In defence of the c-word: why capitalism is a force for good
As research shows falling public support for free enterprise, Business Secretary Sajid Javid says 'capitalist' should be a badge of honour.
Before I start today바카라 사이트檚 talk, I바카라 사이트檇 like to say a few words about the appalling terrorist acts that took place in Paris on Friday night.
I바카라 사이트檓 sure I speak for everyone here, when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the people of France.
The days and weeks to come will be difficult beyond measure.
But you will not face them alone.
We will stand with you.
Paris바카라 사이트檚 motto translates as 바카라 사이트渟he is tossed by the waves but does not sink바카라 사이트�.
And I think that바카라 사이트檚 an ideal we should all take to heart today.
Terrorists seek to instil in us a state of fear.
But we will not be afraid.
They seek to divide us.
But we will not be divided.
Our society may continue to be tossed by their waves of hatred and violence.
But we will not sink.
And now, if I may, I바카라 사이트檒l turn to the subject of today바카라 사이트檚 talk.
I바카라 사이트檓 a proud capitalist.
That바카라 사이트檚 not something you바카라 사이트檒l hear a lot of people saying in this country. Certainly not politicians.
But it바카라 사이트檚 true.
And why wouldn바카라 사이트檛 I be proud of it?
For hundreds of years, capitalism has been lifting people out of poverty.
It has been delivering international development, and raising living standards.
Over time it has been improved and refined, and helped to spread democracy around the world.
Without capitalism, the UK would not be the country that it is today.
Capitalism created the wealth that led to the NHS.
It allows us to pay for universal education.
It was the driving force behind 2 centuries of inventions and innovations.
Ideas that revolutionised the way we live, we work and we communicate.
Capitalism built houses and railways.
It feeds our people and it allows us to feed millions more overseas.
So it shouldn바카라 사이트檛 be controversial to call myself a fan.
Yet in 2015 capitalism is, for many, a dirty word.
In fact when I was planning this speech, some people said to me;
Look Sajid, you should avoid using the c-word.
Keep it to a minimum, stick to euphemisms like 바카라 사이트榝ree enterprise바카라 사이트�, 바카라 사이트榦pen markets바카라 사이트� and 바카라 사이트榩rivate business바카라 사이트�.
It바카라 사이트檚 hardly surprising because, right now, capitalism is facing its gravest threat since the Cold War.
But that threat doesn바카라 사이트檛 come from an invading army or dictatorial leader.
It comes from a force that is far more powerful.
Public disillusionment.
As Tim Montgomerie바카라 사이트檚 excellent Legatum Institute study showed, millions of people have lost faith in capitalism across the world.
They argue that big business is inevitably corrupt.
That free enterprise always makes the rich richer at the expense of the poor.
That protectionism is preferable to free trade.
The financial crisis has left people weary and wary.
And in its wake we see populist politicians at home and abroad offering easy answers.
Answers that are direct challenge to capitalism itself.
Now this is nothing new.
There have always been oddballs and loners sitting on the sidelines and demanding a return to agrarianism or something similar.
They바카라 사이트檝e been there for as long as the free market has been the dominant system.
But today we see such views seeping into the mainstream for the first time in decades.
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Capitalism failed to cover itself in glory over the past decade.
And now public opinion is turning against it in a big way.
This matters, because no system can survive without the support from the people.
And make no mistake, capitalism is at its heart just an economic system.
It바카라 사이트檚 a construct. It바카라 사이트檚 something that has been created and refined by human hand.
It바카라 사이트檚 not a dog-eat-dog, laissez-faire free-for-all 바카라 사이트� it바카라 사이트檚 a system with rules.
It is not the natural order of things and, left unsupported, it could quickly be lost simply through neglect.
We have to consciously choose to embrace it, choose to continue its legacy.
President Reagan was talking about democracy when he said that that 바카라 사이트渇reedom is never more than 1 generation away from extinction바카라 사이트�.
