Capitalist Ethos of Benjamin Franklin
Capitalist ethos of Benjamin Franklin
By Julfikar Islam
Coordinator
Research and Development www.futurestartup.com Entrepreneur is by nature expansionist. May be, she starts from a very tiny space, her sight touches the sky. She works for it to make the path more visible, clearer. Throughout the journey of expansion she maintains some ethos. She avoids ostentations and unnecessary expenditure as well as conscious enjoyment of power and is embarrassed by the outward signs of social recognition which she receives. “He gets nothing out of his wealth for himself except the irrational sense of having done his job well”.
These entrepreneurial values develop through stages of economic history of human being. As entrepreneurship is a concept that mostly a contribution of capitalistic way of life, understanding this idea requires clarification of the spirit of capitalism.
“A man does not by nature wish to earn more and more money but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as his necessary for that purpose. Wherever, modern capitalism has begun its work of increasing its intensity, it has encountered the immensely stubborn resistance of this leading trait of pre-capitalistic labor.”
“We will define a capitalistic economic action as one which rests on the expectation of profit by the utilization of opportunities for exchange that is on (formally) peaceful changes of profit.”
In developing capitalistic mode of life, ethos of Benjamin Franklin contributed well. His commentary on value of time in terms of money, credit, generating nature of money, frugality etc was really significant for the way of life.
"Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.”
“Remember, that money is
By Julfikar Islam
Coordinator
Research and Development www.futurestartup.com Entrepreneur is by nature expansionist. May be, she starts from a very tiny space, her sight touches the sky. She works for it to make the path more visible, clearer. Throughout the journey of expansion she maintains some ethos. She avoids ostentations and unnecessary expenditure as well as conscious enjoyment of power and is embarrassed by the outward signs of social recognition which she receives. “He gets nothing out of his wealth for himself except the irrational sense of having done his job well”.
These entrepreneurial values develop through stages of economic history of human being. As entrepreneurship is a concept that mostly a contribution of capitalistic way of life, understanding this idea requires clarification of the spirit of capitalism.
“A man does not by nature wish to earn more and more money but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as his necessary for that purpose. Wherever, modern capitalism has begun its work of increasing its intensity, it has encountered the immensely stubborn resistance of this leading trait of pre-capitalistic labor.”
“We will define a capitalistic economic action as one which rests on the expectation of profit by the utilization of opportunities for exchange that is on (formally) peaceful changes of profit.”
In developing capitalistic mode of life, ethos of Benjamin Franklin contributed well. His commentary on value of time in terms of money, credit, generating nature of money, frugality etc was really significant for the way of life.
"Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.”
“Remember, that money is