"If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?"

Voltaire

Perhaps more than anything else other than its freedom and its democracy, the thing that has made America so enormously successful is the free enterprise system. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, America generates almost one-quarter of all the goods and services produced here on Earth. Its gross domestic product surpasses that of the entire European economic community. Nonetheless, today, over two centuries after the nation's founding, the free enterprise system still seems to be widely misunderstood in America. An ongoing poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation reveals that the average citizen believes industry profits after-tax are of the order of 30 percent of sales (revealing a lack of understanding of the tax laws which is only rivaled by the lack of recognition of the fact that average profits generally approximate 5 percent or less). In another survey conducted by the same organization, 54 percent of the high school students questioned, when asked whether or not government should take over U.S. industry, expressed "no opinion." This is perhaps the most alarming observation in this entire volume.

Truly, businessmen, aided and abetted greatly by some of the practices they and others have perpetuated over the years, do many things that when examined under a microscope can only be described as strange and mystical. Yet, the accomplishments of American business are enormous indeed and are held in high esteem by most everyone the author has met...