The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism Paperback – Illustrated, April 9, 2007

I debated with myself whether to give 4 or 5 stars to this book. Ultimately, I decided on 5 stars - as the content is tremendous - and I decided it was unreasonable to expect this book to be everything to everyone.The book is a wealth of information and covers a wide range of subjects - with a good portion of those filling the "politically incorrect" category. Mr. Murphy - and I have read several of his articles outside this book - has the gift of providing some of the clearest and pointed critiques of `politically correct' thinking concerning capitalism. In reading the book, I didn't find all of his arguments equally convincing - but when they are good - they are INCREDIBLY good. Entertaining too - in talking about a particular Amtrak line, he offers "Your tax dollars would have been saved if the line had been scrapped and Amtrak's customers had been given plane tickets instead." Point and match to Mr. Murphy.The book does not dwell needlessly on each issue - but gets right to the point - and there are several in each chapter. Hence, my reference to a shotgun blast in the title. The points come and go quickly, and if you don't have some background in some of the items, it is possible to simply read the conclusion without fully appreciating the argument. This is not a quibble with the text - which is extremely readable. If you are in possession of matrix-like "bullet speed" capabilities, be sure to use them as needed to slow down and appreciate some of the elegantly crafted explanations in the book (I've read many books three times the size with nowhere near the amount of information contained here.)Would I recommend this book to an absolute economic newcomer? No. If you have never heard of the phrase "GDP" then I don't think this is the place to start. This was my 4/5 star debate. I finally figured out I was getting hung up on the cartoon cover (sad - isn't it?) But, if you have watched the business channel or read the business section, you will easily understand and enjoy this book. And the upper limit? I'm the wrong one to ask. But after reading the book, I'd pay money to see Mr. Murphy debate just about anyone.

I'm still in the middle of the book, because I'm also reading Atlas Shrugged, The Federalist Papers and blogging. This book has given me much of the logic that I inherently believed about Capitalism. You know how you already know something, but you don't have the argument down to answer the questions that people like to use to trip you up? This book provides you the foundation about Capitalism to answer it's critics. Having the facts to backup my beliefs, the book inspired me to start my blog, [...], where I defend Capitalism daily.Although Capitalism doesn't seem to have it's defenders on the political front, Robert unabashedly defends it in his book. What's best is he gives you the education to become one of it's defenders.

Regnery Publishing bills its "Politically Incorrect Guides" (or PIGs) as the place to find "politically correct myths busted and an abundance of cold, hard facts." Robert P. Murphy certainly charges head-first against a lot of politically correct myths in "The PIG to Capitalism." He also provides many cold, hard facts, along with many arguably correct theories that deserve to be more widely known.As a myth-buster, Murphy does not try to lead the reader gently toward a better-informed point of view. Instead, he starts throwing punches from page one. Windfall-profit taxes, pro-union laws, affirmative action, workplace-safety and antipollution regulations, Social Security -- these are among the sacred projects of left-liberalism that Murphy attacks, by explaining how free-market capitalism would do a better job of accomplishing what too many Americans think can be done only through government intervention.If I were writing this book, my emphases would be different -- I'd devote more space to how prices (including wages) are emergent phenomena and to the concepts of economic efficiency and non-zero-sum interaction, and I'd spend less time (if any) on the history of slavery or explaining the difference between the monetarist and Austrian versions of what caused the Great Depression. But I agree with 95% of what Murphy says here.If you have the time to take a deeper look at some of the issues Murphy touches on here, I highly recommend Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy and John Steele Gordon's Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power (P.S.). Murphy also provides suggestions for further reading throughout the book, many of which were new to me.If your time is limited and you want to get a concentrated dose of what left-liberals deride as "free-market fundamentalism" (but what I consider plain good sense), "The PIG to Capitalism" is a great place to start.

The book is easy to read and sway every important topic at issue. It is also well punctuated by numerous recommendations of books you can read if you want to enhance your knowledge on some theme. The discussion technic that Murphy uses adds some transparency to the book because he doesn't disqualify the opinions of the capitalism's main critics. On the contrary, he puts them just in front of you, offering the reader the chance of approving or not. In this sense I think that what he does is to illustrate upon a fair basis rather than rightly dismiss what others say.At the end of the book you have all the references required to follow up the learning on this both wonderful but also misunderstood topic.There's more to capitalism out there than we can see with our eyes. Highly recommended.