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The second leg of
the stool is a market economy based on private ownership of land and
businesses.
In his book, The
Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, Novak says: (Voiceover) 'The new capitalism is
not a matter of adventure or privacy but of continuous enterprise, planned and
organized. Evaluated for profit and loss.'
And this is the key
point: 'The invention of the market economy in Great Britain and the United
States, more profoundly revolutionized the world between 1800 and the present
more than any other single force. After five millennia of blundering, human
beings finally figured out how wealth may be produced in a sustained systematic
way.'
The third leg of
the stool is morality. Novak says that truth, fair play, trust and respect for
others are key. We think this is the least understood and the most important of
the three. There is confusion. Novak is saying that business people have to be
moral to succeed. Historically we've been seen by the elites, academics,
journalists, and bureaucrats as greedy and self-serving. And of recent, too
much of business has been just that. Next, Michael Novak explains that there is
a difference between greed and self-interest.
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