Alan Greenspan is an Inspiration

Lately, I've been reading Alan Greenspan's memoirs "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World." I've got to say, I'm surprisingly inspired by this book. Not necessarily inspired as in "This is a work on literary genius," but inspired in the "Dude, I love market capitalism" kind of way.

Alan Greenspan's memoirs reinvigorate me to become a kick-ass businessman, because I believe that business can be a force for good. A well-run, profitable, ethical business makes the world a better place. Ethical does not mean merely following the law, there is a higher moral calling that everyone in business should strive to reach. Sure, there is are elements of power-seeking and a desire for wealth (or, if we're calling a spade a spade, greed) in my motives for a career in business, but business is honestly something that I enjoy doing. I like making things happen, finding ways to solve a problem, and creating a faster, more efficient, and hopefully more elegant solution. I really love coming up with a solution that benefits both parties. I think that's why I can be good at business, because I love finding a win-win situation. When I can solve a problem that I have while creating sales or profit for a partner company, I love it.

Some people can become doctors, thank God, because I don't think I could. Some become social workers or academics, but these professions just are not for me. I think that one reason people get into these professions is to lower overall suffering and improve people's lives. Doctors do it by curing, treating, or preventing disease. Social workers have a more direct impact on the lives of families and children. Academics study esoteric problems so that no one else has to. This may seem a little hard to fathom, but part of the reason I want to be in business is to improve the general lot of humanity. This is what I find so exciting and amazing about market capitalism, it's not a zero-sum game. By pursuing my own goals, I can make the world a better place. The long-term productivity gains enabled by technological advance and implemented by mostly private actors has led us to reach living standards that our great-grandparents could never imagine.

I suppose that this what causes me to disagree with so much of what I hear from the political left (but don't get me started on why I disagree quite vehemently with the political right). I truly believe that by applying myself to market capitalism, I will contribute to the common good. It takes advantage of my innate abilities and market capitalism is not evil. More importantly, what else can I choose to do to improve the common good? It seems almost impossible to be able to choose something that will actually make a difference in the world.

But if I believe so much in business and market capitalism, how can I be employed as an engineer at a defense contractor? I'm an engineer by the fact that I like solving problems and it was an undergraduate degree that promised to teach me useful skills. I work at a defense contractor for simple economic reasons: they offered me a good job right out of college. I am still both of these things because I'm gaining some great experience. I am yet young and my career has barely begun. Also, one of the things I've learned from my work is that while there are some decidedly non-market forces in large defense contracting, private defense firms can provide a very real and worthwhile service to our nation.

In short, if anyone has ever wondered why I've made the choices I have in my life, perhaps you now have your answer. Seriously, I feel silly sometimes at how excited I get about the idea of making business deals in general. I look forward to the next XX years of my life doing business and making things happen. I suppose that there are many motivations for people who pursue the general category of "business" in the private sector. I don't claim to understand or have the ability to explain these motivations, but I can attempt to fathom my own reasons. For that reason, I hope that this post can allows some of you doctors and social workers and academics to understand in some way why a person would choose to devote themselves to private industry.

I know I haven't told you much about the book. Suffice it to say, Alan Greenspan had an amazing career and was involved in a ridiculous number of the most important economic decisions of the last 30 years. It's also a very readable book about the state of the world economy and where it may go in the next few years. Good stuff, I definitely recommend it.