Authored
by:
Robert L. Bradley Jr. (Visit
the author’s
website)
Audience:
1. General public
2. Ayn Rand readers
3. Political scientists
4. Energy policy makers and specialists
5. Business ethicists and business leaders
6. Political and business commentators.
7. Public, research and special libraries
Description:
Capitalism
took the blame for Enron although the company
was anything but a free-market enterprise, and company architect was hardly a principled capitalist. On
the contrary, Enron was a politically dependent
company and, in the end, a grotesque outcome
of America's mixed economy.
That
is the central finding of Robert L. Bradley's Capitalism
at Work: The
blame for Enron rests squarely with “"political
capitalism”—a
system in which business firms routinely obtain
government intervention to further their own interests
at the expense of consumers, taxpayers, and competitors.
Although Ken Lay professed allegiance to free markets,
he was in fact a consumate politician.
Only by manipulating the levers of government was
he able to transform Enron from a $3 billion
natural gas company to a $100 billion chimera,
one that went in a matter of months from seventh
place on Fortune's 500 list to bankruptcy.
But Capitalism at Work goes beyond unmasking Enron's sophisticated foray into political capitalism. Employing the timeless insights of Adam Smith, Samuel Smiles,
and Ayn Rand, among others, Bradley shows how fashionable anti-capitalist doctrines set the stage for the ultimate business debacle. Those errant theories, like Enron itself, elevated form over substance, ignored legitimate criticism, and bypassed midcourse correction. Political capitalism was thus more than the handiwork of profit-hungry businessmen and power-hungry politicians. It was a legacy of failed scholarship.
Capitalism at Work's penetrating, multidisciplinary explanation of the demise of Enron breaks new ground regarding business history, business ethics, business best practices, and public policies toward business. As Bradley concludes: The fundamental lesson from Enron is this: Capitalism did not fail. The mixed economy failed. The capitalist worldview is stronger, not weaker, post-Enron. But there is another, deeper lessson that explains Enron and the mistakes of the intellectual mainstream before, during, and after Enron's active life: What in the Enron vernacular is called the smartest-guys-in-the-room problem can
strike anytime and anywhere. Whether in business
or academia - or a profession or an association - conceit, deceit, and dogmatism are the bane of personal, intellectual, and organizational success.
Pre-Publication Reviews:
"Businesses succeed
by creating real, long-term value for their owners,
customers, and society.
On the other hand, as Capitalism at Work shows,
companies that resort to political profiteering
and public grandstanding can fail spectacularly.
Bradley's defense of economic freedom provides
new insight for business ethics, business best
practices, and public policy.”
Charles Koch, Chairman
of Koch Industries
“Fascinating, comprehensive … far
surpassing my own history of political capitalism
done in the 1960s."
Gabriel Kolko, historian
and author
About
the Author:
Robert
L. Bradley, Jr.,
a 16-year Enron employee and Ken Lay confidant,
is a noted free-market
scholar and public-policy entrepreneur. The
founder and chairman of the Institute for
Energy Research, Bradley is the author of
numerous books and essays on the history
and political economy of energy. He is an
adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute in
Washington, D.C.; a visiting fellow of the
Institute of Economic Affairs in London;
and an honorary senior research fellow at
the Center for Energy Economics at the University
of Texas at Austin. In 2002, he received
the Julian Simon Memorial Award for his work
on energy and sustainable development.
Bradley
lives in Houston and likes to spend
time in the beautiful
Texas Hill Country.
Table
of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: Heroic Capitalism
Chapter
1: The Soul
of Commerce: Adam Smith. Sympathy:
The Moral Invisible Hand
Prudence. “Self Deceit”. Laws of
Justice. Bankruptcy. Owners vs. Managers in
Commerce.
Mercantilism: The Root of “Political
Capitalism”. Crony Capitalism. Natural
Self-Interest. The Soul of Capitalism.
Chapter
2: Character
and Success: Samuel Smiles. The
Age of Improvement. A Handbook for Capitalism.
Economic Liberalism. Aristocratic Government
(Political Capitalism). The Discipline of Commerce.
Perseverance, not Genius or Luck. Stopping
the Buck. The Anatomy of Failure. Humanism,
not Darwinism. Virtue and the Good Life. Eclipse
and Resurrection.
