The basis of capitalism is the induction of cooperation by withholding and granting claims on propery (whether you call it "several" property or "private" property). Without a moral framework that enables you to deny or grant something to your fellow man, the only means of acquiring cooperation is force.


Through several property, each man has a handle, and a check, on the aims and ambitions of others. Through the price system, each man has a telecommunications system by which he can discover the aims of others, and harness them to realize his own aims better than he could acting on his own.


Through capitalism, the greatest possible realization of human aims by each person, through choices between alternative activities, and not at the expense but to the benefit of other people, is discovered. Capitalism is the only information-dissemination mechanism by which individual people can figure out how to dovetail their plans with the needs and wants of 10 billion faceless strangers.


eLROY