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Under free-market capitalism, people have an incentive to conserve and improve their properties. Entrepreneurs who take on the risk of loss to start businesses cannot afford waste, and they cannot afford to be poor stewards of their businesses. Under the rule of law, property owners who are damaged by the “bad acts” of others can sue the offenders. And the economic growth that comes with free-market capitalism produces the resources to clean up, maintain, and improve the land.
The experience of the two Germanys has been repeated throughout the former “iron curtain” countries. Estonia, Poland, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, and many other former Soviet satellites awakened from their centrally-controlled Soviet domination to find themselves awash in pollution, toxic wastes, and crumbling infrastructure. The productivity of their workers, lacking the incentives of capitalism and the associated technological advances, was less than half that of workers in free-market, capitalist economies. Without the incentive and vigor of capitalism, they lacked the resources to prevent or clean up the pollution of their environment.
Estonia, for example, suffered from a wide variety of pollution problems, ranging from dumped aircraft fuel to ponds of radioactive slurry. The situation was so severe that clean-up cost was estimated to be $4 trillion! At the same time, the Estonian economy was a basket case. With free market reforms, private ownership of the means of production, encouragement of foreign investment, and the institution of a flat tax, Estonia achieved an economic miracle, allowing the country the luxury of beginning what will be a decades-long process of environmental cleanup.
Capitalism has enabled America to be not only the land of opportunity and great wealth, but also one of the cleanest inhabited places on the globe. And while, there have been examples of people and industries that have abused the system, the fact that such examples become big news is a testament to how rare they are.
Consider this thought experiment. If Castro were overthrown and his dictatorship were replaced with a system of entrepreneurship, private property, free markets, and the rule of law, and Chavez continued to take Venezuela down a road with none of these qualities, which place would you prefer to visit 40, 30,20, or even 10 years from now?
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