"In 1820, 94 out of every 100 people lived in extreme poverty. Forty-three children out of every 100 died before the age of five. Eighty-eight adults could not read. Not a single person was vaccinated against diphtheria, whooping cough, or tetanus.
"That was the natural condition of humanity before capitalism expanded globally.
"Two centuries later, those numbers are 10 people in extreme poverty, 4 child deaths per 100, 85 who can read, and 86 vaccinated. The world's population grew nearly eightfold during that period, and the number of people living in misery fell in absolute terms.
"The explanation lies in the mechanisms capitalism introduced at global scale. The price system began allocating resources to where they were most valued. Property rights gave people a reason to innovate, invest, and save. Free trade connected regions that had been isolated from one another, generating mutual gains where precarious self-sufficiency had existed before. Together, these mechanisms made wealth creation a continuous process.
"No other economic system in human history has produced this result. Socialism promised equality and delivered scarcity. Feudalism kept the majority trapped in subsistence for centuries. Capitalism was the only one that raised the floor for everyone."
"'Real Socialism' has never been tried in the same way that 'Real Capitalism' has never been tried.
"The difference is 'Almost Socialism' resulted in the impoverishment & death of hundreds of millions of people.
"While 'Almost Capitalism' has lifted billions from absolute poverty."
~ Mark Antro
1 comment:
There was some science in there too, I'm pretty sure.
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