The Zero-Sum Game Myth is that any exchange has a winner and a loser. But if markets are free, there are win-win transactions. Trading freely can add value in the items. Moreover, capitalism is better than monopoly because people have to compete with others (page 70). For example, they have to improve the quality of the good and services to reach the requirement from the customers. Competition here is not fighting and destroying others. It means serving the customer better to get credit from them and increase revenue. In short, a free exchange motivates win-win transaction, everyone is better off.
The Materialist Myth in which people believes that the wealth is n transferred from the poor to the rich. They think that amount of wealth in the world is static so if one is richer, another is poorer. It is absolutely wrong. For example, if I compare myself to Bill Gates, I am absolutely poor. The gap between rich and poor may grow, the poor people is not poorer. The reason is that the total amount of wealth may increase (page 90). Many is many poor people improve a lot, but the gap is till big because the rich get richer. So it means the wealth is not transferred but created.
The Greed Myth which believes that capitalism is greed. It is totally wrong because capitalism is a system in which people work for self-interest. It encourages people work hard with more effort and high quality to compete with other people, or other firms. Therefore, capitalism helps to increase the total revenue of society and the level of GDP.
The Usury Myth believes that working with money is inherently immoral and that charging interest is always exploitative. People think that usury ignoble and selling money is committed usury (page 136). A static banking system encourages thrift and savings over instant gratification and consumption—one of the basic requirements for capitalism. In bible, there is an interesting story about 3 servants. The one who had received one talent dig a hole to hide the master’s money. Finally, he was punished by his master. This servant should invest money into the bank, so when his master return, he can earn from this interest. In short, it is not immoral to accept interest for lending money to someone. It does not only make profit for saver, but also motivate the economy growth.
The Artsy Myth in which we confuse aesthetic myths with economic arguments. Capitalism doesn’t lead to an ugly consumerist culture. A free market allows people to choose wrong, but it does not force them to do it. Moreover, it is the materialist worldview that denies the divine, not the capitalism.
The Freeze-Frame Myth which says that things always stay the same. This is a misconception because of the shortage of resources such as oil. We draw this resource from the surface to use. But whatever we use now, our future generation will lack because of the scarcity (page 183). Oil and coal are renewable source. We always hear the warning about using excessively the peak of oil reserves.
In my opinion, capitalism is the best. Trading with more freedom has more benefits and efficiency. Everyone will be happy and satisfy with their choices. Free trade leads to the increase of both imports and exports. More products from both inside and outside the Unites States are available for consumers. Therefore, they have more choices and opportunities to choose whatever they want. Moreover, with the diversity of product from many sources, the price will be kept in moderation, not too high. It can prevent from inflation and monopoly. Free trading also provides job to many people. It decrease unemployment and poverty and increase the gross domestic product of the United States. Plus, capitalism is always better than monopoly. Capitalism lead people into a fair competition, in which everyone have to do the best with high quality to reach the requirement and to bring the best product to consumer with a reasonable price. So capitalism leads to the innovation. Another interesting part in the book is about using natural resource and raw material. Few people think that natural resources are unlimited and endless, so they can use it extravagantly without any caution. This thought is totally wrong and cause many serious problems for mankind, especially the future generation. Although people can create resource, they still need the raw material. Life will be awful without nature resource. Gas is an example about limited resource. People dig it from the ground and turn it to fuel using for machines and vehicles. So everyone should realize that every resource are limited and use it reasonable. They can do nothing when it ends, so prevention is better than cure. Another part I am interested in is charity and donation. Charity is the way that people help the poor people or countries such as the help from United States to many African countries. There are two serious problem exist in this action. Firstly, charity can only help others temporarily. So the problem cannot be solved absolutely. Charity is really helpful only in emergency situation such helping Japan after the disaster of tsunami. But the consequence is that the people in these poor countries will rely on this donation from United States and do not have efforts to work. Secondly, corruption is obstacle of the charity. If government cannot control this problem, money will be wasted in the hand of some people because the donators are not the ones who give money directly to the poor. Moreover, be having for the donation, government have to raise the tax from many area such as trading, income, and entertainment. It will hurt the economy. In short, government should prepare carefully a complete plan to help the poo without any serious consequences.
“Money, Greed, And God” is a very good book which gives me a lot of information about economics and widens my knowledge. By reading this book, I can understand more about capitalism and its benefit. I also can prevent any mistake as eight myths in this book. Moreover, it does not only give me information, but also help me to be ready to enter the real life with a complex economy.
