Capitalism VS Consumerism
We live today in a society that is driven by endless mad consumption and being buried under a mountain of debt as a result. Many people mistaken this to be Capitalism, and therefore they start hating Capitalism for this, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. I would call this debt-driven system that we live in today as Consumerism, and it's pretty much the opposite of Capitalism.
Many people, especially in left circles have been taught to hate Capitalism, because it destroys the environment, exploits the working class, creates wealth inequality, but this is simply not true, and it's just a propaganda.
We don't have Capitalism-ish system since the 1800's, and even that is debatable. Certainly pure capitalism has never existed, there was always a government to taint it and hijack it. The best examples of historical near Capitalism could be the Roman Republic pre Sulla's civil wars , where almost no taxes existed, and maybe the Hanseatic League which made trading and commerce flourish in Europe.
Every time Capitalism started to rise, there was always an envious government around to hijack it and destroy it, because they know that Capitalism creates wealth, and if people become wealthy, they don't need a government anymore.
Capitalism is the worst fear of the government, that is why they always sabotage it and suppress it, or let's just say "regulate it".
Consumerism
Today's system is not Capitalism. That should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. They use the word Capitalism to refer to it, just to hijack the term, but rest assure it's not. What we have now is a corporate/government run consumerist economy.
Here are a few differences between true Capitalism and Consumerism:
Capitalism focuses on capital, investment, creation, innovation, and making people wealthy and satisfying their needs.
Consumerism focuses on endless artificial consumption, becoming a debt-slave, pushing you to buy stuff you don't need because your money gets stolen from you via inflation, if you don't buy fast enough.
Capitalism creates prosperity, although not equally, but everyone will be better off.
Consumerism makes you a poor debt slave that will live from paycheck to paycheck with not assets, no savings, no property. Just a slave.
Capitalism creates new things, and explores the limits of human innovation.
Consumerism is like eating your own foot for dinner, because you are not allowed to produce more but only consume, that is reserved for the corporations through government regulation.
You get the idea, while under consumerism you are just a slave, and the corporations/governments run the show, under real Capitalism you can get a piece of the pie too.
Needless to say the only way Capitalism can exist, if there is no government. Because the two cannot coexist together. A free market can provide everything a government can, more cost-efficiently and with higher quality.
FAQ
Capitalists are greedy people!
Yes, greed is good. Greed is a natural motivation to acquire more resources and build things. It the basic instinct that pushes you to achieve your goals and become successful. Without greed you are just like a debris floating on the ocean, wasting your 1 life you have on this Earth to achieve your dreams, become successful in life, and make the world a better place. Why would you not be greedy?Capitalism exploits the working class!
I'm pretty sure it's not the evil capitalist that is taking 50% of your salary but the evil government. The capitalist provides you with the job. And the job maybe bad, but in a capitalist world there is nothing stopping you from creating your own business and hiring people. If you think you can be a better boss, then do it, and show your example to the world.The means of production should be owned by the people!
No. The means of production should be owned by those that bought it. It always floats to the people who can utilize it most efficiently. It's nothing evil if 1 worker gets paid 1,000$ while the other only 500$, maybe the other worker is a good singer who if gets paid less, will be incentivized to look into his talents, and find better way to utilize them and make money. The price signals are essential, to show to people if they are good or not at the job they are doing. So wage inequality is perfectly ok, it forces people to improve themselves.Private Property is Evil!
If you don't have private property then you are literally a slave. Everyone who advocates for no private property, is essentially advocating for the enslavement of humanity by the people who will distribute it "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". The distributors will become your global slavemasters, and they will get to decide who has what.Capitalism destroys the Environment!
A pure Capitalist is all for alternative energy. After all innovation is a key point in this. If fossil fuels create pollution, cause health problems, then it's definitely cheaper for the society to find better methods for energy. As for the trash, people usually not like trash on their property, it's only on the government property that you will find trash and hazardous materials spread around.Capitalists hate the poor!
