I am not usually a fan of Tyler Cowen's writing.
He often positions himself too close to mainstream interventionist economics, even Keynesian economics, for my taste.
That said, in his latest book, Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero, he has hit a home run.
Cowen is fully aware that socialism is growing as a respectable political philosophy in America. In his new book, he cites polls that show the growing number of students who are anti-capitalism and pro-socialism.
Anecdotally, he provides us with this gem:
How is this tweet, from "Dina," for showing lack of gratitude toward business? "If you think about it. People with glasses are literally paying to use their eyes. Capitalism is a bitch." Shortly after it was posted, it had accumulated 257,000 likes, surely with more to come.What to do?
What Cowen has done is write this very important book, taking on the charges against capitalism/big business.
In the book, he takes on the claims that CEOs are paid too much, that big business is untrustworthy, that Wall Street serves no good purpose.
Whereas Tom DiLorenzo took on the growing socialist threat by explaining the horrific history of socialism and the theoretical problems with it in his book, The Problem with Socialism, Cowen comes from a different direction explaining why those who are anti-business (especially anti-big business) are wrong.
What is really special about this book is that Cowen does not ignore any issues. He takes on all the attacks against business. Significantly, the book will reveal to readers that Cowen is a deep thinker and great observer about what he writes.
It will take readers unfamiliar with justifications for capitalism down a wonderful winding road where Cowen will stop from time to time and point out the whys and wherefores of capitalist elements never observed by them before.
In short, this is the right book at the right time.
It should be read by every high school and college student and by those of any age caught in the current enthusiasm for socialism.
It is also a powerful handbook for free market advocates who want to add to their intellectual arsenal for when they battle those who think big business is evil.
This is a book for our age that is not coming a moment too soon.
Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.
This is great to see from Cowen, who has been mixed before. I look forward to reading it
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