Book review: Capitalism by Dr. George Reisman

[DennisLeeWilson]

Book review: Capitalism by Dr. George Reisman

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo  (Original Message) Sent: 3/16/2003 12:50 PM
From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo  (Original Message) Sent: 3/21/2003 10:11 AM

The following was copied [with emphasis supplied by me] from The Jefferson School site ( http://www.capitalism.net/ ). I own this book and give it my highest recommendation. It is the only publication that I know that actually applies Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, to another field, (instead of simply copying and rehashing philosophical issues like so many books have done since Ayn Rand's death.)   

For those who may not know, Dr. Reisman is an Objectivist and was a close associate of Ayn Rand before her death.

Dennis Wilson
 

George Reisman

CAPITALISM: A TREATISE ON ECONOMICS

The Clearest and Most Comprehensive Contemporary Defense of the Capitalist Economic System Available

1096 pp. hardcover. $95. Special TJS Price: $66.50

(Please add $7.50 for postage & handling in the U.S. California residents, also please add 7.75% sales tax. Shipment outside U.S. to everywhere but Canada is $9.50 via surface mail. It is  $15 to Canada, where airmail must be used since it is only 5 cents more expensive than very costly surface mail.)

 

Aimed at both the intelligent layman and the professional economist, and written in language that both can understand, this book is the most comprehensive and intellectually powerful explanation of the nature and value of laissez-faire capitalism that has ever been written. It represents a twofold major integration of truths previously discovered by other writers, combined with numerous original contributions made by the author himself. Within economic theory, it integrates leading ideas of the Austrian school with needlessly abandoned doctrines of the British classical school. It further integrates such reconstituted economic theory with essential elements of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. (The Austrian school has been the main school of procapitalist economic thought since 1871; von Mises is its most important member, followed by Böhm-Bawerk. The British classical school was the main school of procapitalist economic thought prior to 1871; Adam Smith and David Ricardo are its most important members.)

On the foundation of these integrations, Dr. Reisman is able to develop the numerous major original contributions that the book presents on the subjects of profits, wages, saving, capital accumulation, aggregate economic accounting, monopoly, and natural resources, among other vital subjects. Based on the same foundation, the book presents the most powerful critiques of Marx, Keynes, the pure-and-perfect competition doctrine, and environmentalism to be found anywhere.

A leading part of its trenchant economic analysis is a consistent demonstration of the natural harmony of the rational self-interests of all men under capitalism—of businessmen and wage earners, of consumers and producers, of men of all races and nationalities, including immigrants and the native born, and of competitors of all levels of ability—consonances most will find astonishing, given the prevailing misunderstandings of capitalism in the late twentieth century.

The book's importance and appeal to a general audience are evident in its description of prevailing attitudes toward capitalism and its challenge to learn why they are all completely wrong and the cause of self-destructive political behavior on a massive scale. For those with the intellectual courage to accept a challenge of having many of their firmest and most cherished beliefs reduced by unanswerable logic to the status of Dark-Age superstitions, here are some of the beliefs that Reisman's book demolishes:

• The profit motive is the cause of starvation wages, exhausting hours, sweatshops, and child labor; of monopolies, inflation, depressions, wars, imperialism, and racism.
  
• Saving is hoarding.
  
• Competition is the law of the jungle.
  
• Economic inequality is unjust and the legitimate basis for class warfare.
  
• Economic progress is a ravaging of the planet and, in the form of improvements in efficiency, a cause of unemployment and depressions.
  
• War and destruction or additional peacetime government spending are necessary to prevent unemployment under capitalism.
  
• Economic activity other than manual labor is parasitical.
  
• Businessmen and capitalists are recipients of "unearned income" and are "exploiters."
  
• The stock and commodity markets are "gambling casinos";
  
• Retailers and wholesalers are "middlemen," having no function but that of adding "markups" to the prices charged by farmers and manufacturers;
  
• Advertisers are inherently guilty of fraud—the fraud of attempting to induce people to desire the goods that capitalism showers on them, but that they allegedly have no natural or legitimate basis for desiring.

(These are all common accusations that are bandied about again and again ad nauseam, in the media, in novels and plays, in classrooms and lecture halls.)

On the basis of such mistaken beliefs, Reisman shows, "people turn to the government: for ‘social justice'; for protection and aid, in the form of labor and social legislation; for reason and order, in the form of government ‘planning.' They demand and for the most part have long ago obtained: progressive income and inheritance taxation; minimum-wage and maximum-hours laws; laws giving special privileges and immunities to labor unions; antitrust legislation; social security legislation; public education; public housing; socialized medicine; nationalized or municipalized post offices, utilities, railroads, subways, and bus lines; subsidies for farmers, shippers, manufacturers, borrowers, lenders, the unemployed, students, tenants, and the needy and allegedly needy of every description."

