If I didn’t see this posted by people as an argument AGAINST Capitalism, I would have thought it was clearly arguing for it.
I’m still not convinced that it isn’t a pro-capitalism comic, since there isn’t any direct tip-off as to which direction it’s going except that the hard working entrepreneur is a old guy in a suit and top hat – which is imagery that hippies like to illustrate us working-types. Okay, okay – there’s also the fact that the guy is dismayed and angered at the construction – is positively intrigued by the result – angry that he has to pay someone for their labor – and then dismayed at their purchase choice, feeling resentment to the person who now has their money they exchanged for their service or product.
Textbook stupid-Leftist hypocritical-hippie dictatorial greed: They think they are entitled to the spoils of someone else’s work, but they complain and attempt to prevent that work from taking place in the first place and then they’re unhappy that someone else is profiting from that work that other people or even they themselves chose to buy.
The comic sums up Capitalism accurately: A Consumer is observed to be enjoying something, so a businessman thinks of a way to do it better. He takes a risk and works hard, hoping to earn money from the idea, planning, work and gamble in the presentation of his product. The Consumer finds his product useful and chooses to trade some of the money they earned themselves for the Businessmans product. Everybody wins. That’s the beauty of the system. It gives people an opportunity to earn a living by serving his fellow man while also giving people more choices to pursue happiness in accordance to their personal tastes. Mind you, that word “opportunity”. Not “guarantee”.
The inherit evil of Communism is that it guarantee’s the profits of MY labor to someone else. The inherit morality of Capitalism is that it guarantee’s me a profit ONLY if I provide something to someone else that they want and choose.
Hippies love “pay only what you can afford” type deals – except with the Government. And that’s what Capitalism is: A bowl of choices. Pay only what you want by using only the amount of money YOU choose to spend on whatever goods or services you choose – and offer products and labor to people but you will ONLY get paid if people want and need what you are offering and freely choose to patronize it.
Back to the comic: What could possibly be the complaint about this? That the greedy businessman is creating something that the consumer doesn’t want or need because it already existed? Nope. Can’t be, since the guy in the comic DOES clearly want or need the shade. The attempted point could be that the shade was already provided and so the man ended up having to pay for what he was getting for free earlier – but that’s even represented more 0ppositely in the comic. Who the hell is going to argue that that hut is the same or worse than a freakin tree? No one. The consumer gained a new and better way to do something and chose to pay for that opportunity. Tree’s are cool and all, but since you’re viewing this writing on an electronic device, don’t even try and act like there is no value in something as basic as walls and a roof. If the businessman did the Consumer a disservice in this picture then why did the Consumer choose to purchase the outcome? It has to be assumed that this is a tree on land where it’s public and legal to cut, since Capitalism doesn’t steal from private land – so we’re not in this guys back yard or anything; We’re out in the arena of ideas where everyone has the same tools and recourses available to them and whomever has an idea that fits within the rules can try it out. This person had an idea, created something and someone else wanted and used it. Why in the everloving fruitcake should he not profit from that?
In reality, this comic is an unintentional praise to Mr Capitalism – the Entrepreneur. Not only did he think of a way to help someone, work at making that idea into a reality and then have that reality be desired and used – but he also thought of that something by re-thinking how something can be done better than it currently is.
Thinking of a product people didn’t know they wanted and thinking of a way to do something better before others even considered doing it any differently is the most wonderful gift of creation. It’s literally what makes us human and why Leftism strips a person of their humanity more with each notch on the scale to Communism.
Before the phones were introduced, there wasn’t exactly a huge clamoring for centuries for a method of talking to something at a different location than you in real time. And after the phone was commonplace, there wasn’t any century of people demanding that their phones be mobile, have cameras, access the internet and be built with large touch screens for ease of use, customization and convenience. Yet both were huge leaps that spawned from Capitalists with ideas they wanted to try and changed the world because people needed and wanted something desperately that they only learned they needed and wanted due to Capitalism.
The last thing I can think of with the comic is that maybe it’s trying to be an Aesop for Environmentalism, claiming that Capitalism profits off of destroying nature. Well, there is no profit in destroying anything vast numbers of people want, so that makes no sense in theory and no macro-example in practice. The Lorax lied to you. Western Civilization’s brand of ethical Capitalism, especially, relies on a cycle. No big business can afford to be Oncelers (the bag guy businessman from The Lorax) and just use every Truffula tree till the entire area is decimated because unlike children for whom that Dr Seuss book was written for: adults int he business world already know that that is a poor profit model ahead of time. So while it’s cute in kids books and cartoons – the truth is that if you want more Truffula trees – you should patronize products in Seussland that uses Truffula, since what you’re doing is garuanteeing, though the profit motive of Capitalism, that more Truffula’s be planted and raised. I don’t know why this surprises hippies, but: Businesses want to stay in business.
So what else is there to this dopey comic? What could I possibly be missing in where it shows how bad Capitalism actually is?
Getting rich under Capitalism is noble because you can’t get rich under Capitalism unless you serve your fellow man (ie: provide a good or service that someone wants or needs). Like life, it is’t perfect, but its the most logical and moral system that exists.
