Haters bash capitalism while indulging in its benefits
You won’t find a bigger group of hypocrites who buy coffee at Starbucks and post on their fancy phones about how much they hate capitalism.
I sat in a meeting last week where two people started lamenting how Americans “work too much” compared to people in other countries. South Korea, being the nation in question. One of them dropped the line: “capitalism,” as the reason.
I almost laughed out loud. Why? Because the three of us were sitting in our own homes, working remote jobs, and talking about sports — a subject most people would kill to discuss for a full-time living. If that’s “capitalist oppression,” who wouldn’t sign up?
Moments later, those same coworkers praised how great it was to have food delivered to their doors instead of going out. Do they even realize that such conveniences are direct byproducts of the same system they love to hate? Probably not.
Are Americans overworked? You can argue that, but OECD data shows Americans have more disposable income and consumer choice than nearly any other society.
Why people bash capitalism while living off it
-
They’ve Been Programmed to Hate It. From grade school onward, teachers brainwash kids that capitalism equals greed, exploitation, and inequality. Yet they never stop to ask: which system produced Netflix, DoorDash, Uber, and the very laptops they use to tweet about how much they hate capitalism?
-
Cognitive Dissonance. People want the moral glow of hating capitalism while indulging in its benefits. They don’t want to reconcile the contradiction, so they live with it.
-
Linguistic Gymnastics. Instead of saying “capitalism gave us this,” they rebrand the benefits as “innovation” or “progress.” As if those things just sprout out of the ground on their own.
-
Cheap Moral Signaling. Condemning capitalism costs nothing socially. It gives people brownie points in the “I care about justice” department, while still letting them order Starbucks from their phones.
The hypocrisy exposed
-
Hate capitalism? Fine. But don’t stream sports from your couch while getting paid to write about it.
-
And don’t brag about the food app that drops sushi on your doorstep at 11 p.m.
-
And don’t expect entrepreneurs to keep innovating if you strip away their incentive.
As Ludwig von Mises said: “The luxury of today is the necessity of tomorrow.” Without capitalism, there are no luxuries, just necessities. And necessities become unbearable drudgery when stripped of market-driven innovation.
The Bottom Line
Only in wealthy capitalist societies do people have the luxury of sneering at an economic system they depend on for literally everything that makes their lives comfortable.
So the next time someone rails against capitalism, look at their phone, their couch, their laptop, their food delivery order, and their remote job. Then remind them: if they truly hated capitalism, they’d be plowing fields by hand, walking miles for water, and praying for enough leisure to even think about watching sports.
Capitalism doesn’t chain us. It frees us. The irony is that the loudest complainers are also its most spoiled beneficiaries.
Mises saw this hypocrisy decades ago.
The truth about capitalism resides in my fiction
Want more fun? Follow the progress for my Awakening Across Worlds saga, a portal fantasy literary fiction series that highlights the Six Lessons of Ludwig von Mises. Book I, The Witch of Thornvale, discusses the first of Mises’ Six Lessons. And you can probably guess what that is.
And if you wanna see a truly capitalist society in action, check out Arcane Elemental Academy, where I take a deep dive into what a fully-fledged entrepreneurial education system looks like in a free society. Get started with its prequel, Arcane Awakenings.