Reisman's book flies in the face of all such anticapitalistic ideas and demands. Its thesis is that never have so many people been so ignorant and confused about a subject so important, as most people now are about economics and capitalism. It argues that in its logically consistent form of laissez-faire capitalism—that is, with the powers of government limited to those of national defense and the administration of justice—capitalism is a system of economic progress and prosperity for all, and is a precondition of world peace. Following an exhaustive economic analysis of virtually every aspect of capitalism, the book's concluding chapter is devoted to the presentation of a long-range political-economic program for the achievement of a fully capitalist society. [This concluding chapter is available in its entirety at http://www.capitalism.net/Laissez-Faire%20Capitalism.htm and makes a wonderful "Laissez-Faire Capitalist Manifesto"..DLW]

Because its advocacy of capitalism is based in large measure on the author's own, original contributions to economic theory, this is a book that the professional economist can profit from as much as the general reader. For it is sure to constitute as wide and profound a challenge to the theoretical preconceptions of today's economists as it does to the political preconceptions of today's laymen.

Almost the length of a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica in terms both of number of pages and content per page, the book incorporates in little more than three of its twenty chapters an updated and expanded version of the material presented in Dr. Reisman's previous book The Government Against the Economy.

Simply put, Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics is the philosophically and intellectually strongest book in the defense of laissez-faire capitalism that can be found anywhere in the world at the present time. It is state of the art in economic theory and political philosophy. At the same time, however, it can serve as a textbook (introductory, intermediate, or advanced), in which capacity it provides a complete and effective alternative and antidote to what is taught in such texts as Samuelson and all the Samuelson clones and will educate professors as well as students.

The intelligent, open-minded reader who seeks to understand the economics and politics of the modern world (along with much of its closely related history and social and cultural phenomena), and what is required to improve mankind's lot in these two vital areas, need look no further than to this book. Reading it is an essential requirement for understanding and improving the modern world.

The Jefferson School http://www.capitalism.net/
of Philosophy, Economics, and Psychology
PO Box 2934 · Laguna Hills · CA 92654

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 7/4/2003 6:46 PM

The following quotation concerning Reisman's Capitalism: A Treatise on

Economics appears in Barron's Online, Monday, July 7, 2003, in the column

ECONOMIC BEAT by Gene Epstein. The title of this particular column is Dismal

Day at the Beach

"Speaking of capitalism, economist George Reisman's magnum opus,

Capitalism, is still the War and Peace of economic treatises, and truly a

work of genius. ... in most of its 1046 pages, the book amazes you

for the way it settles once and for all just about every question anyone

ever posed about economics, and for the utter clarity of its presentation.

 

"Reisman sells a CD-ROM version of his book, which I recommend buying, since

the volume itself looks like an unabridged dictionary. As one who often

rereads parts it, I've found it convenient to print out two or three

chapters for train or airplane reading."

 

For further information concerning both the CD and hardcopy of Capitalism,

please visit www.capitalism.net , where you can browse through the entire

book.
 

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 9/1/2003 6:21 PM

Capitalism is now available in a CD-Rom edition, which is a faithful replica of the original hardcopy book and, in addition, allows the user to print pages and copy and paste passages for quotation in articles, essays, and term papers. (Safedisc® technology by Macrovision, however, prevents unauthorized duplication of the disk.) Because of an anticipated backlog of orders, please allow several weeks for shipment. (Please note: the CD requires Windows--any version from 95 on.)

Browse through the entire book now and see the wealth of original economic theories and irrefutable logical arguments it offers in defense of economic freedom and laissez-faire capitalism. The book is on line in its entirety, here on this web site, in one large, fully searchable pdf file, with all entries in the table of contents and lists of figures and tables hyperlinked to the material to which they refer. Feel free to download the file to your hard drive and look through it at your leisure.

Unlike the CD-Rom edition, however, the online version does not allow printing or copying and pasting. Frankly, it's offered in order to show why Capitalism is a book you'll want to buy and own without having to strain your eyes on a computer screen. The hardcopy, of course, allows  you to do this, and the CD version allows you to read printed pages without having to carry around a six-pound book (that's how heavy the hardcopy is).

