Greed And Capitalism

I am neither a capitalist nor a socialist in any strict sense.  Other than purely logical truths about economic concepts, economics is a social construct that does not even deserve the enormous attention given to it by Western society over more crucial, foundational matters of philosophy like the self-verifying nature of reason, introspective phenomenology, and possibility of absolute certainty.  In an ultimate sense, economics is not even necessary for individual survival, as it only arises in community settings!

All the same, reason divides misrepresentations of concepts from their true natures, and capitalism, like socialism, is widely misunderstood.  While misconceptions of socialism are still quite popular in conservative circles, misrepresentations of capitalism have become more and more mainstream, presenting capitalism as if it is conceptually tied to environmental destruction, abuse of workers, and incorrigible selfishness, all for the sake of greed.  People who support capitalism are said to be corrupt schemers or corrupted pawns.

The truth is more nuanced than this.  Capitalism and greed are not inseparable in the sense that concepts like stupidity and relativism or skepticism of logical truths are.  It is impossible to be rational and in denial of logical axioms at the same time, but it is possible to endorse and partake in capitalism without being driven by greed.  On its own, capitalism is simply about free markets.  The presence of any government regulation or intervention at all means that a purely capitalistic system is not in place.  Thus, many people for or against what they might call American capitalism may not have realized that even America is not a country without any socialistic tendencies built in.

Different participants in a capitalistic society can have wildly different intentions, moral stances, and broad philosophies beyond capitalism.  Treating each of them as if they represent the exact same approaches to capitalism is as irrational and unjust as treating all socialists as if they want a totalitarian ruling class to forcibly redistribute an entire society's wealth until no citizen has more or less wealth than another.  Greed could be an individual person's motivation to distort the basic concept of capitalism or socialism, but the concepts themselves need to be analyzed apart from how some people use or misuse them.

Capitalism can certainly be implemented out of motivations like greed, selfishness, and a blind desire for materialistic comfort.  So can socialism.  No broad economic system is inherently tied to greed, as only specific approaches to these broader systems involves the desire for personal enrichment without end, without purpose, and without regard for other people.  The truth is more nuanced than any liberal eager to demonize the whole of capitalism or any conservative eager to demonize the whole of socialism would understand.  Greed is only a characteristic of individual people who yield to it, not a feature of capitalism--or socialism.