Short persuasive explainer arguing that capitalism channels consumer spending (e.g., grocery purchases) into retirement income because pension funds and other retirement investors hold shares in publicly traded consumer companies; thus everyday purchases help fund public servants’ retirements and create incentives to serve others.
People think capitalism is greedy, but it's the only system where shopping at the grocery store funds someone's retirement. Every decision that you make in a capitalist society is benefiting somebody else, and it usually comes back to benefit you in some way. Let's look at groceries, for example. Most of the things that you buy at the grocery store are owned by publicly traded companies. And most people will say those greedy capitalists who are trying to put chemicals in our food. What's actually happening is that pension funds, retirement funds, teachers associations, they invest in those publicly traded companies. And so when you go and you buy stuff at the grocery store, you're actually funding someone's retirement, because it's the dividends and the profits and the long term value of those publicly traded companies that make it possible for public servants to retire after doing decades of service to us. It's the only system in which we are incentivized to serve each other.
