JPZ

A capitalist needs money and profit, but neither has to be their primary motivation. A farmer may want to feed people, a doctor to heal them, a lawyer to pursue justice, or an entrepreneur to create something extraordinary. Profit allows them to sustain, improve, and expand their work. Communism, meanwhile, makes claims on other people's production central to its economic system, demanding that wealth be distributed according to politically determined needs. The irony is that capitalists are accused of caring only about money, while communists make controlling its distribution a central political objective. The capitalist understands that to sustain himself, he must earn money by producing value others are willing to pay for. The communist believes he's entitled to a share of what others produce, whether they consent or not. One relies on voluntary trade. The other ultimately relies on coercive redistribution. The communist is more obsessed with money, particularly someone else's.

Why are we supposed to assume that businessmen, particularly wealthy ones, are uniquely malevolent? Doesn't the small business owner seek profit? The worker who negotiates a higher wage? The politician seeking power? Doesn't everyone pursue some form of personal gain? Why is self-interest considered perfectly legitimate until someone becomes sufficiently successful? The relevant moral distinction is how that gain is pursued: through production, voluntary trade and mutual benefit, or through coercion, fraud and exploitation. We should judge people by their actions, not their bank balances.

Let's use Walmart as an example. Its CEO received $29.24 million in total compensation, while Walmart employs approximately 2.1 million people. Confiscate every penny of that compensation and redistribute it equally, and each employee gets a whopping $13.92 a year, or less than one cent an hour. Now explain how eliminating the CEO's compensation makes paying everyone $25 an hour economically feasible. This is what happens when envy substitutes for arithmetic.

You don't need to own a business or be an entrepreneur to be a capitalist. You simply need to support private property, individual rights, voluntary exchange, and the freedom to produce, trade, and prosper without coercion.