Comments on: The Weekend Hit

By: peter jackson

peter jackson — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:24:27 +0000

I read through the links, and honestly it sounds more than anything like Gates is confused and his ideas aren’t fully baked. I’m thrilled that he’s discovered Julian Simon, Borlaug, and Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, but he shouldn’t call his theory “creative capitalism,” he should call it “creative philanthropy.” Someone needs to put Hayek’s The Fatal Conceit on Gates’ night table. Gates needs to grasp the scope of human ignorance in general and his own in particular. Capitalism can’t be altered simply by recompiling code or stiff-arming a competitor.

Capitalism is economics, it simply is, making “creative capitalism” a non-sequitur, much like “creative linguistics.” Trying to change economics to help those in poverty is like trying to change a language to help the illiterate. It’s ass-backwards. I believe this is what Kudlow and Reynolds were reacting to.

yours/
peter.

By: Lance

Lance — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:46:58 +0000

I didn’t say he did. Then, neither did Reynolds. Nor is Blake aka Praktike, saying anything really bad. There are aspects of Gates’ speech I take issue with, but not seriously. Kudlow was over the top, but the meat of his piece was fine as well. You have an example of people talking past each other. Gates does make claims about Capitalism which are unwarranted, I just don’t care about them enough to say nasty things about him, as you seem to insist with Reynolds. Minor nits which others have addressed:

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/01/bill_gatess_kind_capitalism_is.html

http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2008/01/bill-gates-was.html

By: Joshua Foust

Joshua Foust — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:34:53 +0000

Okay, fine. But still: I don’t get where Gates said something bad.

By: Joshua Foust

Joshua Foust — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:34:02 +0000

Lance, then a lot of us apparently have seen something in Gates’ speech neither Kudlow nor Reynolds saw. Read the link at NextBillion.net, which confirms what Hounshell at FP was saying. How was Bill Gates not saying that capitalism should serve the dual purpose of generating profit AND lifting people out of poverty? How was he turning his back on the system that made him rich? I don’t get it.

By: Lance

Lance — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:31:33 +0000

Oh, and while I think Kudlow in that quote is over the top, a sin which you, given our conversation over your quote of Keith, feel is okay anyway, FP manages to give a misleading impression of Kudlow’s argument as well, which outside of that quote is pretty spot on.

That being said, the FP piece makes some great points, and I love Next Billion. And if I wasn’t pointing out the meanspirited nature of your use of the piece, I wouldn’t spend much time attacking it just because I find some aspects of it a bit off. Generally it is right, and Gates shouldn’t be characterized as endorsing communist era planning even in passing.

By: Lance

Lance — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:20:22 +0000

No it doesn’t, since Reynolds believes exactly what you are arguing, and Gates was arguing something a bit different that what FP is claiming. So, I guess FP deserves the same disdain that you claim Reynolds does, because they don”t get what Gates was saying either. Of course Reynolds didn’t say a bunch of nonsense, he just linked to someone else’s opinion. Given that Reynolds has a long history of linking to people espousing all the views FP is claiming are in line with Gates, you now are guilty of the sin you are accusing him of. You linked to someone who missed Gates’ point, and you acted as if Reynolds doesn’t believe in such things. At least Reynolds when he linked to someone you disagreed with didn’t say a bunch of stuff to dig the hole.

Look, with all the bloggers out there saying truly offensive things, many as big or bigger than Reynolds, pick a more deserving target, someone whose sin that isn’t he doesn’t agree with you. Doubly so since you want to hold him accountable for every link, even when cursory knowledge of the man let’s you know he doesn’t really disagree with you. The original term for weblog was in reference to a collection of interesting links. It wasn’t about commentary. Disagree with his commentary, though rarely does it deserve the snarky crap you spew out at him, but his links? He is one of the last to practice the art of blogging that way, let him do it.

By: Joshua Foust

Joshua Foust — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:45:29 +0000

Yeah, it’s actually really nice Getting paid to do your hobby is unbelievable.

You’re right, he could have been quoting Zoolander. My point stands.

By: Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:59:03 +0000

I can’t believe I get paid to do this… hell, I couldn’t believe I got paid to do my last job.

Well congratulations Josh. Damn, one day I hope to know what that feels like.

Oh, the Reynolds thing about throwing up is actually a cultural reference, a line from a Ben Stiller movie I think.

yours/
peter.