Free enterprise works

SINCE Karl Marx died in 1883 (“Economic collapse of 2008”, Cape Times, March 11), there have been two major collapses of the markets; in the 1920s/30s and again in 2008/09 and many other dips and rises.

That is exactly how markets are supposed to behave. In the long term, the trend is always up. Which particular fall did Comrade Marx predict? I forecast that in the next 100 years, President Zuma will cease to be president, President Mugabe will die and that there will be more than three fatal aircraft crashes. That is about how clever the author of communism was.

In a brilliant book written by an Israeli history professor, Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind, the origins of capitalism are traced. The system of exchange is ancient and is as natural as evolution. I am the product of the free enterprise system. I have had a morethan-satisfactory life.

I have always been able to feed and clothe my family and provide shelter. I am by no means rich, but I had the opportunity to take on any challenge I felt inclined to attack: some worked; some failed. But looking back on my life, it was fun. I doubt many of the people who suffered seven decades of communism can make that claim.

Why is the Cape Times giving so much space to communism? It is this system that has had its time. It sounds good, even feels good if you are in a top position, but it was a spectacular failure. And the reason is simple: you cannot engineer the way people live. Governments have a duty to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

But for the rest; as long as they keep within the laws of the land, citizens must be free to run their lives as they wish. Totalitarianism has been tried numerous times in recorded history and in the end, the free exchange of idea and money wins through. Leave it alone: this economic system is the best there is.