Frank A. Meyer – column: Capitalism

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Argentina’s new president, Javier Miley, presented himself as an “anarcho-capitalist” to captivated audiences at the World Economic Forum. He warned the West against socialism and feminism, by which he meant the welfare state and equal rights for women. The shaggy-haired South American just as thoroughly castigated the social market economy, as Europeans live it – as the Swiss love it.

Miley urged the WEF audience to fight the socialist conspiracy in the West: promoting women is “unnecessary” and the social safety net is “ridiculous.” All this is regulated by the market. The far-right leader Partido Libertario literally stated:

“Free trade and capitalism are the only tools to fight hunger and poverty in the world.”

No one in Davos interrupted him. I wonder why? The Argentine economic libertarian hits the mark. Of course, it’s not at all what he thinks. What he uses to criticize the welfare state as the enemy of capitalism is, on the contrary, proof that the welfare state is the essence of capitalism itself.

This becomes especially clear from the fact that Miley emphasizes: capitalism has successfully fought hunger and poverty in the world – and continues to do so.

But how does he manage to do this? Through the constant adaptation of a free economy to the needs of free citizens: The liberation of people from exploited objects to defining subjects – from proletarians to citizens – went hand in hand with the social structure of the market.

Today, the citizen and the citizen determine what is good for society. Democracy is everything, but economics is only part.

Yes, economic freedom is necessary for the freedom of society as a whole. Containing capitalism where it has excess power is one thing. It is another matter to give capitalism as much anarcho-creative freedom as possible, with all the risks of failure – this is a vital element of an open society.

Only this freedom allows for trial and error, that is, progress towards new, better things.

If this is what Miley means by his Argentine message of freedom, he should celebrate the development of capitalism, especially the social market economy, since this is an expression of poverty reduction, that is, the emancipation of citizens, the empowerment of political rights and opportunities for all citizens in the country. democratic rule of law state.

However, it can be assumed that the Argentine revolutionary reformer had a different formula of capitalism in mind:

The principle of trickle down.

According to this formula, benefits are transferred from the generous table of the rich to the common people. The picture is cynical:

Social rights become alms, self-confident citizens become supplicants.

Capitalism is the opposite: the engine of freedom, where social security is the driving force, the prerequisite for civil freedom. Capitalism must be shaped by citizens for it to become creative capitalism.

Miley’s economic vulgarity has its roots in the Argentine travails of populism, notoriously known as Peronism, the ideology of autocrat Juan Peron (1895-1974), once aesthetically transformed by his magical wife Evita, famous for her films and musicals. Perón’s form of economics and rule still shapes Argentine politics, most recently in large part thanks to the Kirchner dynasty, which has led two of the country’s last four presidents.

Miley contrasts Peronism with what he considers freedom: error in response to error.

If only the envoy from South America had looked around Switzerland – through the mountainous visibility barrier at the WEF. He would have walked away with the knowledge of what economic liberalism really is – and what it can achieve:

For example, Switzerland, social, creative, full of hard work and enthusiasm, a world class country, democratically designed with capitalism and protected by the rule of law.

Javier Miley is due to go on holiday to Zurich.

Source: Blick