Traditionally, people often think that egoism is immoral, and there are many cultural and political factors behind it.
For example, in the traditional society of China, agriculture was emphasized and commerce was suppressed. The social hierarchy is divided into four levels, namely, scholars, farmers and businessmen, and businessmen rank last. Scholars are proud of being poor. Because when businessmen have material wealth resources, on the one hand, they seek a sense of security; on the other hand, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, after meeting the low-level needs, everyone will inevitably pursue the satisfaction of higher-level needs, and then inevitably have a desire for power. Because power can be used to achieve a relatively higher value of life, but also to protect their own private property, and the protection of private property in ancient China society is very weak. As the old saying goes, all the theories of the country belong to the son of heaven, whether it is the land of kings or the minister of kings.
Therefore, the ruling class must suppress the power of businessmen and reduce their social status to the last level. On the other hand, it blocks commerce in practice, advocates self-sufficiency as much as possible, advocates hard work, and strives to learn from each other's strengths. This is a typical feature of small-scale peasant economy. In this social environment, scholars will think that self-interest is an immoral behavior, and even some scholars are reluctant to mention the word money, for fear that the mention of this word will tarnish their lofty, and call money "a block" (meaning this thing).
This is an extreme practice, but this kind of moral education for thousands of years has not changed people's selfish and profit-seeking nature. However, as a system, market economy requires that self-interest must be based on altruistic behavior. People demand money, and now there is no shame, and there are many ways to make money.
In the jungle society, the rule is the law of the jungle, and whoever has great strength is the truth. People's expectations are unstable, and there will be no tomorrow after today, so the society is chaotic. Now people can make money without breaking the law. Everyone should provide corresponding value to the employer in order to get a good and predictable return. The wage level is related to the value created.
Under the current system, we no longer care whether you want to make a profit for yourself or contribute to the company, but only care whether you have created corresponding value. ? Only when people satisfy the interests of others can they protect their own interests. Wealth and goodness are unified, and wealth and goodness are the premise. ? On the other hand (rational analysis): wealth will also lead to benevolence.
A person who wants to make money must meet the needs of employers, and an entrepreneur who wants to make money must meet the needs of customers. Selling products is to meet the demand, and interviewing is to meet the needs of employers.
In order to get more wealth, we must expand production, which means stimulating domestic demand and providing employment opportunities.
Paying taxes according to law helps the government to provide the secondary distribution of wealth. As long as you pay taxes according to law, you are making contributions to the public.
Enterprises will price their own products, because there is a relationship between supply and demand, the scarcity of a certain resource will cause the price to rise, and people will create more such resources to maximize the effectiveness of resource allocation. However, the planned economy cannot be omniscient and omnipotent. Because it can't get market information quickly, no one can fully grasp all the information of the whole market. The larger the management area, the more information needs to be analyzed, and the more difficult it is to distribute it reasonably. Moreover, personal selfishness may lead to mismatch and waste of resources. In the current market economy, no matter whether people's intentions are good or bad, as long as people want to make money and avoid disadvantages, they will allocate resources according to price signals, and use resources in the most scarce places, and the greater the benefits they get. At the same time, it also solves the problem of resource allocation, because it saves resources and puts them into places that can produce the greatest benefits, at least avoiding the waste of resources, which is another form.
We can't just consider the motive when we look at the problem, but only consider the motive, which is often unprovable. People may say one thing and do another. What should be considered should consider the process and effect. Some people may criticize that the market economy makes people look at money, just as people did not seek profit before the market economy. Only before the market economy, people wanted to pursue profits, but there was no way and no channel. In the era of planned economy, enterprises are like half a society. Even if you work hard, the channels for upward circulation are very limited, even closed. After all, leadership positions are limited and distributed through power. In today's market economy, everyone dares to admit people's instinct to pursue profits, and people can get more benefits through hard work. So we should consider the process and effect. What's the effect? It is to make this society better.
In the winter of 2008, there was a heavy snow, and snowstorms appeared all over the country. Even in Guangzhou, which has a subtropical climate, there has been heavy snow. A train from Beijing to Guangzhou was blocked on the road. Because this train runs from dawn to dusk, the material reserve on the train is limited. Because of the snowstorm, I was stuck in the road. I don't know when I can open it again. So people robbed the means of subsistence. A bucket of instant noodles sells in 50 yuan, and a bottle of mineral water sells for twenty or thirty yuan. You know, at that time, the price was super expensive. Nowadays, many people say: These people really are. Why don't people know how to help and care for each other? Then you should know that when life is threatened and basic living materials are not guaranteed, everyone's first consideration is how to survive. This is the instinct of survival. If you were you, what would you do? If you are really hungry that day, we can hardly expect everyone to arrive on time. I will save others from hunger first. We can hardly expect everyone to make such a choice.
