Does the Devil use credit cards or bitcoins?
Historically capitalism emerged in the 12th century. The capitalist is, in a very simplistic way, someone who owns capital. In this scenario, ‘capital’ means assets that can make that capitalist a more powerful person from an economic perspective. The majority of the counties in the world today live under a huge influence on a capitalist economic system. The Devil is safe, he/she can travel through all the continents with his/her credit card.
In general, when ordinary people like me are talking about economic systems we say a country could be capitalist, socialist, or communist. And as often times people do, they see these options as sport teams. They choose one as their favorite and all the other options are enemies.
At a glance, capitalism is an economic and political system where people have control. Anyone(ish) could be the proud o owner of a company or an industry and with that make a profit. Which means you can have even more capital and with that more economic power. By the end of the day, when you live a capitalist society, as I, we are trying our best to make money so individually we can have a comfortable life.
Those who love capitalism will say that this is a system that promotes freedom, open competition, equality and so on. A huge argument Even China, a country that one day was well-known for being a communist country nowadays adopted a form of free-market capitalism**. In theory, all economic and political systems are perfect but the reality can show us their dark side. In a recent article at Forbes, John Mauldin among other problems mentioned:
“…today’s capitalism has contracted to an extent that is hard to ignore. Competition is increasingly shrinking in key markets.”
Let’s not be naive. There is nothing either a hundred percent good or bad. Everything has both sides. Maybe the problem is not the system but he actions we are taking every day. Last year a group of scientists wrote a report to warn the UN of how the capitalist system is impacting the climate change. That’s a very interesting perspective it bringing to the table an Ambiental argument. The main point is that by building our lives around a consumerism model our society has produced, sell and buy so many things that the fountain is drying.
“Economies have used up the capacity of planetary ecosystems to handle the waste generated by energy and material use”
It really doesn’t matter if the Devil uses a credit card or bitcoins. Or which economic system is better. What really matters is the actions we take every day. The choices we do are not single acts. What if everyone in the world were just like you? Would that be a good place to live?
The website Earth Overshoot Day can help us in that reflection. How many Earths do we need if everyone were like you? If everyone consumes the natural resources you consume indirectly by shopping, traveling, and eating.
We — including me — need to rethink our role in society. Companies and industries are producing because someone will buy it. What if we realize that our political power is about where and how we spend our money. Independently of your economic and political prefer system, we all have to remember we, now, only have this planet to live.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/capitalist-countries/
https://www.contractingbusiness.com/residential-hvac/ten-reasons-why-capitalism-morally-superior
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43pek3/scientists-warn-the-un-of-capitalisms-imminent-demise
