Originally Posted by Roody
It's great, tightwad. i wonder what inspired him to make the money in the first place? The cornerstone of capitalism is that people are inspired to make a profit because they can use the money to benefit themselves in some way. Is that the case here? Or is it not?
No. I'll never forget what my high school economics teacher taught me. He pointed out the fact that the cornerstone of capitalism is not people acting in their own interests, but rather people acting towards what interests them.
In other words, the motivation of capitalism is that you can use your profits for whatever you think is important, which may or may not be yourself. Unfortunately most people are so selfcentered that the only thing they think is important is themselves, but this need not be true in general and Mr Taussig is a fine example of a capable individual who has not allowed such selfishness to motivate him.
Money makes the world go round and you don't need to be a selfish pig to take advantage of it.