TheOutsiderClub September 26 2013
Make no mistake; I’m a big fan of capitalism.
Since grade school, I’ve harbored a competitive nature. My siblings have always given me a hard time for being an overachiever.
And despite everything I think is wrong with our “competitive capitalistic economy,” I still believe good, healthy competition brings out the best people have to offer.
I believe hard work should be rewarded and success shouldn’t come easily — but when it does, it should come freely and naturally, not through some sort of manipulative scheme that keeps you on top by preventing everyone else from climbing.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the case…
Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the world has begun to awaken to the troubles of modern-day capitalism, better known as “crony capitalism.”
Free Market
The world finally broke free of the chains of tyranny and a life determined solely by one’s predisposition in the 18th century… yet somehow, we’ve managed to take a lot of wrong turns in the centuries that followed.
We’ve regressed to the state we once fought so hard to escape in the spirit of revolution, and our once celebrated free market is under attack from within.
The brilliance behind a free market mentality is that each individual has an opportunity to channel the power vested within to climb the social, economic, and professional ladder.
This is a powerful thing. It’s incentive to really strive for your goals… to make something of yourself… to dream something, and to do it — without jumping through obnoxious, unnecessary hoops and getting tied up in all that red tape.
A free market mentality means being born poor doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Instead, it could be a character-building obstacle course, a breeding ground for innovation and advancement. When we see individuals overcoming poverty, we’re generally experiencing economic growth as a whole.
We cheer one another on, because we all benefit from this progression.
Unless, of course, that economic capital is stolen by one’s “rulers or their friends or allies,” according to Hunter Lewis, author of Crony Capitalism and former CEO of Cambridge Associates…