Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 6 “Tuesdays with Mandeville” As introduced in the last blog, Bernard Mandeville pioneered writing about the hypocrisy he thought was endemic to commerce that was a conversation happily continued by many to follow. Foster dives…
Tag: Self-interest
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Penning Hypocrisy: Writers Making Money Criticizing Capitalism
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 6 “Tuesdays with Mandeville” Foster is tracing anti-capitalist thought across many writers of the West, and in this chapter he hits one I had not heard of: Bernard Mandeville who was born in 1670 in…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Rand’s Front Row Seat to the Russian Revolution Created her Commitment to Individualism
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 5 “The Passion of Ayn Rand” I am not sure how I ended up reading, We the Living, but I am really glad I did. It was the first novel Ayn Rand wrote but it was not…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Unveiling the Exasperating Contradictions in Ayn Rand’s Philosophy
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 5 “The Passion of Ayn Rand” I was very young when I first read Ayn Rand. First, I read The Fountainhead and then Atlas Shrugged. I did not know much about anything, but I was intrigued by the idea…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
When Privilege met Narcissism, Marxism was Born
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 4 “Dark Satanic Minds” Last blog, we learned about one of the Utopians, Robert Owen, that rose up to challenge capitalism because of all the social upheaval wrought by industrialization. A more famous challenge, and one that persists…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Doing Capitalism inside of Communism
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 3 “Fears of a Clown: The Golden Arch-Enemy” In the previous blog, Foster showed us how many difficulties McDonald’s faced trying to run a restaurant in Moscow upon making a deal in 1988 when it was still…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
McDonald’s Goes to Moscow
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 3 “Fears of a Clown: The Golden Arch-Enemy” Foster turns his attention to a major U.S. company, McDonald’s, that he notes has long been a target of derision from American elites. McDonald’s had long been the Golden…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Grave Inequality: Smith’s Final Resting Place Lost to Government Run Obscurity While Marx Generates Profits
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 2 “The Sage of Kirkcaldy” In the first part of my discussion of this chapter, we looked at what Peter Foster told us about Adam Smith’s life and the developoment of his ideas that we know today…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith Would Be Surprised to Learn People Think He Supports Greed
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 2 “The Sage of Kirkcaldy” In this chapter, Peter Foster follows Adam Smith through the years as he developed his ideas that were enshrined in his two books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759 and The Wealth of Nations in…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Capitalism Needs a PR Team
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 1 “Cardboard Cut-out Capitalism” Peter Foster notes in his book that capitalism is a word everyone uses, often with negative connotations, but seldom define. (p. 24) Defining capitalism is one of the key sticking points for authors…