While the welfare state cannot be transformed into a free-market system overnight, businesspeople can help by speaking up (in forums open to them) when restrictions on freedom of business are being proposed by government and other groups.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the economic lockdowns governments around the world started imposing on businesses in an attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic, it is the importance of independence.

Altruism is not the only moral code; there is an alternative that facilitates long-term profit maximization.

It’s mistaken to think that pursuing profits harms people. Profit-seeking by business does not harm but rather benefits people, beyond its owners.

Although the ideas behind the attacks on business are often not explicitly labeled as Marxist, that is what they are.

By rejecting unfounded accusations and standing by its products and their marketing, Trader Joe’s (and indirectly, its customers) displayed all of them—and therefore has earned the designation as a corporate hero.

Business—and the rest of us—cannot afford to conform to social pressure but must find the courage to speak up and defend freedom.

Why are the governments dictating when and how the economy can re-open?

The COVID-19 pandemic may help by bringing a clearer understanding why business needs a moral defense from its leaders and that such defense must be based on the principle of individual rights.