The following is a response to a friend of mine - a friend who happens to hold a master's degree in economics from one of the most prestigious universities on the planet - who stated that, in a capitalist system, only the creator benefits from his creation.
When the thinking man creates, his fellows receive overwhelming benefits. In a free society, the wealthiest men do not carry the biggest guns or cry the largest pools of tears; they are the thinkers who think up the greatest ways to assist their fellow men. They earn their profit; they benefit by benefiting others.
The legitimate capitalist, unlike the statist and his "taxation", does not give the ultimatum: "Your money or your life;" he does not offer a stickup. Rather, he says, "How about your money for your life;" he offers a handshake. By this, he means that his product or service makes his customer's life better, happier, more full - or even longer; a capitalist benefits by benefiting others.
In some cases, the creator helps save human life. Consider the scientist who discovers a cure for a life-threatening disease. What sort of reason deprived mind would argue that only the discoverer of, say, cancer's cure, receives the benefits of the cure? Each of the millions of lives saved will beg to differ. For further clarification, the reasonless individual need only discuss the matter with the loved ones of the lives saved. Let him try to convince these people that "all of the benefits of creativity go only to the creator," and no one else.
A musician may create music without benefiting others, if he does not allow anyone to hear it. A businessman may run a venture without benefiting others, but not for long. Without income or customers, any business will bleed to death in the red. A creative man may exist without benefiting his fellows, only if he devotes himself to a life of hermitage - or if the statist gets his way and puts him in jail or a concentration camp, for having the gall to benefit by benefiting others.
Money is a tool of exchange and, in a rational society, it is exchanged for value. A fool and his money are lucky to get together in the first place, but a rational man and his dollar are not soon parted; when he spends, he thinks about it. It follows that he who amasses and earns great wealth offers great value. Besides those few "lucky" souls who play the lottery (the idiot tax) and win (usually just to lose it), who ever went from rags to riches by offering nothing?
Selfishness - rational selfishness - is not a mental straitjacket that traps a man inside his own wants and needs, making him bitterly and cynically self-exploitative, rendering him incapable of considering and taking into account the concerns and interests of other men. A properly selfish man, indeed, will put his interests first. If those interests entail creating wealth, perhaps he will start a business, conduct market research, find out what other people want and then advertise a fitting product or service on WIIFM radio (What's In It For Me?). If a rational, selfish, moral, free man sets out to benefit by benefiting others, a rational, selfish, moral, free society will reward him by bestowing wealth on him.
A rationally selfish man is not a misanthrope who puts "looking out for number one" at the top of his to-do list, then contemptuously scribbles every name he knows on an assassin's hit list. A rational society is not a "dog eat dog world" where men must "kill or be killed" and "eat or be eaten." It is the antithesis. It is the world of the right to agree or disagree, not agree or die. It is the land of the free and home of the brave, not of coercive cowards. It is voluntary trade, not force; handshakes, not stickups. This calls to mind Zig Ziglar's witticism: "You can have anything in this world if you just help others get what they want."
To blossom, a creative man only needs an environment of freedom. He merely needs other men to keep their hands off of him. He needs protection from the rotten pollution of statism, the creed that men are pawns in a chess game that the dictator or majority rule get to play. He needs protection from those who view people as sheeple, sacrificial human lambs to be herded by the self-declared shepherds of men. He needs others to recognize that he should benefit when he benefits others and that he benefits because he benefits others. And if his needs are not met, he needs to shrug.
My friend began by imploring me to understand that he is a "mouth and not a pen"; he prefers auditory discourse over textual debate. His contentions are built upon unchecked premises, and a misunderstanding of how men interact in a free society. Such arguments will always collapse, whether communicated by lips, pen or typewriter.
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