By Zachary D. Rogers

America’s capitalist system will make our response quicker and more effective if we take advantage of it properly. At this moment, American companies are switching production to make masks, hospital gowns, ventilators, and other needed medical supplies. This is reminiscent of World War II, during which capitalism enabled the United States to outproduce the Axis Powers.

When the Japanese unjustly bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States was still in the throes of the Great Depression. In 1939, the U.S. unemployment rate was 17.2%, in spite of the massive spending program ($653 billion in 2009 dollars)of FDR. The United States suddenly needed to rapidly escalate production of military equipment such as ships, airplanes, and artillery under the guidance of the War Production Board for the duration of the conflict.

The freedom of capitalism and the profit incentive allowed industries to respond to the urgent need of U.S. forces for equipment during World War II. For instance, Ford produced one B-24 Liberator bomber per hour in 1945 and produced over 8,000 B-24s over the course of the war. The following graph for aircraft production by country, derived from the National World War II Museum, shows the difference between the democratic and capitalistic countries versus the economic systems of the Nazis and Imperial Japan.

It demonstrates how democratic and capitalist countries used their strengths to build increasing numbers of aircraft in order to overwhelm the Axis Powers.

The United States should again take advantage of American ingenuity and production systems to rapidly produce the medical supplies we need through the voluntary cooperation of companies, which is already happening.

We do not have the centralized government of China, where we can easily quarantine millions of our citizens. Nor will millions of Americans long put up with having their liberties curtailed while the economy crashes. This would be inconsistent with our character, history, and traditions. We are used to being free and making our own choices within broad parameters and not under tight and enforced regulations.

The government should recognize Americans are unused to the current level of government control in their lives and the public-policy reality that states, counties, and towns will enact their own, often different, policies. Instead of planning on stretching this national shutdown through the summer, we should instead: 1)limit the length of the shutdown to the minimum necessary; 2)recommend the elderly and immunocompromised continue to shelter in place as long as necessary; and 3)ramp up the production of medical equipment and build out the medical infrastructure to adequately handle the current reality of FOVID-19 in order that the majority of Americans can resume their lives by calling on private companies to meet our present need.

While capitalism is not a perfect system, needing a virtuous people to curb its excesses, no other system has been discovered that so effectively takes advantage of individual drive and talent as well as natural resources. As Churchill said in a speech to Parliament in 1945, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

Proper capitalism rewards thrift, effort, genius, savings, and other worthy character traits. While the rewards individuals receive will not be the same, it is consistent with justice that men earn what they have merited. Men must recognize this reality and strive to be content with what they themselves have earned without unjustly envying another’s success.

The private sector creates the jobs that employ millions of Americans, supports the innovation of new technologies that benefit us individually and collectively, and provides the tax base (through taxes on companies profits, individual salaries, etc.) that pays the salaries of government employees and the cost of government programs. Money does not grow on trees, and without the economic engine provided by the private sector, the benefits Americans enjoy will collapse.

Americans should protect the capitalist system because it provides great benefits for a very large number of people. It harnesses the resources America has been blessed with, makes use of man’s drive, creativity, and ambition, and its flexibility allows it to respond to challenges like the one facing us. As we move forward we should beware the triple threat of crony capitalism, socialism, and an over-regulated economy. Don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg!