Capitalism in trouble? (1)

I knew that capitalism was safe almost as soon as I arrived at Munich airport last Friday.

There in front of me was proof of the resilience of an economic system based fundamentally on the idea of free markets and private property rights.

This is not to say that capitalism is perfect. Far from it.

Even in good times, it leads to the production of all sorts of goods and services whose value is questionable to say the least. (How many types of deodorant or toothpaste does the world really need?)

Even in good times, capitalism leads to extraordinary inequities of income, which no person in his right mind could regard as desirable or justifiable. That's why the state (rightly) intervenes to redistribute income through taxes and social benefits.

And then there are the bad times, such as the present crisis, when capitalism requires the strong hand of the state to keep it afloat.

Yet, despite all capitalism's faults, no one has yet come up with a better economic system for increasing living standards and protecting (at least relative) political freedom.

So what is the proof of capitalism's resilience that I saw at Munich airport? It was the piles of new books on display about capitalism's problems, the current crash or the need for a new system.

Among the titles were Der Crash des Kapitalismus, Kernschmelze im Finanzsystem, Das Frust Job Killer Buch and Arm durch Arbeit. There was one book suggesting we need more capitalism (Mehr Kapitalismus wagen), but the tone of most of the books was negative.

One of the books — Wahnsinn mit Methode: Finanzcrash und Weltwirtschaft — was by Sahra Wagenknecht of Germany's left-wing Die Linke party. This party would like to abolish capitalism and find an alternative.

Like all the other books, Wagenknecht's was produced and distributed to Munich airport by precisely the system she and others are so critical of.

And that's the proof that capitalism, in one form or another, will survive.