Occupiers need introduction to economics

Economics professor Gary Wolfram of Hillsdale College has an interesting assignment for his students that Occupy protesters should also take.

"I tell them they are about to be born and they can choose whatever country in the world they would like to be born in. The only caveat is that they will be the poorest person in that country. Every student picks a country that is primarily organized in the market capitalist system. No one picks a centrally planned state. No one says, 'I want to be the poorest person in North Korea, Cuba or Zimbabwe,' countries which are at the bottom of the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom."

The Hillsdale professor notes that the Occupiers don't comprehend how the market capitalist system works.

"They appear to think that the cellphones they use, the food they eat, hotels they stay in, cars they drive, gasoline that powers the cars they drive and all the myriad of goods and services they consume would be there under a different system, perhaps in more abundance. But there is no evidence this has ever been the case."

The professor emphasizes, "The reason there is so much innovation in market systems compared to socialism or other forms of central planning is that profit provides the incentive for innovators to take the risk needed to come up with new products."

Now consider the views of the Occupy protesters in New York City, researched by Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. He found most supported President Barack Obama for president and 65 percent believe the government has a moral responsibility to "guarantee" all citizens access to affordable health care. Generally, Schoen said, "what binds a large majority of protesters together -- regardless of age, socioeconomic status or education -- is a deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth (and) intense regulation of the private sector."

Some of these people will never get it. But if the intellectually honest ones were to visit a Junior Achievement program somewhere in this country, maybe they might see the light. If they studied it, they would find that business firms sponsor teenagers who raise a small amount of capital to promote a product they manufacture or market. They pay for materials and labor, pay taxes, advertise and plan, and then -- if successful -- they declare dividends.

Is this an embarrassment? Is their "profit" a dirty word?

In our country, who pays the high wages? The profitable companies. Who pays the low wages? Those without a reasonable volume of profit. It's also worth noting that profit is the lifeblood of social programs, anti-poverty initiatives, education initiatives and other charitable giving.

All too many Democratic politicians have been too sympathetic to the Occupiers. They ought to pay attention to their pollster, Schoen. He advises Democrats, if they want to win elections, to "say they are with voters in the middle who want cooperation, conciliation and lower taxes." Even former President Bill Clinton says raising taxes at this time on the wealthy or anyone else would be a mistake -- a view not shared by the Occupiers.

After a month or so, Democratic mayors of big cities where the Occupiers pitched encampments said enough was enough. Police removed encampments in public parks and laws were again enforced in the interest of public health and safety. Even if those mayors are not taking all of Schoen's advice, they at least realized the media images of anti-capitalists were doing their political party more harm than good.

J.C. Watts (JCWatts01@jcwatts.com) is chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group. He is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002. He writes twice monthly for the Review-Journal.