Written by Adam Fischer
Last Updated November 11, 2021
We live in interesting times. I have listened to many people argue that capitalism is destroying people's lives because it has created a wealth gap that benefits the rich and hurts the poor. There is so much to unpack in that theory. I am going to try and give you my thoughts in this blog.
I agree there is a wealth gap. I think people are blind or ignorant if they try to argue against it. The truth is that the wealthy are getting wealthier while the middle class and poor get poorer. This is disasterous and people should be horrified. The problem that I see is they are pointing fingers at the wrong problem.
I am going to take a step back here and remind everyone that there has always been a wealth gap. Study history and you will see that there has always been a ruling class and a subject class. Most societies have created different classes of people and one is allowed to be prominent while the other suffers. This is wrong. You should be upset.
The current culprit most people use to blame is capitalism. That's where I disagree. Capitalism by definition wants to allow freedom in the marketplace and decentralize power to allow greater competition. We don't see capitalism played out on the world's stage. We are seeing various forms of either socialism or corporatism.
Most nations are living out cronyism. We are seeing governments get in bed with large corporations to mutually benefit one another. You can even see this play out at the local level from time to time. Corporations feel entitled and the government is eager to please them because they offer the government what they want.
Corporations and those running them are definitely becoming wealthier or as many call them the elite. They are not actually capitalists. They are corporatists who are trying to leverage their relationships with politicians to get favorable tax incentives/rules, legislative frameworks passed that helps put them at an advantage in the marketplace over any potential competitor(s). Monopolies are not good for consumers. Governments are becoming the enforcement for natural monopolies to occur, which hurts the consumer because it forces them to work solely with the government-favored business.
We have a wealth gap because there's a marriage between corporations and the government. These corporations are being propped up by the government and elected/appointed officials. The culprit in all of this is corporatism. Governments, Banks, and Businesses are working together. It keeps the wealth securely in the hands of a select few.
What is the solution to this? The solution has to be promoting capitalism! I tell people all the time that the definition of capitalism is "freedom" in the marketplace. We need true freedom. We must even the playing field, which means stopping the endless marriage between government and big business.
So, I know the next question might be is this is all good, but how does this help me? We live in a corporatist society and the rules are against us. We can do two things.
1) We can advocate for capitalism
If we want real change, we must be promoting capitalism through property rights and free markets. This is where we can see real change.
2) We can live out the principles of capitalism
There are still ways to achieve financial freedom even in the midst of the rules being against us. To do it we need to be smarter and pursue these principles in our daily lives.
The principles are simple yet sometimes hard to achieve without help. The principles are as follows:
Acquire Assets
Build a Brand
Create Cash Flow
Contact us to learn more about how to explore financial freedom!
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