16. Poverty Out of Tyranny, Not “Capitalist” Inequality, Is the Real Problem

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Preface ix
4. Part one: You Should Become a Humane True Liberal
5. 1. Modern Liberals Recommend Both Golden Rules, That Is, Adam Smith’s Equality of Opportunity 3
6. 2. Liberalism Had a Hard Coming 8
7. 3. Modern Liberals Are Not Conservatives, Nor Statists 13
8. 4. Liberals Are Democrats, and Markets Are Democratic 20
9. 5. Liberals Detest Coercion 25
10. 6. Liberalism Had Good Outcomes, 1776 to the Present 29
11. 7. Yet After 1848 Liberalism Was Weakened 34
12. 8. The “New Liberalism” Was Illiberal 41
13. 9. The Result of the New Illiberalism Was Very Big Governments 47
14. 10. Honest and Competent Governments Are Rare 52
15. 11. Deirdre Became a Modern Liberal Slowly, Slowly 60
16. 12. The Arguments Against Becoming a Liberal Are Weak 64
17. 13. We Can and Should Liberalize 70
18. 14. For Example, Stop “Protection” 77
19. 15. And Stop Digging in Statism 83
20. 16. Poverty Out of Tyranny, Not “Capitalist” Inequality, Is the Real Problem 87
21. 17. Humane Liberalism Is Ethical 93
22. Part two: Humane Liberalism Enriches People
23. 18. Liberty and Dignity Explain the Modern World 103
24. 19. China Shows What Economic Liberalism Can Do 107
25. 20. Commercially Tested Betterment Saves the Poor 113
26. 21. Producing and Consuming a Lot Is Not by Itself Unethical 119
27. 22. Trickle Up or Trickle Down Is Not How the Economy Works 124
28. 23. The Liberal Idea, in Short, Made the Modern World 130
29. Part three: The New Worry About Inequality Is Mistaken
30. 24. Forced Equality of Outcome Is Unjust and Inhumane 143
31. 25. Piketty Is Mistaken 151
32. 26. Europe Should Resist Egalitarian Policies 156
33. 27. Piketty Deserves Some Praise 165
34. 28. But Pessimism About Market Societies Is Not Scientifically Justified 169
35. 29. The Rich Do Not in a Liberal Society Get Rich at the Expense of the Rest 177
36. 30. Piketty’s Book Has Serious Technical Errors 185
37. 31. The Ethical Accounting of Inequality Is Mistaken 192
38. 32. Inequality Is Not Unethical If It Happens in a Free Society 197
39. 33. Redistribution Doesn’t Work 204
40. Part four: And the Other Illiberal Ideas Are Mistaken, Too
41. 34. The Clerisy Had Three Big Ideas, 1755–1848, One Good and Two Terrible 213
42. 35. The Economic Sky Is Not Falling 216
43. 36. The West Is Not Declining 220
44. 37. Failure Rhetoric Is Dangerous 224
45. 38. The Word “Capitalism” Is a Scientific Mistake 231
46. 39. Marxism Is Not the Way Forward 236
47. 40. Some on the Left Listen 243
48. 41. But They Have Not Noticed the Actual Results of Liberalism 251
49. 42. And Are Unwilling to Imagine Liberal Alternatives 257
50. 43. A Post-Modern Liberal Feminism Is Possible and Desirable 264
51. 44. Imperialism Was Not How the West Was Enriched 272
52. 45. Liberalism Is Good for Queers 277
53. 46. The Minimum Wage Was Designed to Damage Poor People and Women 282
54. 47. Technological Unemployment Is Not Scary 287
55. 48. Youth Unemployment Is Scary, and Comes from Regulation 296
56. 49. Do Worry About the Environment, but Prudently 302
57. 50. Illiberalism, in Short, Is Fact Free, and Mostly Unethical 307
58. Notes 313
59. Bibliography 331
60. Acknowledgments 371
61. Index 373