Self Interest Is Good

 https://x.com/creativededuct/status/2083518565722755552?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

 "Adam Smith’s most famous sentence remains one of the clearest statements in all of social science: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” The point is simple and profound. We do not rely on the kindness of strangers to put food on the table. We rely on their self-interest. The butcher supplies meat because he profits by doing so. The baker rises early because customers will pay for bread. Their desire to improve their own condition leads them, without any central direction, to serve ours. This is the central mechanism of a market economy. Self-interest, channelled through voluntary exchange, produces cooperation on a vast scale. No one has to love their customers or share their political views. They only have to respond to incentives. The result is a system that regularly feeds, clothes, and houses millions of people who will never meet. Many on the left still struggle to accept this. Self-interest is treated as morally suspect - a form of greed that should be restrained or replaced by appeals to solidarity and collective purpose. The preference is for systems that rely on moral exhortation or state direction rather than on the everyday pursuit of personal advantage. Yet the historical record is clear: societies that suppress self-interest in the name of higher motives tend to produce shortages, stagnation, and coercion. Societies that allow people to benefit from serving others tend to produce abundance. Smith’s insight is not a celebration of selfishness. It is a recognition of reality. People are more reliable when they can improve their own lives by improving the lives of others. That simple alignment of interests remains the most powerful engine of social cooperation ever discovered."