Quote of the Day
History shows us that freedom works. During 1,000 years of absolute monarchy, feudalism, and slavery, mankind’s average income increased by about 50%. In the 180 years since 1820, mankind’s average income has increased by almost 1,000%. During the last 100 years, we have created more wealth, reduced poverty more, and increased life expectancy more than in the previous 100,000 years. And that happened because of the entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, innovator who had new ideas, who traveled geographical distances and, more important, mental distances to create new things and who saw to it that old traditions, which would have stopped new creations, would not stop them for long.
Entrepreneurs are the heroes of our world. Despite the risks, the hard work, the hostility from society, the envy from neighbors, and state regulations, they keep on creating, they keep on producing and trading. Without them, nothing would be there.
~Johan Norberg, "Entrepreneurs Are the Heroes of the World," from Cato's Letter.
3 Comments:
"Profit is proof that the capitalist has given something to society that it cherishes more than the material wealth it has given to the businessman." - Johan Norberg, "Entrepreneurs Are the Heroes of the World," from Cato's Letter
Thanks for the link to the article; I especially liked the quotation above. Until companies realize that the customer is the king, they will always have trouble.
Yes! I agree to what you state, “Entrepreneurs are heroes as a result of freedom”,...and when I think of a name associated to capitalism I think of Billy Durant.
“No story of American capitalism would be comprehensive without praising the accomplishments of …Billy Durant whose initial still is engraved in the Cadillac Square building just a few blocks east on West Grand from Hitsville.” From website: http://detroit1701.org/Hitsville.html
And “For the past three-quarters of a century, General Motors (GM) has symbolized the corporate domination of U.S. economic, cultural and political life. From the early entrepreneurial capitalism of its founder Billy Durant....” from website: http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1990/01/mann.html
A great book on Michigan entrepreneurs is "Empire Builders" by Dr. Burton W. Folsom.
From the Mackinac Center web site:
"Empire Builders is the remarkable story of how Michigan's early entrepreneurs led the United States to global prominence in cars, chemicals, and corn flakes. Henry Ford, Billy Durant, Herbert Dow, and Will Kellogg all failed before they succeeded—and sometimes even after they succeeded. Yet they shared a stubborn persistence to invent and market something that would make life simpler for millions of people."
This is a great read. Only 224 pages.
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