But his idea 바카라 사이트� that freedom is not passed on but must be fought for, must be protected and must be defended 바카라 사이트� applies equally to the free market.
We neglect it at our peril.
And if we fail to support it, it could still crumble in the face of countless tiny attacks.
Or, as the second President Bush put it in slightly more succinct terms: 바카라 사이트渢his sucker could go down바카라 사이트�.
So why is it worth defending?
Why, if the tide is turning and opinion is shifting, should we not just throw in the towel and try something different?
Well, I바카라 사이트檒l tell you why.
Because capitalism is a force for good.
Because, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it바카라 사이트檚 not a dangerous tiger that needs to be shot, or a cow that can be milked.
It바카라 사이트檚 a healthy horse that pulls us all forward.
Just look at what it has delivered so far.
In the 6,000 years to 1750, living standards in the developed world doubled.
But since the industrial revolution, that doubling has occurred roughly every 50 years.
Each generation has been a third better off than its predecessor.
Since the 1970s, the proportion of the world population living on a dollar a day has, adjusting for inflation, fallen by 80%.
That바카라 사이트檚 the greatest improvement in living standards ever achieved in the whole of human history.
It바카라 사이트檚 made an unimaginably huge difference in the lives of literally billions of people. But it wasn바카라 사이트檛 delivered by a UN initiative or by the World Bank.
It didn바카라 사이트檛 happen because of a foreign aid budget, or because governments willed it to be so.
It happened because of the spread of capitalism and of free trade.
Just look at China.
Forced collectivisation killed millions of people and left 64% of the population in poverty.
It was Deng Xiaoping who realised that something had to change.
Asked why he was moving China closer towards capitalism, he said that 바카라 사이트淚t doesn바카라 사이트檛 matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.바카라 사이트�
And, sure enough, when the country finally began to embrace capitalism, the poverty rate swiftly fell to around 8%.
Legatum바카라 사이트檚 annual Prosperity Index repeatedly shows that the most prosperous nations on earth are those that are economically free.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest fallers in this year바카라 사이트檚 ranking was Venezuela.
It바카라 사이트檚 providing a very real case study, I believe, of Lady Thatcher바카라 사이트檚 maxim that all socialist governments eventually run out of other people바카라 사이트檚 money.
And it바카라 사이트檚 the people of Venezuela who are paying as a result.
But the benefits of international capitalism aren바카라 사이트檛 solely economic.
As Nye Bevan wrote, 바카라 사이트渇reedom is the by-product of economic surplus바카라 사이트�.
As capitalism has spread around the world, it has taken liberal democracy with it.
The 2 go hand in hand.
The values and institutions you need to effectively run a capitalist market are the same one that are required for a democracy.
Put simply, both rely on giving people the freedom to choose.
To choose who governs them.
To choose what they want to buy.
In a capitalist society you can choose your career, choose your direction.
Capitalism gives you the opportunity to break out of the confines of where you came from.
Capitalism is colour-blind.
It doesn바카라 사이트檛 care what you look like, where your parents come from or whether you have a funny-sounding name.
It recognises ability, not connections.
It rewards people who do well regardless of the colour of their skin.
And if you don바카라 사이트檛 like capitalism?
If you want to drop out of the system and you want to live in the woods eating berries?
Well you can choose to do that too.
In a state-planned economy the opposite is true.
It relies on everyone being told what to do and when to do it.
On being assigned a role and then being expected to follow it.
A centrally-run, government-planned economy simply doesn바카라 사이트檛 work if people are allowed to choose what they want to do.
The Berlin Wall was not built to stop desperate West Germans fleeing to the DDR.
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So there바카라 사이트檚 no doubt whatsoever that capitalism has been and continues to be a massive boon for international development, both economic and political.
But that doesn바카라 사이트檛 mean that it바카라 사이트檚 only of use to developing countries or those emerging from the shadow of totalitarianism.
