How Capitalism Will Save Us by Steve Forbes

of capitalism’s “web of trust”: the auction site eBay, where customers buy and sell to one another anonymously, based on little more than a thumbnail product profile, a seller rating, and a credit card number.
    EBay’s sellers and buyers are not always honest. But most often theyare. Without this expectation of reliability there could be no commerce. People would not be able to buy, sell, and create wealth—not only on eBay, but in any market. 8
    Trust, not greed, was the reason that so many people were duped by Bernard Madoff. Few could anticipate his over-the-top villainy because such a willful violation of the rules is relatively rare. Madoff’s annual returns to clients also appeared reasonable.
    The idea that capitalism is based on greed is belied when taking a closer look at the great fortunes of the people on the
Forbes
400 list of wealthiest Americans. Number 33 on the 2008 list, Jeff Bezos, founded the hugely successful Internet bookstore Amazon.com , which has since become an online megastore selling virtually anything. He built his $8.7 billion fortune not because of greed, but because he correctly saw the potential of emerging Internet technology to do a better job selling books than bricks-and-mortar retailers.
    And what about Oprah Winfrey (number 155 in 2008, with a net worth of $2.7 billion)? Her story is well-known: born in Mississippi, she rose to become a TV talk show host, actress, producer, publisher, and owner of a media empire. Her productions and publications promote positive values of self-improvement. She has also built her fortune by bringing wealth to others, launching the media careers of personalities like Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray. As if all of this were not enough, she has donated millions to charity, including starting a school for girls in South Africa.
    Henry Hillman (number 134 in 2008, with a net worth of $3 billion) was not self-made. He inherited his family’s steel fortune. But he, too, has been anything but greedy. He has invested in real estate, medical technology, and other high-tech companies. Hillman has been one of Pittsburgh’s most active philanthropists—a heavy supporter of medical and computer research. He has given some $20 million to cancer research and recently gave $10 million for a new computer science research building at Carnegie Mellon University.
    Number 68 on
Forbes’
2007 list was James Sorenson. The inventor, who passed away a year later at age 86, made a $4.5 billion fortune from medical devices, including a patented plastic catheter and a disposable surgical mask. Sorenson had more money than he could ever spend and nothing to prove. Yet he started another new venture, Sorenson Forensics, in 2006, shortly before his death. The company’s genome-based technologies havehelped solve cold-case murder mysteries. Asked why he risked his capital so late in life to start yet another new business, the habitual entrepreneur replied, “It soothes the soul to help people.”
    John Drummond isn’t on the
Forbes
400 list. His business, Unicycle.com , started out as a hobby. Drummond discovered that the unicycling he’d loved as a child could help him take off weight.
    Yes, Drummond had a self-interested reason for building his business—he had been laid off by IBM and needed a job. But he also wanted the sense of personal fulfillment that comes from bringing something good to others. Drummond felt that people would enjoy unicycling and appreciate its unique, if quirky, value as a fitness workout. He succeeded because he was an innovator: he made a hard-to-find product more easily available over the Internet.
    Today Drummond’s business has franchises in eight countries, and he recently started another business, Banjo.com .
    The claim that capitalism is based on greed is often used by politicians to sell solutions to economic problems that are supposed to be more moral—from taxes on windfall profits to government health insurance. These government-imposed