By: Chad Kent
Chad Kent Speaks
Over the last few weeks, we’ve watched a group of suburban middle-class hippy wannabes protest corporate greed. The protesters continue to whine about wealth inequality and the amount of wealth controlled by the top 1%. I’m sure they have a ton of oh-so-reliable stats to back up their claims too.
But for those of us who actually believe in freedom, we can prove the idiocy behind their arguments simply by bringing the debate back into the real world. The issue here isn’t amount of wealth, it’s quality of life.
Capitalism has done some amazing things over the years to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
Let’s look at some examples:
- In the early 1900s a rich man drove a car while the poor man walked (or possibly rode a horse). Today, the rich man drives a car while the poor man drives a less luxurious car – but one still equipped with air conditioning and numerous safety features.
- Later in the 1900s, a rich man had a home with air conditioning while a poor man had to suffer through the summer heat. Today, a rich man has a home with air conditioning while the poor man has a smaller home or apartment with air conditioning.
- In the 1980s the rich man had a mobile phone while the poor man had to look for a phone booth. Today, even homeless people are whipping out camera phones to take pictures of the first lady.
When we frame the debate this way, it becomes crystal clear that capitalism has made all of our lives immeasurably better in this country. To complain that a few people have gotten really rich by creating products that have given us all a better quality of life is beyond ridiculous.
For a more in depth explanation of this concept, take a look at The Virtue of Prosperity by Dinesh D’Souza.