Here at home, I often hear critics of the government complaining that our long-term economic plan is driven by ideology.
And you know what?
They바카라 사이트檙e absolutely right.
It바카라 사이트檚 driven by an ideology that says a strong, stable, secure economy is what Britain needs in order to thrive.
That says capitalist democracy allows us to pay for schools and hospitals and defence.
That recognises only capitalism provides the means to tackle those five giants of squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease.
Thanks to capitalism nearly every home has access to labour-saving devices from vacuum cleaners to washing machines.
We can buy an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables all year round. We can take holidays, we can buy TVs, we can work flexibly.
We can flick a switch and not be worried about whether the lights will come on.
Our sporting success, our world-class health service, our incredible creative industries, our cultural pioneers.
Almost everything we take for granted in modern Britain is only there because of capitalism.
The last time this country experimented with state planning and nationalisation, we ended up with a stagnant economy.
We had runaway inflation.
We had rubbish piled up in the streets.
And the people who suffered most then weren바카라 사이트檛 the wealthiest in society.
They weren바카라 사이트檛 the bankers and they weren바카라 사이트檛 the super-rich.
The people who suffered most were the ordinary men and women.
People who just wanted to work hard and provide for their families.
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Right now we live in a country with record employment, with more private businesses than ever before.
We바카라 사이트檙e a prosperous nation, a thriving nation, the kind of nation I came into politics to help create and protect.
So yes, my policies are driven by capitalist ideology.
An ideology that has made Britain and the world freer, happier and more prosperous.
An ideology that has given us the means to enjoy our lives and the time with which to do so.
An ideology that I will fight tooth and nail to defend.
But my passion for capitalism doesn바카라 사이트檛 mean I바카라 사이트檓 blind to the challenges that it presents.
Perhaps the biggest is that of inequality.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Of course, that gap is relative.
Thanks to 2 centuries of capitalism, anyone in Britain earning an average salary is, in global terms, comfortably among 바카라 사이트渢he One Per Cent바카라 사이트�.
Our standard of living is considerably higher than it used to be.
Yet people are still understandably aggrieved when they see a tiny handful of individuals doing exceptionally well.
There바카라 사이트檚 also the risk of exploitation.
Some employers choose to maximise profits by paying low wages.
They cut corners on workplace safety, and they commit irreversible environmental damage.
And if the minority refuse to play by the rules, of course the majority can suffer.
Whether it바카라 사이트檚 dumping steel on the global markets, fiddling emissions tests on new cars, or conspiring behind the scenes to fix Libor rates, a few people with bad intentions can make themselves wealthy at the expense of a great many others.
These problems easily spill over into a criticism of capitalism itself.
As Tim바카라 사이트檚 report shows, despite everything it has delivered, most Britons do not think of capitalism as a force for good.
But inequality is not a fault with capitalism itself.
It바카라 사이트檚 a limitation of it, something it cannot fix on its own.
Likewise, exploitation and illegality are not flaws in the fabric of the system.
They are simply flaws in human nature.
Under any system there will always be people who refuse to follow the rules, who take advantage of others to enrich themselves.
Despite what the propaganda says, there are thieves in socialist societies too.
Adherents of Marx think that all of the answers are contained in the Communist Manifesto.
But capitalists are more pragmatic.
We recognise that there바카라 사이트檚 more to life than the Road to Serfdom or the Wealth of Nations.
That바카라 사이트檚 why Adam Smith started off by writing the 바카라 사이트楾heory of Moral Sentiments바카라 사이트�!
None of us should be afraid to say that capitalism is a work in progress.
That it has been refined and improved over many years, and that the process of perfection still goes on.
State-planned economies rely on doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something other than failure.
Meanwhile, capitalist societies recognise when something isn바카라 사이트檛 working and they take action to address it.
And that바카라 사이트檚 where the government has a role to play.
