… is from page 103 of Historical Impromptus, a 2020 collection of some of Deirdre McCloskey’s work on economic history; this quotation, specifically, is from McCloskey’s 2000 review, in the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, of Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree and John Gray’s False Dawn:
The capitalist deal is: Let me make profits and I’ll make you rich.
DBx: Yep. And despite endless bleating and spilt oceans of ink to the contrary, it’s a darn good deal. If you doubt it, walk into a Kroger or Walmart, or visit Amazon.com, or observe the HVAC unit in your home or workplace. Ponder these apparently mundane realities and ask yourself: Where does all this stuff come from?
