The Myth Makers

In the article 'The Capitalist Conundrum', we explored why capitalism—despite its extraordinary success—still provokes discomfort, suspicion, and even hostility. One of the most powerful emotional drivers behind anti‑capitalist sentiment is the constant din in some quarters that extols economic myths. Nothing has ever worked better than capitalism; that’s an incontrovertible fact. The naysayers have no facts to support their mythology, so they rely on emotional appeals. It brings to mind the wisdom of Carl Sandburg, who said, "If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell." Of course, he was referring to the courtroom, but the sentiment applies equally in the court of public opinion. I might paraphrase Mr. Sandburg and say, “If history is against you, argue economics. If economics is against you, argue history. If history and economics are both against you, present emotional appeals as though they are supported by both and hope no one will notice the fallacy.” Ignore reality and promote the myth.

Why Promote a Myth

Why Some Promote the “Benefits” of Alternative Economic Systems — Even When They Always Fail

For more than a century, the world has run a sprawling, uncontrolled experiment in economic design. Nations have tried central planning, democratic socialism, fascist corporatism, syndicalism, “third ways,” and countless hybrids. Some were implemented with idealistic intentions, others with brutal force. All promised fairness, equality, stability, or moral purity. And yet, despite the rhetoric, every alternative system has consistently underperformed the messy, decentralized, often‑criticized engine of free‑market capitalism.

And still, the belief persists: “There must be something better.”

Why? Why do people continue to promote the supposed superiority of alternative economic systems when history, incentives, and human behavior repeatedly demonstrate their failures? The answer begins with a simple truth: ideas do not spread because they are correct; they spread because they are rewarded. And in the modern world, the rewards for criticizing capitalism are far greater than the rewards for applauding it. Let’s break it down.

Academia’s Incentive Problem: Sensationalism Masquerading as Insight

Academia once aspired to be a refuge for sober analysis. Today, it increasingly seems to follow the media maxim: If it bleeds, it leads. If it’s sex, it’s next. Today’s publish‑or‑perish culture driving academic research is structurally identical to the media’s drive to attract customers. The more sensational the claim, the more likely it is to be published, cited, shared, and rewarded. A paper that calmly explains why capitalism has lifted billions out of poverty is boring. It is not “new.” It is not “disruptive.” It does not generate headlines. But a paper claiming that: * North Koreans are “freer” because they aren’t burdened by consumer choice. * Venezuelans enjoy “community cohesion” because scarcity forces them to cooperate. * Cuba’s lack of private property “liberates citizens from materialism”. Titles like those are almost guaranteed to get attention.

It doesn’t matter that these claims collapse under scrutiny.

What matters is that they are contrarian, and contrarianism is currency. A study showing that the average American earns eighty‑five times more than the average North Korean is not news. It is not publishable. It is not “innovative.” It is merely true. Truth is mundane. Sensationalism is rewarded whether it's true or not. This academic bias provides much of the intellectual fuel for arguments that are emotional rather than economic. When academia rewards anti‑capitalist narratives, the public absorbs them as “expert consensus,” even when the underlying research is shallow, ideologically motivated, or methodologically flawed.

The Emotional Appeal of Alternatives: Promises Without Price Tags

Alternative economic systems are rarely sold on their mechanics. They are sold on their feelings: * “Fairness” * “Equality” * “Security” * “Community” * “Shared prosperity” These are powerful emotional triggers. They bypass economic reasoning entirely. Capitalism, by contrast, is emotionally unglamorous. It is built on: * voluntary exchange * incentives * competition * risk * innovation * personal responsibility These are not warm, fuzzy concepts. They do not promise comfort. They promise opportunity—and opportunity always comes with uncertainty. Alternative systems promise the opposite: certainty, safety, equality, and prosperity, all without effort, trade-offs, or price tags. It is a fantasy, but a comforting and compelling one.

The Simplicity Illusion: Central Planning Feels Rational

Markets are messy. They fluctuate. They surprise. They disrupt. They create winners and losers. They evolve faster than anyone can understand. For many people, this feels like chaos. Central planning, by contrast, feels orderly. It promises: * stable prices * guaranteed jobs * predictable production * rational allocation of resources It is the economic equivalent of believing that a single conductor could coordinate every bird in a murmuration. The image is beautiful. The reality is impossible. Economist Friedrich Hayek called this the “knowledge problem”: no central authority can ever gather, process, and act on the millions of signals that markets handle automatically through prices and incentives. But the illusion of simplicity is powerful. It makes people believe that if only the “really smart experts” were in charge, society could be engineered like a machine. This belief is not economic. It is psychologically inspired mythology.

The Moral Mirage: Judging Capitalism by Outcomes and Alternatives by Intentions

Capitalism is judged by what it produces. Alternative systems are judged by what they promise. This asymmetry is the source of endless confusion. Capitalism’s outcomes include: * innovation * rising living standards * wealth creation * inequality of results Alternative systems’ outcomes include: * stagnation * shortages * political repression * equality of misery But alternative systems are rarely judged by these outcomes. Instead, they are judged by their aspirations: * “We want fairness.” * “We want equality.” * “We want justice.” Intentions are easy to advance and difficult to refute. Of course, we all know where the road of good intentions leads. This is why people continue to praise systems that have failed everywhere they’ve been tried. They are not defending the results—they are defending the dream. By doing this ‘virtue signaling’, they hope to convince others that they are morally superior.

