We're All Capitalists

David Sucher, writing in his City Comforts Blog, wonders in "Firsthand Knowledge of Capitalism" how many bloggers who defend capitalism are, actually, capitalists:

But what I wonder about -- and so many right-wing bloggers seem to speak their piece in a manner which raises this idle question in my mind -- well what I wonder about is how many of them have actually made any money as capitalists? Or even lost money as capitalists? (That's also an important milestone.) I don't mean to pry into their personal affairs but I am simply curious. They seem to idealize capitalism so much that I wonder if they have really had much contact with it.

David seems to believe that, to truly understand capitalism, one has to be a capitalist in the traditional sense of the word -- one who uses his capital to build a factory, start a business, invest in a commercial property or something like that:

No, I wonder how many of the fervent free-marketeers out there in right-wing blogland actually have bought or sold or organized anything with their own money. And not just once or twice but on a continuing basis. I am not saying that they haven't; but I just get the sense that they idealize the process of the marketplace -- of the vaunted "market solution" -- so much that it seems as though they might have read more about capitalism than done it.

I've never been to right-wing blogland, so I can't really speak for or against its residents. But I can say that, for myself, I've developed an appreciation for capitalism through many different routes. I've invested huge amounts of time and resources in years of education trying to make myself more marketable. Before I reached the marketability stage, I invested my self-esteem in demeaning jobs to support myself. Now that I am marketable, I've invested my skill and my time helping other people, all the while trying to justify what they pay me and to incentivize them to hire me again and pay me again. I also invest a great deal of my time and effort in other enterprises with uncertain pay-offs.

Developing and marketing my most valuable asset -- myself and my time -- has been a major focus of my life. Are my returns on my investment in myself any different from the returns an old-style capitalist makes from his investment in factories, buildings and things like that?

Not to mention the time and energy I've spent on the other side of the table, consuming goods and services produced by others in our capitalist economy. One could develop a very deep appreciation for capitalism after spending just one afternoon in a Wal-Mart.

It's difficult to live in a capitalist society without regularly having to decide whether to risk something valuable, whether it's your time, your skill or your money, on an uncertain return. Some of us take more risks with what's valuable to us than others, and some of us earn (and lose) more as a result.

I'm guessing David is postulating that those who take larger risks in our capitalist system somehow have a deeper appreciation of the capitalist system, and that some bloggers who bleed for capitalism aren't the biggest risk-takers. I'm not sure if any of this is true, but I am sure that living in a capitalist society, it's impossible not to be a capitalist.

Comments

[David Sucher]

I guess all I am trying to get to is that there is a big difference between appreciating capitalism (which I surely do) and loving it (which i don't.)

[Alan Sullivan]

If it weren't for the prosperity engendered by capitalism, none of us would have time to blog...

[Wesley]

if it weren't for the (socialistic) legal restrictions limiting the hours worked per week, none of us would have time to blog . . .

[gary cruse]

"I've never been to right-wing blogland..."

According to my site referrer log, you have now. What did you think?? :)