In recent years it바카라 사이트檚 become fashionable to bash government as an institution, to say it바카라 사이트檚 inherently a bad thing.
In some circles you바카라 사이트檒l find people who think the state has absolutely no role to play in business at all.
I바카라 사이트檓 not one of those people.
바카라 사이트 has always had an absolutely crucial role to play in improving and enhancing capitalism.
Without government intervention, factories could employ child labour and force workers to endure dangerous conditions.
Without government intervention, it would be perfectly legal to pay women less than men, or fire them for getting pregnant.
Without government intervention, a business owner would be allowed to refuse me service because of the colour of my skin 바카라 사이트� as some did to my dad.
And such interventions aren바카라 사이트檛 just battles from the past.
I바카라 사이트檓 proud to be part of a government that바카라 사이트檚 introducing the National Living Wage and the Apprenticeship Levy, government interventions in the free market that will help make capitalism work better.
I바카라 사이트檓 proud to be passing the Enterprise Bill, protecting small business owners against late payments and making sure that everyone plays the by rules.
I바카라 사이트檓 proud to be a Business Secretary who is relentlessly pro-business, yet unafraid to take action when things aren바카라 사이트檛 working.
Continuing to improve the system is a major part of my job.
And over the next few weeks and months I바카라 사이트檒l be talking a little more about what government and business need to do to in order to make that happen.
To tackle abuses of the system.
To make sure nobody is left behind by progress.
And to help restore public confidence in capitalism.
Now I started this morning by talking about how 바카라 사이트榗apitalism바카라 사이트� has become something of a swear word.
And in many ways, as supporters of capitalism, we have only ourselves to blame.
Because over the years we바카라 사이트檝e allowed the debate to be framed in terms of left and right.
We바카라 사이트檝e allowed capitalism to be defined as an immoral, laissez faire free-for-all.
A system that doesn바카라 사이트檛 just tolerate exploitation, but actively encourages it.
But things really aren바카라 사이트檛 that black and white.
The Rowntree and Cadbury families were capitalists who built vast business empires by selling their goods.
But they also invested huge amounts in the welfare of their workforce and wider society.
George Cadbury even used his fortune to buy a newspaper so that he could use it to campaign against sweatshop labour.
A century later, the world바카라 사이트檚 most successful capitalist is Bill Gates.
He바카라 사이트檚 giving away tens of billions of pounds to improve healthcare in developing nations.
One survey recently named him the most popular man in the world.
Being a capitalist does not make you a bad person.
It is not a synonym for evil.
I바카라 사이트檓 a capitalist, but I also believe in equality, that people shouldn바카라 사이트檛 be allowed to discriminate.
I바카라 사이트檓 a capitalist, but I don바카라 사이트檛 believe we should pursue profit at all costs and destroy the planet in the process.
I바카라 사이트檓 a capitalist, but I don바카라 사이트檛 believe in exploiting workers in the UK or anywhere else.
Critics of capitalism do not have a monopoly on conscience and compassion.
And on the other side of the coin, capitalists are not alone in thinking that the state should allow people to do well for themselves.
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No less a figure than William Beveridge said that:
The State 바카라 사이트� in establishing a national minimum 바카라 사이트� should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.
So from whichever angle you look at it, capitalism is a force for good.
The challenge we face is to make that case in a compelling and convincing manner.
We have to celebrate and highlight what it does well, and address problems when things go wrong.
We have to be unashamed to say that we support capitalism, but unafraid to admit that it can always be improved.
Above all we have to demonstrate, through words and actions, that capitalism is not an ugly necessity, something rotten that we simply have to tolerate.
Capitalism is a wonderful, powerful thing.
The single greatest tool we have to tackle poverty.
To raise living standards.
And to boost international development.
It바카라 사이트檚 the best economic system anyone has ever devised.
And it바카라 사이트檚 crucial that we defend it.
Because capitalism is not perfect, but it can be perfected.
And it falls to its supporters to do just that.