Christmas approaches while the bittersweet chill in the New York air kicks in. The smells of wood smoke permeate the air, holiday music fills the airwaves and the malls are overflowing with gift buyers. It is a beautiful time for everyone involved. It is a time of voluntary charity and gift giving to loved ones not coerced by any outside force but goodwill and love. It is not produced by government, forcing you to bear gifts to those you do not wish to bear to. Socialists believe Christmas is an affirmation of their failed beliefs. They are wrong. Socialists would love to turn this holiday into a swansong for socialism and full blown wealth spreading. From the gift giving, to holiday cheer for other men and to charity, it is all voluntary with no coercion. Let’s forget the socialists and look into what Christmas is: an ode to the free market.
You may not realize this, but everything you will be enjoying this holiday was produced by the magic of the free market. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are involved in the production of the goods and services that you will be consuming and giving away. Every entrepreneur, to every assembly line worker, to the truck driver and even the person bringing the raw materials from the Earth have a hand in the production of your gifts.
Lets take one of the most popular gifts this year, the Amazon Kindle e-reader, as an example. The miners and the mining company take raw silver and other metals from the earth. The mining company sells the metals to the semi-conductor company. The semi-conductor company turns those metals and other resources into the motherboards and circuitry of the e-reader. They sell it to the manufacturer of the machine. The manufacturer buys the plastic case from the molding company. The molding company buys the oil and metals necessary to produce the plastic case. The metal ore, for the molds, comes from the mining company and the oil comes from the hard labors of the men working the oil rigs and the oil company providing them with a salary. The molding company takes all of those raw materials and turns them into the plastic case thanks to the hard work of the workers on the assembly line and the molding company paying their salaries. The manufacturer assembles this motley crew of materials into the e-reader, thanks to the hard work of those on the assembly line whose salary is provided by the manufacturing company. The manufacturing company either sells their product to you or to a retailer. The manufacturer purchases the services of the delivery company to ship their product to your doorstep or to your local store. The delivery company buys their trucks from the truck company. The truck company buys the materials necessary to make their trucks from the mining company mining the metal ore necessary to create the mechanical parts and body of the truck. The truck company buys their tires from the tire company. The tire company buys the rubber to make their tires from the rubber farmer who gets it from the rubber tree and sells it to the truck company. The truck company assembles all of these materials into a truck thanks to the hard work of the workers on the assembly line whose salary is paid by the truck company. The truck company sells the truck to the delivery company. The delivery company is paid by either you, the manufacturer or the retailer to deliver the Kindle. They buy the diesel fuel for the truck from an oil company who takes the crude oil from the ground and turns it into fuel. The driving is done by a truck driver with a salary paid by the delivery company. If the product is delivered to your doorstep, that is its last stop. If it is bought by a retailer, the retailer must stock and promote the Kindle if they want people to buy it from them. They must also pay their employees to stock the product and sell it to you, the consumer. The retailer must also pay the cashier taking your money and making change if necessary. Finally you, with a salary or money from a business you own, use the capital produced by your labors, money, and trade it for the Amazon Kindle; and the cycle continues. But, on the journey of the Amazon Kindle, you are the last in line.
All of these seemingly diverse parties are only working together under one force: capitalism. The motive towards profit and the need to accrue capital are what puts food on the table and gifts under the Christmas tree. Under a socialist system, there is no private means of production so there is no profit motive thus arrested economic development ensues and severe economic devolution quickly follows.
We live in a country created by capitalism, and we reap the benefits everyday. Even our poor, which government loves to claim need to live off the government dole, are better off than Roman emperors. They have color televisions, DVD players, computers, internet and many other modern amenities. They also have the ability to control the temperature of their domiciles, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter and hot or cold running water. I have heard it said that you can judge a society by how it takes care of its poor. If we look at how capitalism takes care of its poor, I’d say the society is looking pretty good.
Modern life is the end result of capitalism and free markets. Not the work of government programs. Everything you enjoy about modern life you can thank the free market and the innovation of entrepreneurs. There’s a reason why socialism is a corpse bureaucrats try to re-animate unsuccessfully and capitalism, even though much maligned by freedom haters, will always be alive. The free market is the natural order of things and will always be around even when outlawed. It just becomes a black market whenever the government tries to outlaw a particular force in the market.
Capitalism is responsible for everything that you will be enjoying this Christmas. From the gifts under your tree, to the food on the table, the money in your pocket and even the tree itself are products of the free market standing as testaments to its power and glory. If we lived in a country that Barack Obama so wants, Christmas would be without gifts, we’d all be chopping down scrawny dying pine trees and standing on a breadline for our Christmas meal.
When you are thanking the world for the gifts it has given you while praying for peace, happiness and other good stuff remember to thank one thing you always forget is there. Give thanks to the wheels within wheels of the free market system. Without capitalism you would not be celebrating Christmas. Without capitalism, you’d be homeless, broke and hungry on Christmas. Without capitalism you’d be living in the Stone age, killing deer with a stone spearhead while struggling to create a fire.
Give thanks to capitalism. For with it, we are everything. Without it, we are nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment