I would also strongly advise everyone to read Robert A. Caro’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. This well researched book will help one to further understand the mindset of the “elites” of that period. Moses literally said that those who graduated from Harvard, Yale, and Columbia should be running the country. And he meant that in a benevolent dictatorial manner! The common people should essentially shut up and obey. Moses considered folks like himself to be superior compared to the so-called selfish capitalists. They knew what was best. Moses was a very arrogant and somewhat nasty man during his lifetime. He rationalized his behavior because of his alleged altruism. After all, he was sacrificing on behalf of the people.
Friedrich Hayek and others warned warned that “elites” cannot create a rapidly expanding economy. The main reason may perhaps be our inherent reliance on tacitly understood knowledge. We do not consciously comprehend what completely motivates a particular human being to select one product over another. You may be willing to pay $50 for a Brtiney Spears CD and I won’t pay even one penny. An outsider would be utterly incapable of setting a set price for this CD that would please everyone. The pricing can only be determined in a rough and tumble free market.