Capitalism creates huge wealth, and there would be no poor people in a Capitalist society. Poverty in a Capitalism would be like getting struck by lightning, it could happen, but most people will have a very decent living standard if not wealthy.Capitalism will destroy Humanity!
You know it's not your local merchant that has thousands of nukes in his basement pointed at his rival merchant. It's these governments that are constantly threatening the human race with extinction by nuclear war.
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Thanks for the interesting read.
Definitely, a lot of ancient myths and propaganda has been debunked in this article!
Thanks for sharing. Upvoted and shared on Twitter✔ for my followers to see. Stephen
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Come on, every system that has ever existed on this earth has been predicated on one thing only, and that is the exploitation of the masses by a minute elite. You can call it whatever you want every society has had an elite and the people who worked so the elites could live in style. It could be by using slaves (Rome, even as a republic, which you mention as a capitalist example, had slaves, always), serfs, the Hanseatic League was a government in reality a union of city states with it's own military to protect merchants, or what you now consider working class they are all people who have been exploited by all the isms, which are at the end the same thing, man exploiting man, there are no exceptions, except perhaps in isolated tribes which amount to only a few people and even there you will most likely find a Shaman of one type or another who does nothing and lives better than the rest. Who do you think conquered the West in the US? Capitalists, and they brought with them their own laws, example exploiting coolies in the construction of railroads, in the end they find it is easier for them to have a government who takes the blame for everything while they fleece off everybody. As you can see I absolutely believe in no system that is selfless and based on the benefit of humanity, it just has never existed.
Indeed, there will always be elites, but the question is:
In true capitalism you can compete, and essentially everyone could become an elite. Not by stealing from them, but by creating something so important that you elevate yourself to that status and wealth.
Now you can do this too today, but only like 2 people have became billionaires since the 50's I believe. This is bad (probably the cryptocurrencies will create new ones).
It's kind of like you need some ethics too, and a transparent reputation system, but other than that there is nothing wrong with people acquiring wealth in a honest way.
Ok, I like your reply, but I think much more than 2 people have become billionaires since the 50's, I live in Honduras which is the classic banana republic, is the poorest country in Latin America (excluding Haiti) and even we have a billionaire. And where do you think these billionaires get their money from? And these guys are the perfect illustration of what a capitalist is.
They have probably got their money from the corrupt government?
A capitalist cant be corrupt, because all the money is his in the first place.
Corruption, can only exist in government, because they use other people's money. So if a politician embezzles funds, or people have to bribe him to get things done, that is not capitalism.... That is just how government works.
Remove government, and corruption will end instantly, 100%, literally.
Boy, you sure have a lot of belief in the honesty of people, but remember these billionaires (anywhere) are the ones who fund elections, so whichever way you look at it they are still part of the problem, but look in the US, you have Bill Gates, and about 4 other Microsoft founders, the Facebook guy, Mark Cuban and a big etc surely these guys became millionaires way after 1960, so are they corrupt?
No It's exactly the opposite. I don't have trust in people, in general, that means I don't want to give totalitarian control to a few "elected" individuals that will have total control over you.
The more decentralized the power, the better, and so far only capitalism can decentralize the wealth through competition, and may the best person win. In fact everyone wins, proportional to their value.
Centralized control is the worst possible thing you can imagine, regardless of political beliefs.
But, they don't compete, capitalists probably get together to fix prices, have you noticed every time let's say Coca cola raises it's price Pepsi does the same? Wouldn't you think they would have price wars lowering the prices to get more consumers? But they do the exact opposite, precisely because capitalists ARE the ones who control everything, they are the elites, they are the ones who have the money.
I don't want to be controlled by anyone either, but I know that I am being controlled, and about the only thing you can do about it is go to a deserted island and try to live there.
Amazing article man! Thanks for sharing it! I totally agree with you when you says that consumerism is not capitalism, I even think that consumerism destroys the economy. I was reading this article here: https://steemit.com/life/@thomasmmaker/article-a-thought-about-savings-and-consumerism-02
The autor says the same as you, consumerism is not something wealthy, not for the country nor for us as persons.