Buy both the hardcopy and the CD version together for the list price of the hardcopy alone: $95. Or buy the CD alone for $39.95 or the hardcopy alone for $66.50. (There's a shipping and handling charge on the hardcopy and hardcopy/CD combination: $7.50 within the U.S. and $9.50 outside the U.S. All orders for the CD alone to destinations outside the US will be shipped by airmail.)*

Visit www.capitalism.net

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 2/10/2006 8:30 AM

George Reisman started a blog on January 30. If you scroll to the bottom of the blog (i.e. read everything he has posted) you will find an easy way to be advised of additions to the blog.
 
http://www.georgereisman.com/blog/ 

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 2/15/2006 4:10 PM
 
http://www.capitalism.net/Earn%20college%20credit.htm

Earn College Credit Online for Studying the Works of George Reisman and Ayn Rand!

TJS is delighted to make the following announcement on behalf of Prof. Brian Simpson, which we hope everyone will pass on to anyone they know who might be interested:

Two online, undergraduate courses that use Dr. Reisman’s book Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics are now available to enroll in at National University of San Diego. These courses are ECO 401 & 402 – Market Process Economics I & II.  They will run in May and June of 2006. They are month long intensive courses (in which you do a semester's worth of work in one month). In addition, one course (ECO 430 – Economics & Philosophy) uses Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal as the required reading material. This course will run in October of 2006. Online classes at National can be taken from anywhere in the world; all one needs is access to the internet. The online courses now feature voice-based chats via the internet.  So you can talk to the instructor and other students (just like being in the classroom) with nothing more than a headset (with microphone) and internet connection. The courses are offered through National’s School of Business and Management.

This is a chance to earn college credit while learning about free market economics and philosophy. There are no prerequisites for these courses, so you do not need any previous college education to take these courses.  You just need to apply to National University and enroll in these courses in order to take them.

These courses have been created by Dr. Brian Simpson.  Dr. Simpson is an assistant professor in the School of Business and Management at National University. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University, was one of Dr. Reisman’s students, and has been studying Objectivism for over thirteen years both through formal classroom training and informally (on his own). Dr. Simpson is also author of the recently published book Markets Don't Fail!  Dr. Simpson will be teaching all sections of the three courses.

Here are links to the respective course descriptions in National University’s catalog and to the respective course syllabi:

ECO 401 - Market Process Economics I: Course Description; Syllabus
 
ECO 402 - Market Process Economics II: Course Description; Syllabus

ECO 430 - Economics and Philosophy: Course Description; Syllabus

National University is the second largest private university in California and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.  For more information about National University go to National’s website at www.nu.edu. To apply to National, go to http://www.nu.edu/Admissions/ApplyOnline.html. For more information on these courses, email Dr. Simpson at bsimpson@nu.edu or call him direct at 858-642-8431 or through the NU operator at 1-800-NAT-UNIV.

Please feel free to copy and post this page!

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: Ron Sent: 3/29/2006 7:42 PM

Dennis:
 
I too own the book and CD, "Capitalism".  Thank you so much for your recommendation.
 
I chatted with George Reisman the other day, telling him of my gratitude for his producing such a necessary, worthwhile work.  I also asked him how one could follow the directions for the CD which suggests that you "copy the CD to your hard drive".  He is not knowing how to do this.
 
Would you please tell me how to do it?  Also, could you tell me how many people (based on past attendance) you are expecting to attend the Ouray celebration this year.  I'd like to go again this year since I haven't been since 2000.
 
Ron Pensworth

[DennisLeeWilson]

I have a longer discussion thread on this subject at my personal site here:
http://dennisleewilson.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=62.0

to which I have just added access to another, recent review of Dr. Reisman's book
http://dennisleewilson.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=62.msg674#msg674

An excerpt from that review (emphasis added):

Most of Capitalism’s content is presented in the framework of a highly original and integrated theoretical system. In terms of doctrinal pedigree and analytical substance, Reisman conceives his system as a synthesis of the fundamental ideas of Austrian (particularly of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and Ludwig von Mises), British Classical economists (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill), and, quite significantly, of the novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand whose conclusions are greatly reinforced and whose analytical coherency are enormously magnified by Reisman’s own numerous theoretical innovations.  These innovations constitute the binding elements, as it were, which preserve what is true and discard what is false in the doctrines of both schools. Like a skillful sculptor, Reisman develops his argument all the while masterly cutting through doctrines and theorems, meticulously extracting and explaining the positive value of some and mercilessly exposing the analytical and empirical fallacies of others.