The Psychological Comfort of Blame

Capitalism forces people to confront uncomfortable truths: * Your success depends on the value you create. * Your failures are often your own. * The market owes you nothing. This is empowering for some—but deeply unsettling for others. Alternative systems offer psychological relief. They shift responsibility from the individual to the collective. If life is unfair, it’s not your fault—it’s the system’s fault. If you struggle, it’s because “the rich,” “the corporations,” or “the elites” are holding you back. This narrative is emotionally soothing. It replaces agency with grievance, responsibility with resentment, and effort with entitlement. Capitalism says: “You are responsible for your choices.” Alternative systems say: “You are a victim of forces beyond your control.” Guess which message is easier to accept.

The Envy Engine: A Driver of Emotional Economics

Envy is one of the most powerful—and least acknowledged—drivers of anti‑capitalist sentiment. Capitalism makes differences visible: * Some people innovate more. * Some people work harder. * Some people take more risks. * Some people create more value. These differences produce unequal outcomes, which trigger emotional reactions. Envy is not just about wishing for what someone else has; it’s also about resenting that they have it. Alternative systems promise to eliminate the emotional discomfort of seeing others succeed. They offer a world where no one is “too rich,” no one is “too successful,” and no one’s achievements make others feel inadequate. But eliminating envy requires eliminating excellence. It requires suppressing ambition, innovation, and individuality. It requires punishing the productive to soothe the less productive. This is why alternative systems always stagnate. They are built on the emotional desire to level outcomes rather than the economic desire to create value for others.

The Political Incentive to Promise the Impossible

Politicians love alternative economic systems because they offer a simple formula: Promise benefits. Deny the costs. Capitalism requires honesty: * You cannot spend more than you produce. * You cannot consume more than you earn. * You cannot regulate away scarcity. * You cannot legislate prosperity. Alternative systems allow politicians to promise: * free healthcare * free education * guaranteed income * guaranteed jobs * guaranteed housing All without explaining: * who pays * how much * for how long * at what cost * with what consequences The political incentive is clear: promise utopia, blame capitalism when it fails, rinse and repeat.

Historical Amnesia: Ignoring the Lessons We Should Have Learned

Every generation rediscovers the same failed ideas and believes they will work this time. Why? Because the failures of alternative systems are often: * distant * foreign * abstract * sanitized * reframed as “not real socialism.” Meanwhile, capitalism’s consequences are: * immediate * visible * local * emotional * personal People feel the pain of capitalism’s adjustments directly. They do not feel the pain of socialism’s catastrophes unless they have lived through them. This asymmetry creates a perpetual cycle of recurring ignorance.

The Reality: Capitalism Is Easy to Blame—But Hard to Beat

Capitalism is not perfect. It is not designed to be perfect. It is designed to be adaptive. The dinosaurs were perfect; they ruled the world, until they didn’t. Success does not require perfection; it requires adaptation. Perfection is static, unchanging, but the world is dynamic, always changing. Perfect can’t keep up. Capitalism works because: * It aligns incentives with outcomes. * It rewards value creation. * It decentralizes decision‑making. * It harnesses human creativity. * It allows failure and learning. * It encourages experimentation. * It respects voluntary exchange. Alternative systems fail because they attempt to override human nature rather than work with it. They assume: * People will work without incentives. * Leaders will remain benevolent. * Information can be centralized. * Equality can be engineered. * Scarcity can be legislated away. These are impossible dreams marketed to the unwary. Capitalism is not perfect because life is not perfect.

Conclusion: Why the Myth Endures

People promote the superiority of alternative economic systems because they offer emotional comfort, moral simplicity, and the illusion of control. They promise a world without tradeoffs, without inequality, without uncertainty, and without responsibility. But no system can deliver those promises. They are dreams, not reality. Capitalism is not loved because it is perfect. It is loved because it works. It is the only system that consistently lifts people out of poverty, rewards innovation, and respects individual freedom. The myth of superior alternatives will always persist because it speaks to human desires that no system can satisfy. But the reality remains: the alternatives fail not because they were poorly implemented, but because they are fundamentally incompatible with human nature and economic reality. Capitalism endures because it embraces both.

If you found this article stimulating, you'll probably love my book, Why Socialism Struggles. If you share my concern about creeping socialism, please share this article with other folks who might enjoy it and link to it on your social media. And please share your thoughts below. Dr. Cardell would love to hear from you.

Dr. Doug Cardell

An Eclectic Economist Explains Evidentiary Economics

Featured Article:

by Dr. Doug Cardell

The Myth Makers

Why Promote a Myth

Why Some Promote the “Benefits” of Alternative Economic Systems — Even When They Always Fail

And still, the belief persists: “There must be something better.”

Academia’s Incentive Problem: Sensationalism Masquerading as Insight

It doesn’t matter that these claims collapse under scrutiny.

The Emotional Appeal of Alternatives: Promises Without Price Tags

The Simplicity Illusion: Central Planning Feels Rational

The Moral Mirage: Judging Capitalism by Outcomes and Alternatives by Intentions

The Psychological Comfort of Blame

The Envy Engine: A Driver of Emotional Economics

The Political Incentive to Promise the Impossible

Historical Amnesia: Ignoring the Lessons We Should Have Learned

The Reality: Capitalism Is Easy to Blame—But Hard to Beat

Conclusion: Why the Myth Endures

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