Capitalism, or a belief in free markets, is not simply about the money, believe it or not. A friend of mine once ridiculed the thousands of fans he saw in attendance at a WWE wrestling match on TV for “wasting their money”. Knowing how religious my friend was, I quipped that they were just as wasteful as the millions of people who attend church every Sunday.
I might as well have been struck by lighting for making that comparison as I never heard the end of it from my church-going buddy (in not so religious terms at times, I might add). The point I wanted to make to him, though, was that what he considers “wasteful”, another person considers valuable. And what he considers valuable – his church – someone may consider as only adding deadweight to an already dying economy.
The idea is that, in a free market, my friend can’t impose his value judgment on those thousands of WWE fans or vice versa. Neither should the government, whether by dictatorship or majority rule.
We have long heard people explain the things that they do that don’t instantly appear economical with phrases like, “It’s not about the money” or “It makes me feel like I’m a part of something”.
While the glamorous life of a Wall Street exec or a rap star may seem like the epitome of living here on God’s green earth, many people are content and happy with their place in this world – as long as that place (whether it be job, house, the car they drive or whatever) was of their own choosing and efforts.
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