Is capitalism a religion?

[Emsworth]

To some people, capitalism certainly is a religion. Ayn Rand comes to mind as a capitalism-worshipper; she and her fellow "objectivists" believed that capitalism was the only moral system in history.

While the morality of capitalism is debatable, it is certainly quite clear that capitalism is the most efficient economic system. Even Marxists admit it.

[Emsworth]

The first assumption is just flat-out wrong sometimes.  Segregation is an excellent example of people acting in a fundamentally irrational manner.

Left to itself, the free market certainly would not have embraced segregation. Segregation was caused primarily by government intervention.

Consider, for example, what happened in the South during the late nineteenth century. Several companies resisted "separate but equal" laws, because paying for separate facilities for different races was expensive. The famous case Plessy v. Ferguson, which challenged the validity of a Louisiana railroad segregation law, was brought with the encouragement of the railroad companies.

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Leaving the free market alone might not solve anything, but government interference will tend to make things worse. So-called market failures are caused, not solved, by the government.

[Emsworth]

Say what you will about the benefits of the free market, but that's not one thing it would have fixed nearly fast enough to be just.

Well, the purpose of the free market system is not justice, equality, or fairness, but the efficient distribution of goods and services. If the ultimate goal is justice rather than efficiency, then, I suppose, you might support a different economic system.

In my personal opinion, however, no system is more just than pure capitalism, in which all economic transactions are voluntary and in which personal freedom is maximized.

[Emsworth]

Personal freedom is not necessarily maximised.  The potential for freedom is.  On the other hand, if you are born into an economically depressed area where a good education is unaffordable and inaccessible, the potential for total freedom is not there beyond luck.  Personal freedom may be theoretically maximised, but in practise, this is far from always true.

I would have to disagree with that interpretation. I, personally, define freedom as the absence of coercion. In a capitalist system, therefore, freedom is maximized, because coercion is minimized.

[Emsworth]

Actually, one of teh cornerstones of the austrian school is that man doesn't act in a rational way, nor he could since he doens't have perfect information.

Absolutely right. A lot of people believe that capitalism depends on the "rationality" of individuals, and that capitalism will "fail" if this assumption proves false. However, Austrian Economics accepts that people cannot behave perfectly rationally, but also demonstrates laissez-faire capitalism is the most efficient economic system.