How did the people on this train survive? Because of CCTV news reports. And the news also mentioned that this material of this car is very expensive. Then, after the surrounding villagers knew the news, what did everyone do with all kinds of materials? What they want is to make money, to make money for the victims. So, in the words of Keyboard Man, isn't it just robbing people in danger? A group of profiteers.
However, it is these so-called profiteers who provide the passengers with the most urgently needed materials and save the lives of the whole car. You see, the price is the signal. It is the price that lets people know what people need most at this time. So, don't look at whether his motivation is human or not. What are his facts? The fact is, no one in the car died of hunger or thirst, but everyone survived. You see what a good result this is!
But think about it, if I am full of benevolence and morality, I can't fish in troubled waters. If anyone dares to fish in troubled waters and drive up prices, the government will send troops to arrest them and go to jail. If this was put before the reform and opening up, it would be a crime of speculation. Do you think these villagers will go back if we follow this line of thinking? It's cold, why not stay at home and get warm? Three yuan for a bucket of instant noodles? Now you want me to sell it for three dollars at the original price, psycho! Who likes sleeping? Let someone else go. I'll clean it myself. I have work to do, and my wife and children are here to heat the kang. These villagers may not have bad hearts, but they may not necessarily take such actions. Right?
What is a similar practice? A similar approach is: Mr. Wang, I said that I am a noble person and I will give you lectures for free, but the problem is that there are so many students, who should I give lectures for free? I need so many classmates that it is unfair for me to tell anyone. Even if I am exhausted, I can't meet the needs of all my classmates.
Therefore, as a measure, money depends on who has stronger demand in the market. So what kind of needs should be met first? Will there be contradictions? Maybe you need it, and so do I. Now you go to the gas station and tell people that you are a state-owned asset and owned by the whole people. I am a nation. I need gas now. I need money. I can only send you to the hospital as a mental illness.
Price is a very good signal to adjust the allocation of resources to meet the most urgent needs. According to price changes rather than people's verbal promises, if people follow their verbal promises, then everyone must cry to show that they are in need most. How to judge?
Price is also the fairest means, because it is a measure that the poor can get through hard work. So this society is becoming more and more fair. On the other hand, if privilege is the measure and power is the measure, this society will fall into injustice.
If the farmers who rushed to the rescue at that time did not have excess profits and sold them at a high price, they would be accused of speculation. Will they go again? They can sit at home, open the forum, hand in a few small candles, and then hit the car and the people love you! We support you! This is how Keyboard Man was born. You don't care what his motives are, but it's useless.
Fan Zhongyan did the same in ancient society. At that time, there was a grain shortage in the county where he worked, and the people were in panic. His subordinates advised him to transfer grain from neighboring counties quickly. Fan Zhongyan said no, you just need to hurry up and send a message in the neighboring county that the food price here is three times that of them. As a result, in order to make profits, people come to worship grain in succession, fearing to fall behind, because once they fall behind, the food supply will be sufficient, and this excess profit will not be earned. Everyone came one after another, and the lack of food soon ended. It is the use of people's profit-seeking heart that leads to altruistic behavior.
Therefore, the characteristics of market economy are: subjectively for yourself and objectively for others.
In fact, we can extend it. From the perspective of management, the basic principles of getting along with others are the same. Some people only think about others, which is called helping others and not benefiting themselves. Such people are just saints, which are rare. You can't always encourage others to be saints. Can you do it yourself? If you can't do it yourself, you can't ask others like this Morality is such a thing that you can use it to demand and restrain yourself, but you can't use morality to kidnap others. You can say that it is no problem for me to donate 100 million yuan, but you said that because Ma Yun has more money, you should also donate 100 million yuan. Imagine, in this case, who dares to make money? This will lead to social retrogression. On the one hand, it does not respect the right to control others' private property, on the other hand, it will scare away more entrepreneurs, and the value of entrepreneurs lies not only in the donation of 100 million yuan, but also in his many benign contributions to society. (1) meet the demand? 2 stimulating domestic demand? ③? Offer a job? 4 pay taxes? ⑤? Resource allocation? ⑥? Innovation, mentioned in the second paragraph of this article)
In this way, entrepreneurs are driven away and everyone is afraid. Do you think keyboard man's rule of the country will make this country better? It will only get worse. It will only cause no one in this society to dare to create wealth and value.
We can look back on history. The more developed the commercial trade, the more prosperous the market economy, the better the people's life and the more harmonious the society. In ancient society, Jiangnan was a land of wealth, with developed economy, active trade and numerous literati. Because on the premise of satisfying food and clothing, people can have a higher level of pursuit. On the contrary, the more small-scale peasant economies there are, the easier it is to have wars or banditry.
Therefore, self-interest and altruism do not conflict, self-interest is based on altruism, and both can be satisfied at the same time.