1548 The Need for Capitalism

America was founded on the idea of free market economics; the idea that through hard work and commerce, people could exchange what they made for what others made to the benefit of all. Free markets don’t require capitalism to operate; it’s more a convenience & magnifier, based on the concept of imaginary money, capital, which is obviously how it gets its name. Workers receive wages which they consume. In most cases, workers, the actual producers, don’t have any capital, they live day-to-day, hopefully putting away something for the future. On the other hand, capitalists, who don’t produce anything, simply receive gains on their capital so the reality of compounding naturally causes concentration & stratification of wealth, and the more imaginary money there is, the worse it gets. With this kind of guaranteed outcome from capitalism, it may seem that getting rid of it would be a good idea, which is where communism gets a foothold. However, as bad as the side effects of capitalism are, it’s still required for free markets to work. Assume everyone received an egg a day as payment. Eggs are delicate and easily broken. If there was no reward for risking your egg, you wouldn’t because you might go hungry; capitalism is the enticement for risking your egg. So it’s not capitalism per se, it’s the excesses of capitalism that are causing the problems, and those are simple to solve via wealth confiscation, though that hasn’t proven to be easy because with great wealth comes great power, and power doesn’t want its wealth taken.