I have never been shy regarding my belief in capitalism as a good way of managing things in our world. There has always been a vocal group of folks shouting for its demise. But when you look around, it is continuously at work, balancing things out when they go in bad directions.
Anytime I see poor or bad decisions being made for personal benefit, it is often hard not to reach out and address them. Sometimes taking action is appropriate and works, but it is often unnecessary or too late. The one thing that always plays true is its eventual reversal. It may not happen quickly, maybe not even in my lifetime, but it will happen. The balance will be restored.
I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of – of American capitalism. ~Warren Buffett
The reason I believe this way stems from my other passion, history. When you dig into history (I’m not talking about the ridiculous approach with memorizing events and dates that made teaching it easy) and dig into the facts, you see the actual back story (why something could occur), what actually happened (by whom and for what it was) and when it changed again (eventual reversal).
That entire evolution is based on the capitalistic self-correcting cycle of when things get lopsided or skewed. Eventually, they collapse due to greed, corruption, public desire, etc. And because those business, political, or personal decisions leave gaps that others can eventually fill, capitalism will self-correct, putting things back in balance.
Some Examples of Correction
- Television – We went from having two channels when I grew up to hundreds today, with increasingly flexible programming at lower costs.
- Stores – The transition to online versus storefront shopping is here, first with unique items, but now for everyday needs like groceries, at increasingly lower costs.
- News/Information – If it all starts slanting in a common direction, it opens the door for others, especially in our new online unrestricted world.
- Politics – While most of us want centrist values, the pendulum swings both ways, creating extremes that always bounce back, just not instantaneously (unfortunately).
- Sports – It’s global now, with many more options and availability, with everything at our fingertips, in our homes at little cost, but less personal experience
We can go on about car or home buying and opportunities to research and investigate. The benefits (and tradeoffs) are driven by supply and demand and satisfied by capitalist behaviors.
While capitalism isn’t perfect (what is?) and has carried many injustices and pain, it also allows for the corrective actions that a more socialist approach doesn’t provide.
Doing well is the result of doing good. That’s what capitalism is all about. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Right, greed and other core values will drive change, given the opportunity. Our goal is to ensure we keep that right to choose and act openly for this purpose.
