Capitalism Is Bad for Business

Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production and the pursuit of profit (aka surplus value).

The nature of the system encourages the accumulation of wealth and capital by the rich and powerful. It’s a game where everything is about getting a return on investment. Profit and growth are incentivized under a capitalist society.

There are wide reaching implications for rooting a whole civilization in greed. For instance, cultural values emphasize individual excellence instead of collective care.

Economics and politics are intertwined

Economic systems do not exist in a vacuum. They are upheld and shaped by politics.

In recent history, Neoliberalism has been the dominant ideology in the West—it’s often tied to the rise of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. (And it still prevails despite influential works and voices from new schools of economics.)

It’s an ideology that calls for deregulation and privatization of… well, everything.

Neoliberals want to privatize healthcare. Privatize public transportation. Privatize utilities. Privatize education. Privatize. Privatize. Privatize.

Also, they love tax cuts.

Neoliberals feed the beast that is capitalism, resisting calls to lead our world towards one that considers the welfare of people, animals, and the planet.

Capitalism is anti-democratic.

In a system where the accumulation of wealth and capital is the goal, those at the top of the hierarchy will always wield power and influence over the political system.

The rich will always have a larger say.

This is because of the paradox of a “free market.”

Without regulation, those who hold the most wealth and power will dominate a market. They will be able to buy influence in governments because of that lack of regulation. If governments try to regulate, the powerful will always lobby and campaign to erode those regulations.

The paradox is that free markets do not allow for more competition and an equal playing field.

Because of the above dynamic, a free market will always trend in the direction of a few powerful businesses (the top 0.01%) owning everything. Ironically, competition requires more regulation.

Basically, capitalism and neoliberalism feed each other. This cycle must end.

The majority of businesses have every reason to be anti-capitalist

Contrary to popular belief, being pro-business isn’t aligned with capitalism.

Firstly, businesses don’t exist because of capitalism. This is a common misconception. Trade and commerce have been around for a long time. Businesses will continue to exist in a post-capitalist world.

Secondly, when people say they’re “pro-business,” what they really mean to say is they’re “pro-big business.”

Over the last half century, we’ve see the decline of small and mid-sized businesses because the landscape is becoming more and more untenable. In almost every industry, you’ll find a version of Walmart or Amazon, giants that completely dominate market share. If they don’t squeeze out all of their competition, they’ll buy them out.

To counter this point, people will always point to examples of successful small businesses. Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule. It doesn’t negate the big picture trend, however.

The odds are stacked against businesses.

Doesn’t anti-capitalism mean you can’t make money?

For some reason, people think capitalism is about the freedom to make money.

No. There's nothing wrong with making money. It’s exploiting workers that’s the problem.

It’s the accumulation of capital that is the problem.

In fact, making money is important. (We can talk about abolishing money, but that’s a whole other can of worms.) An ethical business needs to make enough money so that everyone on the team gets paid enough to live a good life, in both money as well as time off.

Think about it…

Why shouldn’t business success mean that its workers are all taken care of? Isn’t that enough? Doesn’t a business exist to support the humans that are a part of it?

What’s the point of profit or growth for the sake of it? What’s the point of empire building?

How much is enough?

Why should endless growth be the foundation for our society?

We need a better economic system.

For existential reasons, a system built on growth and exploitation of resources can't continue to exist if humanity is to survive. It renders any argument that capitalism is the "best we've got" absolutely moot. This isn't a long-term thing either. Climate change is harming and killing people now. It HAS been doing that for a while now. And it will only get worse in the coming years.

Any viable future for humanity must be built on a political and economic system that does away with exploitation, of people and planet. Profit, growth, and the accumulation of wealth and capital can't be the underlying reward system.

We need to look at alternatives ways of doing things.

For example, we need to incentivize taking care of each other. Under capitalism, care work is undervalued. We want to build a world where it is.

Workers are exploited, partly because they have no say in businesses. One way to address this is through alternative business structures like worker-owned cooperatives.

There’s load of issues to address, but the good news is that people are already building more egalitarian and democratic economic relations within our current society! We simply need to keep it up, defending the spaces that exist and creating more where we can.


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