Page 30 - Bus101FlipBook

1-18 Business and Economic Environments [CH 1

at that first Thanksgiving and one of those was born in the new colony.
As with many things we learned, however, that wasn't the whole story. The
Mayflower Compact was an early American experiment — and failure — in
socialism. What happened in Plymouth was detailed in Governor William Bradford's
"History of the Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647."
At first the Pilgrims established a "commone course and condition" (obviously,
Governor Bradford didn't go to our public schools; that's the way words were spelled
back then). All the food harvested was placed in a common storehouse.
Very quickly this led to the problems inherent in any such economic system.
People complained that no matter how hard they worked, others who did little or
nothing received just as much as they that did work received. Some of the colonists
considered themselves to be in "slaverie" and, despite their piety, were reduced to
stealing from their neighbors "day and night" to compensate for the shortage of food.
Their charter provided that after seven years of service, the Pilgrims who survived
could have their own land to work. At the rate they were going, though, not many
were going to be around to take advantage of that. Starvation and illness reduced their
numbers. According to Bradford, “For this communitie (so farr as it was) was found
to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much imployment that would
have been to their benefite and comforte.”
By 1623 it was apparent some major changes were necessary if the colony were to
survive. The Pilgrims considered how “...they might raise as much corne as they
could, and obtaine a better crope than they had done, that they might still thus
languish in miserie. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the
advice of the cheefest amongest them) gave way that they should set corne every man
for his own perticuler, and in that regard trust to them selves. . . And so assigned to
every family a parcell of land. . .”
“This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much
more corne was planted than other waise would have bene by any means the
Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr
better contente.”
“The women now wente willingly into the feild, and took their litle-ons with them
to set corne, which before would aledg weakness and inabilitie: whom to have
compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.”
“The experience that was had in this commone course and condition, tried sundrie
years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanitie of that
conceite of Plato's and other ancients, applauded by some of later times; - that the
taking away of propertie, and bringing in communite into a commone wealth, would
make them happy and florishing; as if they were wiser than God."
What would Governor Bradford think were he to come back today and see
government taking more than 40 percent of what Americans earn? "Don't people ever
learn?," he'd likely ask himself.
Maybe not, especially if they remain gullible, naive and susceptible to the snake-
oil promises of socialism. In all its varieties, socialism has failed time after time, but
people never give up hope, thinking that the latest version will be -- finally -- the one
that works.
The French economist Frederic Bastiat had it right when he described government
as “that legal fiction by which everyone attempts to live at the expense of everyone
else.”

A bit more government intrusion— Mixed Economies

The term mixed economy is a more modern term that economists have devised to
replace the political economic term fascism. As a term fascism was devised by Benito
Mussolini in the 1920’s to ease the Italian people into Socialism. Mussolini stated that
the Italian citizen had rejected socialism and as such he devised a “third way” to bring
Italy into a socialist economy—creating dictatorial power to himself. As a fascist
state, Italy during World War II was an enemy of the United States. After the war
there were two nations in the world that had adopted fascism as a political-economic
system; Spain under General Francisco Franco, and Argentina under Juan Peron.
Whether you are discussing a mixed economy or a fascist economy, it is noted
that this economic system is a combination of government ownership and private

Copyrighted Material