|
"what’s striking about capitalism is that we’re all trying to escape it — even most of the capitalists — because it makes us so miserable, mean, and foolish." No, capitalism makes us happy, nice, and smart. More importantly, capitalism makes us rich. It's really easy to hate on capitalism because everything that's wrong in your life can be reasonably explained away with "if we didn't have capitalism this wouldn't be a problem." But the fact us, most of the things that capitalism does for you (the average reader of HN who most likely lives in a capitalist country) are invisible. You don't realize how much capitalism is responsible for everything in your life that isn't making you miserable. Things like: - Affordable food from all over the world available in all varieties in all seasons, fresh and uncontaminated by toxins or spoilage
- Abundant, cheap energy that lowers the cost of everything from raising children to acquiring knowledge to healthcare (not to mention travel and leisure)
- Access to aspirin, toothbrushes, toilet paper, shaving cream, dental floss, tissues, towels, soap, and thousands of other daily necessities that allow us to live more hygienic and healthier lives
- Higher level education (which would not be possible without a basic level of societal comfort) which unlocks advances in science, mathematics, medicine, economics and other areas that improve the human condition
- Riches and wealth available to a wider net of people that have ever had it before, in a way that doesn't deprive or prevent more people from acquiring more wealth...this has of course downstream effects like reducing crime and increasing camaraderie and mutual respect (you gain more from trading with a rival than fighting with them and trying to take their resources) Take away capitalism and what do you get? Well, you can easily visit Cuba or Venezuela right now to find out. You get: - Kids with no shoes
- Crumbling infrastructure
- 'Free' healthcare with no aspirin
- Violent revolution or suppression of revolutionary activity
- A population of greedy individuals and families doing everything they can to protect their own resources and take others' (this isn't an indictment of these people, this is exactly what humans need to do when their livelihood is threatened)
- People with no education because they're spending all their time scrambling to survive If you want people who are really "miserable, mean, and foolish", take away capitalism and that's exactly what you'll get. |