Okay, let me collect myself. There has been so much going on, been in and out of town, projects, work, just finished a rough draft for a more serious project and the t key is struggling on this old hand me down laptop. And I have been wanting to write my ideas down on this topic for quite awhile that I have forgotten half of what I originally wanted to say. At least I slammed that t key down hard enough that it is working better now.
I rarely mentioned to my friends I have this blog. Some know, but not many. This is my second adult beverage after dinner blog where I can attempt to say what I want and still at least attempt at some ideas for the various topics and ideas that run scatter shot through my synopsis.
And yet I obtain an itch that permeates some inner cavity in my brain where I want to really say something and I put it here also. Tonight there is no first much less second adult beverage just sheer exhaustion, but I at least want to start this topic.
Have you ever said some said something off the top of your head in a conversation and then a person says to you, that’s good, I am going to steal that and then what is worse you forgot what you said two seconds later because there is so much going on. I feel that way tonight, but I do not think I will be saying anything that will make you want to steal it. In fact some of what I am about to say has probably been discussed before by more educated authors.
For the record so to speak I believe in capitalism and the free market, but not as the end all of all end alls. It has its place and it is a prominent place for a society to move forward. Capitalism derives from the phrase need is the mother of invention because people want to be rewarded for their efforts. And that is good.
So the good is in the building of a company. Capitalism and the markets flourish when invention is in play, innovation is developed, when goals are created, when the drawing board is a drawing board, when markets are open to people to enter with the best product, and people accept their responsibility that they are part of something bigger, there are customers, employees, management, a society at large and if all integrated into the over all concept great achievements are made. And of course need drives much of the start of a new company or enterprise all the time.
And free markets are not truly hindered just because society as a whole through government places some boundaries. It is unfortunate when common sense is attacked in the name of profit, but we will get to a bit more of that in a moment.
The backbone behind why capitalism is bad is when it is no longer capitalism and free markets, but wealth begetting more wealth. Once success happens, do you continue developing and meeting new needs or does the successful person put aside efforts and focus on themself. And for some reason I do not understand, but wealth generation for the sake of wealth generation is also called capitalism by some. In my opinion this is a misnomer. And of course if you read this blog regularly you know that I do not feel appeasing Wall Street is good for business and the general economy. Wall Street gets in the way of capitalism when it is being its best. Wall Street does not want free markets, it wants businesses answering to the mighty street so it can generate wealth for the privileged few. Those that have made it and are accepted within the norms only they can speak.
And I jump on Wall Street, but it is the general concept of investing vast amounts of capital not to produce but to hoard. Sure you can couch the phrasing that this is investment income and allows others access to capital. And yes that is a viable tool for entrepreneurs, but if not directed towards the building of the new business, but to find a way to exploit it for immediate gain, again capitalism fails as a concept.
Where is the line between when it is good and when it is bad? I really cannot say. Maybe it is some long and wide gray area more than a dark straight line so you never know when it is crossed. Can you go back and forth? Possibly.
Simplistically to me hedge funds are on the bad side of capitalism, but that does not make the concept bad. It is the modern activity of trying to hedge bets on financial markets just to produce higher returns that does not do capitalism any favors. That is the top of head example of what I am trying to express.
So people need to be able to build, create, develop because this helps us to thrive. When the emphasis turns towards self gain, it gets in the way of what works best. Yet the entrepreneur has every right to become wealthy and even enjoy the success. We still want to encourage the fruits of our labors concept as one of the motivating tools to grow.
And going back to the idea that free markets are not hurt by parameters. The free market does not operate in a vacuum. Society benefits from the growth open markets can offer, yet there is no guarantee that what is created is always in the best interest of society. The balance of the government protecting the people from over zealous profiteering or products that are not safe should not be construed as a negative, but something that needs to be developed and worked into the plan. Customers are the drivers of a good free market because they create the needs in many instances, but their overall health and well being are just as important. Balancing the needs, the end result and the activity are necessary and I will jokingly say evil cause some feel that way, yet honestly if done well does not have to be the horse’s yolk some people want you to believe. And this is more than just saying greedy people just want what they want.
This need to balance is helpful across the board because capitalism can help government in its need to protect the people. Our government in its day to day operations use inordinate amount of modern office equipment for example that attempts to make it more efficient (make your daily government job joke here).
Yet but even in bigger enterprises the markets help us with what we need. We built and are building an excellent interstate highway program through the innovation of product development. The government decided we needed this for a variety of reasons back in the 1950′s and it helped develop quite a bonanza of businesses. For a while it took away some of the railroad business as the highways became another way to transport goods. It also gave us the growth of cities along the highways similar to what the railroads did for towns originally. And now both the trucking and the railroad business are finding their compatibility.
And adding to these simple examples I can add this is how I say there is a need for the markets and government to work together and allow the government to be able to adopt standards to protect us from over growth and stimulation. Balance has a place and should be encouraged.
I have espoused quite a few ideas that would need market innovation and creativity to develop plans for this country’s future in past posts. Again it goes back to need. Sometimes the need comes generically, sometimes it needs to be fostered and sometimes it gets slammed in our face, yet in all cases having an open market with people being able to jump in and address that need is important to the growth of our society.
Capitalism is good and it is bad, for now though it is bedtime.
Cheers
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