Ryan Daniel Moran argues that many young people believe capitalism is failing because they lack historical or comparative reference points; he contends that capitalism has produced unprecedented freedom, abundance, health, longevity, and upward mobility, acknowledges issues like inequality, and concludes that individuals bear responsibility to define and address their lives rather than blame the system.
I read this statistic recently that more than 50%, it's like 61% of people under 40 think that capitalism is not working for the majority of the world. Do you know why? Because they don't have anything else to compare it to. You know, when we look around and we look at all the infinite abundance that is everywhere, with coffee shops on every corner, with solutions to problems that we're inventing all of the time, with food abundant all the time, we have no reference point for what it is like to struggle. You know what's interesting? We like to say things like, capitalism isn't working for most people. But I would like to invite you to travel to any place that does not have free markets and see how that is working for the majority of people. Now, yes, we have things like inequality, we have things like problems that we need to address. But do you know that you are living through the freest times, the most abundant times, through the times where people have the most upward mobility than ever before in history? You are freer, you are healthier, you live longer, you have access to more things than we've ever had in history, Period. No comparison. Now, we could have a conversation about what does that mean for happiness? What does that mean for family? What does that mean for our connection to one another? But the truth is, because we're living in the freest times ever, this just ups your responsibility to define your life more intentionally. It ups your responsibility to address the things that you want to address. It's not the system's fault when you see problems, it's ours. So the next time you think that capitalism isn't working, look yourself in the mirror.
All we care about is ourselves.
