Please understand that I have no wish to promote dissent, but I will post the following because if the position I am analysing -- selfish action in markets is absolutely the only intelligent action -- is correct, then Un-Ex and any other community undertakings are naive:
Here is The Position: " . . . because I was taught in economics class those many years ago that self interest is the only way that capital markets work."
" 'Many years ago' is the key phrase here. The evolutionary psychologists have fascinating data on how human societies work, and it always involves interplay between selfishness and altruism.
I recommend a BBC documentary titled 'The Trap.' Watch the section on IBM-Rand/Nash/game theory very carefully. You will see in play 'petitio principii' -- the guys in control wanted a certain outcome, and simply dismissed data that contra-indicated.
[For example, the theorists predicted that 'If X, then Y.' They asked the (female) secretaries in the building to play the game. The outcomes were almost entirely 'If X, then not-Y' -- but the Military Types just ignored that glitch. (What would a bunch of women know about how human society functions?) There is later in the doco a statement about who did assiduously stick to the game-theory models: psychopaths and economists.]
Here's my theoretical position on All This:
Marxists, anarchists, second-wave feminists, people with fundamental religious beliefs, neo-liberals, fascists -- they all tend to polarise their positions. It's a sort of 'bargaining tactic': to 'negate' Marxism, you admit no common ground, you take exactly the opposite position (a radical individualist stance). And vice versa.
[Look up the linguistic principle of 'hypercorrection.']
Of course, all us non-theorists know that there usually is middle ground. You may oppose communism, but you're still not gonna try to carry a piano down a flight of stairs on your own."
Mark
Well for me, as an economics student, it is obvious everyone acts by maximizing personal utility.
To be honest, I have not met an altruistic person. Sure I have met people who do charity and help others but I do not see them being altruistic. They simply enjoy the feeling of helping others, being needed by someone. Their preference may not be financial gain but the good feeling you get when you do something to others - thus they are maximizing their personal utility which in this case is not financial. The companies maximizes the financial gain but not individual human beings who maximizes simply their utility (utility is very vague concept since it has pretty multiple meanings - it includes in general each everyone's personal preferences).
The capitalistic system is the best system that works so far - it may not be the perfect but the best so far among the systems until better will be invented.
The communistic system fails to the problem of free riders since there is no competition which is a positive force.