The Perennial Gale Of Creative Destruction

The Capitalist Engine Is First And Last An Engine Of Mass Production Which Unavoidably Also Means Production For The Masses. . . . It Is The Cheap Cloth, The Cheap Cotton And Rayon Fabric, Boots, Motorcars And So On That Are The Typical Achievements Of Capitalist Production, And Not As A Rule Improvements That Would Mean Much To The Rich Man. Queen Elizabeth Owned Silk Stockings. The Capitalist Achievement Does Not Typically Consist In Providing More Silk Stockings For Queens But In Bringing Them Within Reach Of Factory Girls.

Geniuses And Prophets Do Not Usually Excel In Professional Learning, And Their Originality, If Any, Is Often Due Precisely To The Fact That They Do Not.

As A Matter Of Fact, Capitalist Economy Is Not And Cannot Be Stationary. Nor Is It Merely Expanding In A Steady Manner. It Is Incessantly Being Revolutionized From Within By New Enterprise, I.e., By The Intrusion Of New Commodities Or New Methods Of Production Or New Commercial Opportunities Into The Industrial Structure As It Exists At Any Moment.

Our Poverty Will Be Brought Home To Us To Its Full Extent Only After The War.

Surely, Nothing Can Be More Plain Or Even More Trite Common Sense Than The Proposition That Innovation [...] Is At The Center Of Practically All The Phenomena, Difficulties, And Problems Of Economic Life In Capitalist Society.