91 / 304
19. You May Be A Capitalist
So, dear reader, what kind of a person is the
capitalist? He wants to run his own business, select his
own doctor, pick his own bargains, buy his own
insurance, select his own reading matter, provide for his
own old age, make his own contracts, choose his own
charities, educate his own children as he wishes, make
his own investments, select his own friends, provide his
own recreation, compete freely in the marketplace,
grow by his own efforts, profit from his own errors,
compete with his own ideas, and be a person of
goodwill.
Capitalists are people, too. The next time we hear
someone complaining about capitalists, consider this:
We ·are all capitalists. We use capital at work and at
home all the time. Capital is anything -- machinery,
tools, equipment, computers, calculators, even money -–
that is used to produce other things, make jobs easier
and help us produce more. Using capital gives us and
our families a progressively higher standard of living.
Our employee pension funds and annuities, and
many other forms of investments, lend our money to
provide capital to businesses; so does our life insurance
company and the bank where we save. That money we
have in our pension fund, life insurance, and savings is
all part of our personal capital. When we use it this
way, it
~arns
interest and dividends, etc.
It
makes us
capitalists.
Capitalism contains its own built-in checks and
balances. People are required to exercise sound
judgment, or suffer the consequences of their own folly.
Capitalism doesn't carry ·any guarantee. One risks
failure along with the prospect of success. And if we
are honest, we know that there are no real guarantees
possible in life -- not in theory, not in reality.
73