I LOVE CAPITALISM: An American Story | Langone, Ken, Penguin Random House, 304p.
Noting his life has been an “American dream,” Ken Langone penned this mostly biography with a smidge of manifesto at age 82.
Mr. Langone is indeed the classic Horatio Alger tale. Born to a plumber and food service worker, he caddied and dug ditches, working himself through school. After the Army and college, he worked his way up from entry-level to the C-suite. It was there that he helped finance and co-found Home Depot in 1979.
When “capitalism works, it works for everybody.” Langone rightly disagrees with socialism because it is based upon the false notion “that we should all be exactly equal in every single way.”
His story reinforces that America remains the most socially upward-mobile nation. But other than having more appreciation for him as a person, this book tills no new ground. It is not filled with insight or new guidance. But if you need a reminder that free markets are better than those that aren’t, that business is best when simplified, and that in America, its promise is still alive, Langone’s tome is for you!