capitalism

"Again, how immeasurably greater is the pleasure, when a man feels a thing to be his own; for surely the love of self is a feeling implanted by nature and not given in vain, although selfishness is rightly censured; this, however, is not the mere love of self, but the love of self in excess, like the miser's love of money; for all, or almost all, men love money and other such objects in a measure. And further, there is the greatest pleasure in doing a kindness or service to friends or guests or companions, which can only be rendered when a man has private property."
[Wikipedia: Homo Economicus]

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."
Phillippians 2:3-4

12.03.2007 Update: 
I finished reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. In this work of fiction, Rand's Objectivist philosophy registers loud and clear. She espouses a perspective of socio-economics founded on the merit of the individual. Not simply capitalism for the low sake of profiting second-rate owners (see: Jim Johnson), but a world in which each individual is empowered to achieve, an end to themselves. The historical setting in which Rand wrote (Fountainhead was published in 1943) was a factor, I believe, since much of her underlying ideology seems to be a reaction to communist socialism. The idea that "the Masses" are to be served as a chief end disgusts Rand, who believes only mediocrity and suffering can result (see: Pol Pot). I tend to agree.