“People are just greedy these days, man. No one does things because they love their craft, or because they love others, like they used to,” yawned my barber to me recently, as he spun my chair around and began shaving the back of my neck. I responded that, strange as it may seem, the best haircuts I get typically come from the greediest of barbers. What followed was a fantastic conversation about economics, morality, and, in particular, what sorts of personal motivations best provide wealth and freedom for the greatest number of people. As we chatted, it became clearer that what he meant by greed was self-interest, and that what really got him upset was the idea of people being motivated by profits. But should these motivations really surprise, let alone upset, anyone? Self-interest does seem to create problems in mixed economies such as ours, where crony capitalists constantly collude with legislators to lay claim on other people’s money in the form of tax benefits or subsidies; but, in a society where stealing is accepted so long as it’s done indirectly through elected officials, that’s only to say that people are people. Just like the Occupy Wall Street crowd, my barber is blaming the wrong party. In truly free markets, where exchanges happen voluntarily, the pursuit of profit is a good thing, because people would only do business when all parties are richer as a result. In his 1776 work The Wealth of Nations, philosopher Adam Smith famously said, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”Almost everything that has made our lives better—shoes, computers, electricity, anesthetics, airplanes, etc.—are the result of self-interested individuals seeking their fortune. Rather than chastising the motivations of society’s entrepreneurs, we should demand, reclaim, and preserve a free economy. While paying up, my barber said it would be his last day downtown, and would be moving to another shop across town to West End…presumably to earn more money! Perhaps I’ll run into him sometime and we can continue the conversation. Better yet, maybe he will read up on Adam Smith in between cuts. -Sam Cosby Enjoy the Beacon blog? Help us keep it going with a tax-deductible gift.
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US
LATEST POSTS
Policy in Action: A Recap of the 2025 Legislative Session
The 2025 legislative session saw monumental wins for freedom in Tennessee.
Expanding Opportunity: The Future of Education in Tennessee
Join us for the first installment of Beacon's new quarterly webinar series!
First Principles Series: The Policy Case Against Tariffs
It was free trade, not tired old tariff policies, that made us the strongest country in the world.
First Principles Series: The Legal Case Against Tariffs
The separation of powers in the Constitution is a crucial bulwark against tyranny and for preserving liberty.
Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?
The unanswerable question seems to me, do the goods of AI outweigh the evils?
Fact Checking Claims on Education Freedom Scholarships
With the bill passing, there has been an enormous amount of misinformation spread about what the legislation actually does. We seek to set t...
Tennessee: The Land of Opportunity
By working with Tennesseans from one corner of the state to the other, we can make this bold vision a reality and make Tennessee the land of...
Beacon Poll: January 2025 Results
Today, we released our latest installment of the Beacon Poll, a statewide survey of 1,200 registered Tennessee voters comprised of questions...
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US
WANT TO DO A STORY ABOUT SOMETHING YOU SEE HERE?
CONTACT US AT:
mark@beacontn.org
(O) 615-383-6431
WHO ARE WE?
The Beacon Center of Tennessee empowers Tennesseans to reclaim and protect their freedoms, so that they can freely pursue their version of the American Dream.