The alpha male justification for capitalism meets its match.

 “Capitalism is the way we succeed in life.” Words to behold. The pure ego and ignorance emanating from these words alone are a staggering shockwave to this author. The individual who declared this sentence seemed to insinuate that income inequality did not exist, and that even if it did, that fact alone should not allow the government to pour the large amounts of money it is pouring into the welfare of the people. I’m sorry but isn't that the point of a government? While yes I will concede that the high percentage of taxpayers in India are the middle and higher class, I will also point out that that is the basis on which the policy of progressive tax works. 

The alpha male excuse for treating lower members of society like a garbage dump that gets ignored is a signature trait of the species. If a system set up by the ‘alpha males’ for the ‘alpha males’ is one that lacks empathy, then it is no surprise that selfishness and greed are the driving forces of our cutthroat world. 


Benny Goodman, in his paper, Empathy, Capitalism and greedy bastards, says “The lack of an empathic civilization and the rule by global elites is not natural or inevitable but we somehow believe it to be so….We are now working for the economy rather than for the community.” Just because a system works well for you, doesn't mean it works well for every individual under the sun. Sometimes it pays to step back and gather the full picture because the current economic system is building slaves and laborers, not self-satisfied individuals.


Termed Runaway Capitalism by Harvard graduates, it is the latest disease that has infected the current generation ‘finance bros’. While there are many disadvantages to the same, the worm that made the apple rot was competition. It is also what this specific finance bro was referring to. Like the adaptive evolution theory, capitalism was favored for its ability to be powerful and flexible, but because natural selection went too far, it was a headlong pursuit behind the ideal and it led to its downfall. Biology is all well and good, but how might that work in a business setting?


A CEO may provide incentives for a certain behaviour to prevent something that would lead to an inevitable complication. However, more often than not, the incentives begin acting as a sign of prestige for the recipient, rather than being a symbol of an increase in overall value. And once this image is perpetrated it may be difficult to undo. But the main issue is when this cycle is ignored by all parties, simply behind the initial logic of “It works!”


In the current free market, this competition is actually redundant, since the point of marketing is not to bring your product out into the world, but rather make already established companies gain more power. So basically, every company is spending thousands of rupees to deter entry from competitors in an oligopoly (and if you feel like saying, “That’s what keeps the economy alive!!1!!” I beg you to comprehend the dystopian notion of relying on MNCs pumping injections as a way to keep a country’s economy growing). Tell me how that doesn't sound like someone forgetting the initial idea behind the conception of a capitalist economy with a civilization (emphasis on the CIVIL).


Citations:

(PDF) Empathy, Capitalism and greedy bastards. (n.d.). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256445377_Empathy_Capitalism_and_greedy_bastards

Meyer, C. (2021, August 31). Runaway Capitalism. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2012/01/runaway-capitalism


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