Chapter
3: Supply-Side
Ethics: Ayn Rand. A New Capitalist Philosopher. Objectivism
in
Business. Subjectivism. Subjectivism in Business.
From Objectivism to Capitalism. Business on
Trial. The Moral Obligations of Capitalists. “Atlas
Shrugged”. Self-interest (The Perils
of Altruism). Implicit Objectivism. New Relevance—and
Old Baggage.
Part II: Business Opportunity,
Political Opportunism
Chapter
4: Business
Opportunity. Entrepreneurship: Joseph Schumpeter.
Risk versus Uncertainty:
Frank Knight. Economic Calculation: Ludwig
von Mises. The Theory of the Firm: Ronald Coase.
Chapter
5: The Business
of Politics. Political Capitalism. Capitalists vs.
Capitalism. The
Primacy of the Economic. Capitalist Reality.
The Self-Interest Theory of Government: Early
Political Economists, Arthur Bentley, Public
Choice School. Conclusion.
Chapter
6: U.S.
Political Capitalism. Intellectuals as Reformers.
Public-Interest History: Inadvertent
Misdirection. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Richard
Hofstadter. Clair Wilcox/Bayard Wheeler. From
Muckraking to Business History Muckraking. Matthew
Josephson vs. Allan Nevins. Harvard
Business School. Alfred Chandler. Jeff Skilling
at HBS. The Decline of Laissez-Faire. Gabriel
Kolko: “Political Capitalism”.
The Triumph of Conservatism (1963). Railroads
and Regulation (1965). Political Energy. Business
in Political Action. The Business of Business —and
Politics Too. Revisionism for Deregulation:
Kolko’s Legacy. Conclusion.
Part III:
Energy and Sustainability
Chapter
7: Malthusianism. From “Misery
or Vice” to “Moral Restraint” [T.
R. Malthus].
“The Coal Panic” [W. S. Jevons]. Energy
Sustainability: First Views. Anatomy of a False
Alarm.
Second-Generation Alarm [Herbert Stanley Jevons].
U.S. Coal: From Plenty to Problems.
Chapter
8: A Joined Debate. “Resources
are Not, They Become”: Erich Zimmermann.
The Calculus of Depletion: Harold Hotelling.
Zimmermann Stalls Out. Hayek on Conservation.
Paley Commission. Resources for the Future.
An Eye Trained on Scarcity: M. A. Adelman.
Chapter
9: Neo-Malthusianism. Dismal Geology: M. King Hubbert. Small as Beautiful:
E. F.
Schumacher. Doomsday! Paul Ehrlich & John
Holdren. Earth Day, 1970. The Limits to Growth:
Club of Rome. Changing Times.
Chapter
10: The Dark 1970s. Fathering a Crisis: Richard Nixon.
Ford Foundation Energy Policy
Project. “Soft Energy” Paths: Amory
Lovins. Presidential Alarmism. The Great Turn:
Hotelling’s Hour. Daniel Yergin. Daisy
Chaining: The Great Oil Trading Boom. Media
Alarmism. International Alarmism. Industry
Alarmism. Voice of the Market. Trinity of Dissent:
Adelman, Simon and Robinson.
Chapter
11: New Light in the 1980s. Doomslayer: Julian Simon’s
Paradigm of Expansionism. A Slow Retreat. The
Creed of Conservationism:
Amory Lovins. A Cul-de-Sac: Harold Hotelling
Rejected. Two Revolutions: Reagan and Thatcher.
A Nuanced “Energy Problem”.
Epilogue:
Surreal Enron, Real Capitalism
Misinterpreting Enron: Capitalism as Whipping
Boy. Reinterpreting Enron: The Perils of the
Mixed Economy. Reorienting “Business
Ethics”. Enron Lives! Political Energy
Today. Towards Heroic Capitalism.
Appendix
A: The Ayn Rand Problem.
Appendix
B: A Typology
of Interventionism.
Appendix
C: Gabriel Kolko’s
Revisionism Reconsidered.
Appendix
D: Resources
for the Future: Away from Optimism.
Source
Notes
Bibliography
Indexes |
