Money for Nothing

...They also provide false incentives for the poor and end up squeezing the middle class, since the upper class can hire experts to shelter money and avoid taxes...

...that they don't consider whether the state should be acting in the first place...

...Samuel Gregg agrees, and in this new book the Oxford-trained moral philosopher and economic thinker reflects on the history of commercial societies and the key figures who have studied and developed their principles...

...To the central economic question—how to deal with a scarcity of resources—there are three possible answers: force, altruism, or exchange...

...Many religious leaders still harbor disdain for commercial order, but The Commercial Society could go a long way to educating them in the basics...

...While we shouldn't view humans as passive victims of history, neither should we assume that generations of habits and institutions can be reorganized overnight—or by force...

...They must understand themselves as the primary actors in their lives, assume ownership for their futures, and make long-term plans for their own well-being...

...These quibbles aside, The Commercial Society is eminently reasonable, particularly for its closing discussion of the possibility of "forced" commercial order...

...All of this will require a standard of worth—money—and, for exponential growth, a system of banking and credit...

...The Kenyan economist James Shikwati made headlines a year ago when he pleaded with the West to stop sending relief to Africa...

...With clear prose and abundant references, The Commercial Society provides a concise summary for students of political economy and a solid introduction for novices...

...Citizens become slaves to the state under "the illusion that they are obeying their own will...

...Yet to understand self-interest correctly, they must agree with Toc-queville that "by serving his fellows man serves himself, and that doing good is to his private advantage...

...Most important, though, it offers policymakers indispensable scholarly reflection on what economic success requires...

...Such policies "inevitably undermine key institutions of commercial society," writes Gregg...

...Consider the tendency of commercial society to become commercialist society: Gregg entirely ignores the materialism so rampant in the West today, and his discussion of the pitfalls of equality-as-sameness ignores one important truth...

...In fact, this book is important for anyone who seeks to do what Gregg's home institution, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, advocates: To "connect good intentions to sound economics...

...Chief among them are the tendencies to mistake equality for sameness and to accept anything "democratically" agreed on as de facto furthering liberty...

...Other vital virtues include creativity (to find new ways to meet needs), economic prudence (to plan for the future), thrift (to save for the future), trust (in commercial partners), and civility and tolerance (toward those we must do business with despite conflicts...

...Gregg devotes equal attention to the challenges that perennially confront commercial society...

...The problem with understanding political equality as either equality of result or equality of opportunity—rather than equality in dignity and equality before the law—is that it furthers "the evolution of politics into a type of redistributive machine...

...With guides from Adam Smith to Pierre Manent, Gregg presents a synthesis of the moral-cultural, economic, and legal foundations required for commercial societies to flourish, and of the temptations that cause them to founder...

...Instead, states should provide the necessary order for the long-term economic growth of all, which does most to aid the poor by enacting fair policies and generally applicable laws...

...stagnating European economies should look to Gregg on the importance, even primacy, of moral-cultural values—for nothing can make a commercial society tick if its people lack motivation, imagination, and concern for the future...

...Citizens of vibrant societies must have certain "values and habits of action," especially personal responsibility, liberty, and self-interest rightly understood (what Aristotle and Aquinas would describe as a reasonable self-love...

...I love music but have baseball tickets...

...Since we value our goods differently, trade would leave us both better off...

...The wide, and widening, gap between rich and poor is cause for concern, and man's absolute well-being (measured in material terms) is insufficient...

...Pierre Manent explains that "the modern idea of representation leads naturally to a continuous increase in the state's power over society, because it continually erodes the intrasocial powers that ensure the independence and solidity of this society...

...Wherever properties are seized by the state, bank accounts frozen, ideas stolen, and capricious rulers left to reign, commercial activity is impossible...

...Combine the politics of redistribution with this soft despotism and you get a government that eliminates the voluntary associations and platoons of civil society that best serve the immediate needs of the poor, while at the same time wrecking the economic institutions that best secure their long-term well-being...

...And production, consumption, and exchange will succeed only if the market is truly free to allow for fair competition (to let the best producers prevail) and properly functioning price signals (to let consumers indicate their preferences, especially important to investors...

...Against the mistaken notion that "one person's commercial gain is another person's loss," Gregg argues that exchange is mutually beneficial because economic value is subjective...

...What would commercial life be like if you couldn't count on retaining the capital investments you made to your business, had no copyright on your research, or were left defenseless against state meddling...

...This creates a welfare state in which redistribution is guided by special interests to curry favor and garner electoral support...

...As Americans with a relatively stable government, we often overlook the importance of good law...

...Gregg's reminders are particularly helpful for anyone thinking about the developing world, where Hernando de Soto's observations apply: "They have houses but not titles, crops but not deeds, businesses but not statutes of incorporation...

...For all his focus on problems posed to commercial societies, Gregg entirely ignores problems they create for human flourishing...

...you love sports but have opera tickets...

...This places a special responsibility on religious leaders, who must understand and communicate social values to their flocks...

...So the market reflects the nature of humans and their ability to be self-directing, free choosers...

...While it is certainly the case that the poor in wealthy societies are often better off than the rich in poorer societies, Gregg forgets that much of human fulfillment is social fulfillment...

...Indeed, Gregg identifies cultural-moral foundations as central...

...Whether it is European economic and demographic stagnation, Middle Eastern political turmoil, or Latin American and African liberationist policies, culture must be the driving force of economic and legal change...

...What is true of consumers is also true of producers, so vibrant entrepre-neurship and private commerce are crucial for human liberty...

...Yet these personal virtues will flourish only within the proper economic structures...

...Beyond strong public character and the right economic institutions, robust legal protections are indispensable, especially "the right of private property, freedom of association, freedom of contract, the rule of law, and constitutional guarantees against arbitrary government...

...Democracies often focus so much on who is making the decisions (the people...

...And anyone concerned about Ryan T. Anderson is a junior fellow at First Things...

...Those working to alleviate the destitution in Latin America and Africa should heed Gregg's advice about the necessary institutions and laws—for nothing but commercial society "provides greater wealth to increasing numbers of people and progressively diminishes poverty at an unprecedented rate...

...Foreign aid led to political corruption, he said, drove native industries out of business, sent faulty market signals, and encouraged perpetual dependency...

...Because men ought not be beasts, and are not angels, scarcity is best resolved by exchange in the market economy...