revolution was an offshoot of Capitalism, not the other way around. It was not a pure, unregulated, uncontrolled Capitalism, but the difference even the hampered Capitalism made is for all to see.
All this facts we would expect that people would be in support of Capitalism. We would expect that intellectuals would fight for individual freedom and Capitalism. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The dominant ideology everywhere in the world is statism. Intellectuals are largely anti-capitalistic. Ludwig Von Mises digs deep into the minds of Anti-capitalists in his classic “Anti-Capitalist Mentality”.
Envy, he says, is a widespread phenomenon. Most intellectuals envy the wealth of businessmen. Most people are unable to fulfill their ambitions in life. When it so happens, they are reluctant to admit that his failure is due to his inability or laziness. Such a person is in search of a scapegoat. He finds consolation in the idea that Capitalism is a monstrous system and doesn’t reward people according to their abilities. The fact that people cling to this idea like a neurotic is because deep inside there are aware of their inability.
The professional intellectual is a relatively new phenomenon. They hadn’t a means of survival through intellectual means before Capitalism. Why do they oppose Capitalism when the fact is that they survive due to Capitalism? One reason could be that it is people who are unemployable otherwise who turn to intellectual profession. Deep down they have a feeling that they are not market worthy.
Moreover, it is likely that intellectuals would think that their work is of high value and they should be rewarded accordingly. They find it humiliating that men in other professions earn considerably greater than them. They don’t realize that they are incapable in their own tasks is evident from the fact that are unable to appreciate the value of Capitalism and freedom. Incapable intellectuals think that they would be rewarded better in Socialism. It never occurs to them that the men in power would decide whom to patronize under socialism. Or,they know it well. They are aware of their own incapability to survive in a free market.
Whatever one might think of Capitalism, there is one thing no honest person can’t evade. The degree of a nations prosperity is the degree of its freedom. The richest nations are the most capitalistic ones. America and Hongkong were nations of poor immigrants. These nations reached where they are today through individualistic means. One can’t fail to see the prosperity of United States, Hong Kong and Japan, the collapse of Soviet Union and various nations which embraced socialism at some point in their course.
If a person genuinely wanted to help the poor, he would find out why some nations are rich and why some are poor. He can’t evade the fact that difference lies in individual freedom.