I read a lot of criticism about capitalism - what else to expect in a authoritarian world promoting socialism - but it seems that there is very little actual understanding of capitalism among its critics - rather merely blame for all of the ills in society. I posted a thread on Capitalism vs Opportunism in an effort to try to bring a little light on the real source of societal problems - maybe that helped a little. And now I want to do a deeper dive into exactly what capitalism really is - where it came from - what it actually does - and what it doesn’t do.
Basically if you hate capitalism - there are only two reasons [list]- ignorance and opportunistic authoritarian propaganda.[/list:u]
Capitalism
Not that Wikipedia can be trusted with this type of subject (one of its founders has warned to not trust it any longer) - but let’s start with Wiki’s definition of Capitalism -
First Capitalism is a system - to distinguish it from anarchy. It is a system concerning trade between people - any kind of trade - not merely money - “I will give you this for that”. And a system requires a degree of cooperation and coordination from non-system components (in this case - people). Without a system - it is every man for himself - a brutal struggle for dominance. To have any kind of society requires a system concerning interactive trade expectations.
Private Property and Profit
And within a capitalist system there are to be privately owned and operated means of production and means to accomplish greater individual success. Private property rights are upheld and an individual’s right to profit from his efforts are respected. It is not merely about money.
Free Trade and Labor
And also within a capitalistic system there must be free trade among competitors (which means there must be competitors - not a single overarching government controlling outcomes - such as “Equity”). The trade and labor are all voluntary and competitive - forced labor or trade is not allowed - by private company or by government. Again it is not merely about money.
And even though Wiki separates out “market economic decision-making and investments” from competitive pricing, goods, and services - they are virtually the same thing - decisions are made by the private owners of whatever is involved rather than a ruling government.
Democracy
“Democracy” is the distribution of decision-making in a society (usually by voting). If and when decision-making is centralized by any means (such as by exclusive ownership or the extremely wealthy, powerful, or connected) the society is no longer a democracy. Capitalism is the competitive distribution of wealth and democracy is the competitive distribution of rule. Democratic rule and capitalism go hand in hand - there cannot be one without the other - lose either one and both are lost.
Monopolies
Easily the single greatest threat to a free democratic society and capitalism is the rise of monopolies. A monopoly is the natural rise of a strong competitor so much above the others that he takes over the entire market and dictates the rules. A monopoly is the exact opposite of Capitalism - it is Socialism - one party rule - a monopoly over the entire society. It should be obvious that the USA’s greatest mistake during the last century was to allow monopolies within its democratic system - although often unrecognized as such - until far too late.
That is the basic idea of capitalism - but where did it come from?
I don’t think capitalism was invented. Capitalism is a part of nature - and always has been. It appears that Karl Marx was right in saying that the beginning of an economic system is capitalistic - he merely named what was already naturally happening - not only during man’s reign - but probably for 100s of millions of years because there is almost no distinction between the idea of trade and the idea of capitalism (even sex is an issue of capitalistic trade). The difference seems to be merely that capitalism is institutionalized common trade practices - with protections against the bullies - the monopolies and authoritarians.
Capitalism says - “We with military authority are going to let you be you in your effort to live as long as you don’t take too much advantage - competition will be allowed and encouraged.” And people naturally compete (as all species seem to do). The idea of allowing competition seems to be to inspire greater competence and perfection - “if you want more - you are going to have to outbid or out perform the competition.” Again that is merely a part of nature - except with added protections.
So okay but now - what does it lead to? There is good and bad in everything.
The process that we call “life” seems to be merely a creature using its talents in an effort to survive. When those talents are blocked or taken away (no actual opportunity) - there is no life. Merely feeding a creature until it dies is not living - talents atrophy - incentive fades away - there is no meaning or purpose to pursue - individuals become merely anatomical mechanisms void of any spirit beyond merely eating whatever they are fed and sleeping when it occurs - barn animals awaiting eventual execution when their usefulness to others fades out.
Capitalism changes all of that. Capitalism proposes that the individual does not have to disregard his talents and live without hope of anything ever getting better. Capitalism proposes that people seek out an opportunity to “make something of themselves” - encourages and allows that to happen. And that proposition has proven to work well - very very many people have risen from having almost nothing to live for into a life of hope-filled activity and freedom - using the talents they were born with and cultured rather than wasted away. Capitalism offers opportunity to those with very little and opportunity realizes inspiration and hope - “from rags to riches”.
But where is the love? Is capitalism all about brutal competition void of compassion? - only in the propaganda.
When capitalism is lost one of the first things noticed is that services become poor and delayed. The people doing the service have no reason to try to be efficient or friendly. They become bureaucratic - “these are the rules - fill out the form - and go away - is the day over yet”.
When a retailer wants to gain more customers he is told to “be more friendly - be more lenient - provide better service - show a little compassion!” Of course his deeper feeling might really only be selfish - but not always and even if he begins that way - people learn to become more compassionate even when there is no immediate or foreseeable profit - it becomes expected, the norm, and a habit - the environment changes - people become more comfortable, safer, and feel more alive - and they actually are. Competitors don’t like to lose their customers.
But a capitalist society does not depend entirely on good business sense for the love that a society must have within. A governing body can allow capitalistic endeavors and also have common social programs for those who - for whatever reason - cannot compete. Inspired products and services still improve through that competition and that makes them available for the social programs to utilize. Without those competitors social programs become too poor to help anyone. And being compassionate toward those in need is good competitive strategy. Social programs and capitalism work as a team as long as neither unduly displaces the other.
So where is all of that bad coming from if not from capitalists?
As I explained before (Capitalism vs Opportunism) it comes from opportunistic corruption and the monopolies it produces. One of the monopolies they produce is called “Socialism” - the monopoly on all trade and all compassion.
Through competition companies become corporations (many companies incorporated into one) and create jobs and opportunity for millions - more than any government ever could. And they become very powerful and influential. But the degree of influence permitted is actually up to the government. Corporations can’t do anything that their government doesn’t allow - except for the tremendous amount of corruption in both government and corporations.
The bad that is so often cast upon capitalism actually has very little to do with capitalism. It is entirely due to bad governing of capitalism - not preventing government corruption and allowing monopolies. Corruption is far more prevalent in socialist and communist societies than in capitalistic societies (bribes, influence pedaling, and secret cabals). All capitalism does is allow for many people to gain so much wealth and influence that the temptation for corruption becomes insurmountable for all involved. The result of such corruption is called “Crony Capitalism” - or “Socialism” (two means to the same result). Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have become so wealthy through their monopolies that they could buy entire countries - but at the moment are having too much fun just manipulating them and their elections - to gain even more monopolistic, authoritarian control.
Once corruption has set in - democracy gets lost and socialism (usually through Marxist tactics) takes over ALL trade - the singularity monopoly - and by those very same corrupt people who destroyed the democratic opportunities that capitalism provided. Life becomes totally artificial. Individuals become nothing but numbers and farm animals to manipulate until they are no longer useful - competition dissolves into favoritism and back-room payoffs - talents are lost - hope is lost - and life becomes nothing but drudgery while watching an elite class of privileged rulers over-tax and stamp down a vast field of the hopelessly impoverished.
If you don’t believe it - talk to people who have escaped Cuba, the USSR, North Korea, or China.
Social justice - actual social justice - is allowing people to prosper by their own inspiration and talents - individualism - not collectivism - not anti-democratic, anti-capitalistic authoritarian socialism - and most importantly - not corruption. If you want social justice - fight really really hard against CORRUPTION - not against competition.
If you still hate capitalism - you just haven’t taken a good look at the alternatives.