I found your essay very interesting! I think the way you tackle the issues that Gilder presents in his writing, and add in your own ideas, is very insightful. I also found his views on specialization in order to enrich a community very interesting, as it was not a topic I had thought much about previously. I appreciate your use of the apples to loaves of bread trade analogy that was discussed a few modules back. I think specialization allows a community to improve each of their trades at the same time, rather than expecting everyone to be able to fend for themselves. If everyone has to bake bread, grow apples, create nails, process lumber, and more, no one truly has an opportunity to become proficient in these skills. If everyone focuses on one to two skills, however, and uses them to enrich each other's lives, the community grows much stronger. The bread becomes better, the fruit better cared for, houses built sturdier, and so on. Like you, I thought Gilder's views of how giving a good gift requires a personal knowledge of the receiver were very interesting. It was not something I'd thought of much, but good gift giving can only come from personal relationships, which brings a community even closer together.
On the other hand, I was also bothered by Gilder’s idea that no gift could be given without expectation of reward. Whether it is given for a special occasion, or out of the goodness of your heart, I think you could give a gift to another person without expecting something in return. I found it odd that he thought that if you gave something to someone else and did not expect anything in return, then you’re still expecting something in return, but you just don’t know what you want yet.
Additionally, I also found it interesting that Gilder shows the parallels between the risk that capitalism brings and the opportunities that it provides through competition. I do think that trying to live in a capitalistic society without providing anything back to the whole would be extremely frustrating, but I also think there should be some middle ground where the sick, young, and elderly are taken care of without expectation of repayment.
“When it comes to spreading wealth, capitalism is such an effective method because it links knowledge and power. In other words, it gives riches to the people who have proved by example that they are able to be successful in a certain market. The riches are given back to the people who give everything to a certain market.”
This is something that I do not entirely agree with, I think that many people earn money through their hard work and success, but I think that there has been enough generational accumulation of wealth that there are now thousands of individuals with unearned wealth who have never needed to work for a cent. I think that in the beginning stages of capitalism, riches would be accumulated by the most productive individuals, but at this stage of America’s economy, there is a large imbalance of who controls the wealth.