The foundation of America was built upon capitalism, consumerism and competition. It’s as if the use of the word “capitalism” promotes negative connotations these days. While we need to remember some of the beneficial things that came out of capitalism.
“… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” -The Constitution
Since the start of the industrial/agricultural age, capitalism provided a good part of the world to get out of poverty. For-profit capitalist health care saw increases in life expectancy. Individual freedoms such as travel has grown across the planet. These last couple hundred years can be considered a period of innovation brought about by the help of capitalism. Life has changed drastically and dramatically in such a powerful and positive way.
One of the major problems (if not THE biggest problems) around capitalism are some of the individuals. The problem is with those who are short sighted, only concerned for immediate personal gain without considering and caring of the future.
Short term self-interested thinking has contributed to the financial crisis’ as America experienced in 2008 a recession with the bursting of the housing bubble. Workers die due to unregulated conditions in factories. The U.S. Auto and Bank bailout by the government. The planet is being stripped of its resources and sold for a profit. A growing income inequality sending individuals on rockets into space while millions of people barely survive on less than $1/day. These problems condemn capitalism and shows how it can be unethical.
The capitalist system has its flaws and is imperfect. All systems are like that. But is the capitalist system all we have? Maybe it might just be the best thing we have created thus far. I certainly have benefitted from it as have millions of others. Some getting more benefit than others from the system. Except what’s missing is a commitment to ethics. “To ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it”, Pope Francis.
A system is only as good as the people who run it and is only as successful as it makes its constituencies through its processes… customers, employees, businesses, investors and the community. One thing missing in that list is the planets resources and all its creatures. One organization I can appreciate for its efforts to help determine what real food is, The Real Food Challenge. Their guide is based upon how businesses treat their employees, animals, the earth and how close they are to home. It looked to be like a good start for how to choose ethically sourced food close to home.
Any system (capitalism, businesses, stock market, supply/demand, health care) that is going to be sustainable needs to have its roots firmly planted in ethics. What would ethical capitalism even look like? It will need to have a long term focus on creating social value, acting as stewards to the earth and all its inhabitants no matter the relationship engagement to the system. Everyone is involved in building trust-based relationships in service to society as well as the bottom line.
It’s time to up our game!
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