Eat the Rich

2 Good Capitalism Wall Street

An investigation of money might as well begin where lots of money is being made—for the moment, anyway—on the New York Stock Exchange. Maybe the magic of Wall Street can work for everyone in the world. Perhaps the peasants of China can all “go public” and form a billion corporations with assets of “1 water buffalo, 2 conical hats, wok.” Each peasant will then make an initial public offering, sell his stock, get rich, and put a lap pool in the rice paddy. This is actually happening, or will be soon, say economic and political experts. They claim there’s a triumph of free-market capitalism occurring around the globe. If that is true, then the New York Stock Exchange really does merit inspection. The NYSE is the world’s largest single trading center for investments. Investments are the “capital” part of capitalism. The NYSE’s market is free in the sense that no government, religion, or discernible law of physics controls its prices. And the prices have been rising triumphantly. Hence: “Triumph of free-market capitalism.” Of course, how long this free-market triumph will last is another question. Can men who have guns restrain themselves from interfering in the affairs of men who have nothing but checkbooks? And is the free market really that triumphant? Recent events in Asia show how corruption and the collusion of governments and businesses can cause the rules of capitalism to be violated—as you noticed if you lost all your capital by investing it in Asia. But international politicians are crowing about the free-market victories they’ve achieved. Never mind that politicians are cheerleaders who have themselves confused with the people who carried the ball. (And never mind that many politicians are cheerleaders for the other side.) Laissez-faire—as the theory of the hour—seems to have displaced central planning, nationalization, democratic socialism, and the thoughts of Senator Edward Kennedy. The free

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