Capitalism is why you have a good life23rd February 2025
I’ve had a long conversation with a friend talking about capitalism. He was anti-capitalist to some degree (an irrational degree), and by the end of the call, I was able to convert him to being pro-capitalist. This essay is an attempt to address those similar questions about capitalism. This is a riff, not a polished essay, so apologies in advance.Capitalists are blood-sucking evil narcissists you say.And I ask youWho is losing in capitalism?Let’s take an example of a shoemaker. When you are buying a pair of shoes from the shoemaker who is losing? Are you the one who’s getting the worse deal? Is the shoemaker then? Remember, you make a free conscious choice to buy the shoes, knowing full well that the shoes add value to your life. You don’t lose. You win! And the shoemaker? Well, he’s making money! He’s winning too! How is that not beautiful?Capitalism is a system designed to make everyone more “wealthy”, improve people’s lives and offer a good life to everyone!Do you think you are not getting a fair price from the shoemaker? Great. Find another shoemaker. You are free to make any choice. You don’t have to buy from the “evil” shoemaker, who, by the way, will go out of business if he keeps his prices high because of capitalism which favors other shoemakers offering cheaper shoes! Capitalism is again working in your favor!And then you ask meWhat about wealth inequality?Yeah, what about it? Imagine how many people’s lives the shoemaker had to improve to get so vastly wealthy. The shoemaker is a hero. And the wealth he has reflects the quality and the number of lives he made better. He needs to be celebrated. Not thrown stones at. What if he has a lot of money? Who cares? He made your life much better.Would you rather want to live in a world where the shoemaker didn’t exist and you had a worse life? Do you want to live in a world where smartphones don’t exist? No, you don’t.The existence and the purpose of the capitalist is to make your lives better and he’s rewarded for doing so. Let’s have more of these capitalists so our lives can be so so much better! It’s literally their job—to make your lives better.So, wealth inequality is a non-issue. Don’t stress about it.But you are not done. You askWhat about poverty?Guess what? Poverty all over the world is going down. And what’s fuelling that decline? Capitalism. Capitalism produces additional wealth (like the shoe you want to buy) and opportunities (to serve other people, like the shoemaker).
What about monopolies? Monopolies are a good thing then?No, they are not. There are some bad capitalists and, yes, there are monopolies. Capitalism is not all rosy and it’s up to us to sue bad capitalists and to prevent monopolies by breaking them apart. I’m all with you there.Let me even play out a solution. If you can’t break a monopoly using anti-trust laws, there are other ways out. How? Look at Google.Google commands a monopoly on search. They will deny it but we all know they are a monopoly and have deep pockets thanks to their ad business in search.If you can’t break it, you bypass it when an opportunity presents itself. You create not a search engine but an answer engine, like Perplexity. You don’t play on their field. You play on a new field that threatens their monopoly. And the good thing is they are helpless. They can’t rival you with their own answer engine and cannibalize their search ad revenue. They’ll bleed to death if they do so. They’ve dug their own grave with their monopoly.From where did all these misconceptions creep up?We’ve been taught since childhood that the only way to get rich is by taking other people’s money or by inheriting it. If that were the case, the conclusion would of course be that Elon is the bad and evil guy. But, our schools and education system have failed to teach us that we can grow wealth. Wait, what?Yes, entrepreneurs create more wealth—either by building novel things, like shoes from leather and creating new wealth, or by making cheaper things, like a cheaper shoe, and creating more wealth (more shoes). As a reward, they get to keep a small portion of it.Have more questions? Ask me.ConclusionEvery entrepreneur, big or small, who is working to make your lives better is a hero. And yes, Elon Musk is a hero.After reading this, if you are still an anti-capitalist, well then, you are a retard too.
What about monopolies? Monopolies are a good thing then?No, they are not. There are some bad capitalists and, yes, there are monopolies. Capitalism is not all rosy and it’s up to us to sue bad capitalists and to prevent monopolies by breaking them apart. I’m all with you there.Let me even play out a solution. If you can’t break a monopoly using anti-trust laws, there are other ways out. How? Look at Google.Google commands a monopoly on search. They will deny it but we all know they are a monopoly and have deep pockets thanks to their ad business in search.If you can’t break it, you bypass it when an opportunity presents itself. You create not a search engine but an answer engine, like Perplexity. You don’t play on their field. You play on a new field that threatens their monopoly. And the good thing is they are helpless. They can’t rival you with their own answer engine and cannibalize their search ad revenue. They’ll bleed to death if they do so. They’ve dug their own grave with their monopoly.From where did all these misconceptions creep up?We’ve been taught since childhood that the only way to get rich is by taking other people’s money or by inheriting it. If that were the case, the conclusion would of course be that Elon is the bad and evil guy. But, our schools and education system have failed to teach us that we can grow wealth. Wait, what?Yes, entrepreneurs create more wealth—either by building novel things, like shoes from leather and creating new wealth, or by making cheaper things, like a cheaper shoe, and creating more wealth (more shoes). As a reward, they get to keep a small portion of it.Have more questions? Ask me.ConclusionEvery entrepreneur, big or small, who is working to make your lives better is a hero. And yes, Elon Musk is a hero.After reading this, if you are still an anti-capitalist, well then, you are a retard too.