People don’t go to church anymore. They go shopping. Capitalism is America’s new religion. A religion is a set of profound beliefs that one hopes will lead to a better life. The Christian religion has its Ten Commandments which embody some of these beliefs. No one actually practices these beliefs anymore but that does not stop devout Christians from insisting that their commandments should be enshrined throughout America. The only problem with this is that these are not the beliefs that people follow today.
I was laying in bed the other night and thinking about how Capitalism has become the real religion of Americans. I suddenly realized that there was no explicit set of rules, precepts, or commandments that the faithful should follow. There are many implicit or implied rules. The implicit rules of Capitalism are somewhat obvious even if they are not etched on two tablets.
I have decided to take these implicit commandments believed by most Americans and make them more obvious. I recommend that these be put up in bronze or stone or cement in every capital throughout the USA. Following are my Ten Commandments for Capitalism.
- You can never have enough
As they say, “He who has the most toys wins.” You can never have enough. Life is about getting what you deserve. When you do get it, then you need to get more. More money, more cars, more jewelry, more land, more clothes, the more you have, the more people will admire you and declare you a success. Success in America means having more than anyone else.
- Bigger is always better
From hamburgers to houses to car and even people, things in America are getting bigger. People now own 5,000 square foot homes with three car garages, six bedrooms and four baths even though they only have 1.7 children and a spouse. Hamburgers at Burger King weigh about ½ lb. and car engines put out in excess of 500 hp. Americans are the most obese people in the world. Capitalism makes everything bigger and fatter. Hooray for Capitalism.
- Greed is good
Ivan Boesky said it and Americans gave him a standing ovation. Michael Douglas in the movie “Wall Street” paraphrased Boesky’s speech and exhorted his stockholders:
“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.”
I could not have said it any better. The greedier we get, the more we get. The more we get, the more we want. The more we want the greedier we get. It is the American way. From politicians to business people to lobbyists, to car salespeople to real estate developers, the stated norm is to “maximize profits.” To hell with the tree huggers and climate change advocates. Success is predicted on greed. Greed is human nature. Greed is not good, it is great.
- Shop till you drop
My half-sister every year gets up at 3 AM on the morning of Black Friday with a map, a schedule of stores, coupons, and snacks. Like a general, she plots out her strategy, enlists her friends and relatives and launches a preemptive invasion. Her goal is to get it before anyone else. “It” does not really matter. The process is what counts. Shopping is the sacrament of Capitalism. You must take your pennies and dollars and put them in the store where you can get the most for your money. Saving is for fools. Shop, shop, shop. Superbowl Sunday is a prime time for shopping since many Americans are glued to their TV sets soaking up ads on what to buy the next time they go shopping. Go to fashion stores, go to thrift stores, go to malls, go to Walmart, go to flea markets, go to garage sales. But for heavens sake, shop until you drop.
- Stuff will make you happy
There is only one reason for all that shopping. It fulfills you. It puts meaning and purpose in your life. Without meaning and purpose, life is shallow. We are all born with a hole in us that must be filled up. You could fill it with religion, education, or philosophy but you can’t touch these things. You can touch a new air fryer and you can soak in a new hot tub. You can call all your Facebook friends on your new I-Phone 98. Nothing is quite as satisfying as stuff at filling the hole in our hearts. Nothing until the next generation of I-Phones or Air Fryers come out. But of course, then you can go shopping for the newest and latest and greatest. You will never be so happy as when you have more stuff than you need.
- Prosperity builds character
Those who believe in the Prosperity Gospel say that the richer you are the better, smarter, and more deserving you are. God rewards good people with money and bad people get lumps of coal in their stockings not just at Christmas but throughout most of the year. God wants everyone to be rich.
Being rich is a choice. Poor people don’t really like money, so they choose to be poor. They do not want to be bothered with having to carry tons of cash and credit cards. Rich people don’t mind carrying all this cash because they have chauffeurs, butlers, and nannies to help with the work. Many people say that “money is the root of all evil.” This is a lie spread maliciously by the Internet to deter people from going after the gold. Jesus said that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven.” If Jesus was alive today, I think he might be preaching a different message. Something like, “Forget what I said two thousand years ago, times have changed. There are few camels left in life and you can always take a taxi if you have enough money.”
- Don’t worry about tomorrow
There is a great song by Van Morrison which goes as follows:
Don’t worry about tomorrow
That ain’t gonna help you none
Don’t worry about tomorrow
That ain’t gonna help you none
You’ve gotta live and take each day as it comes.
A great deal of wisdom is centered around the idea of living one day at a time and not worrying about the future. Too many people fail to live in the present because they are too worried about what will happen tomorrow. Doris Day sang the famous song Que Sera Sera,
When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty
Will I be rich
Here’s what she said to me
… Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que sera, sera
What will be, will be
Capitalism is a system that follows much the same line of reasoning. Don’t worry about the climate. Don’t worry about the weather. Don’t worry about pollution. Don’t worry about water. Don’t worry about the environment. Live for today. Get whatever you can today. You might not be alive tomorrow, so why worry? Remember Alfred E. Neumann from Mad Magazine. His motto was “What, me worry?” We need to worry less. Don’t worry about whether the world will still be there for your kids or grandchildren. Let them worry about it.
- Nothing is more important than money
If capitalism had a beating heart, instead of “thump, thump, thump,” it would go “money, money, money.” Love may make the world go round, but money greases the wheels. Remember the Beatles song “Money?”
Now give me money, (That’s what I want)
That’s what I want
(That’s what I want)
That’s what I want, (That’s what I want), oh, yeah
(That’s what I want)
Money don’t get everything, it’s true
What it don’t get, I can’t use
Now give me money, (That’s what I want)
That’s what I want.
I propose that more people think about money than anything else in the world, including sex. To test my theory, I typed in “Sex” on Google. Then I typed in “Money.” Following are my results:
Sex: 10,590,000,000
Money: 11,920,000,000
Money received 1.33 billion more hits than sex. This result shows what the real priorities of most people are. First it is money, then it is sex.
- Never let anyone get in your way
Let’s be real. Nice guys and good women finish last. If you want to get ahead in business, you must be ruthless. You must be cut throat. You must play ethical roulette (a business version of Russian roulette). Machiavelli and Sun Tzu were too soft. Read the “Mafia’s Guide to Getting Ahead.” You must have no morals or ethics or qualms about being the bad guy. Never do anything illegal or at least get caught doing anything illegal. There is plenty of room for amoral activities that skirt the line between legal and illegal. If in doubt, call a lawyer.
10. Put some money aside for a rainy day
By rainy day, I mean a time in your life when you no longer have any friends, loved ones or anyone who cares whether you live or die. You will be on your death bed waiting for Lucifer to take you to your just rewards. Like Herod, the day will come when you must pay the piper. It won’t matter how much you have in stocks or your bank account.
The devil won’t have a signed contract for your soul but he will not need it. You will have bought and paid for your place in hell many times over. Every dollar, every ruble, every peso, every euro, every yen you coveted will have helped you to earn your place in hell. Your funeral marker on earth may say some nice things about you but down in hell, you will be one of many who sold their soul to the highest bidder.
Jesus wisely said “What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffer the loss of his own soul?” Profoundly put, but alas seldom followed.
After Thoughts:
When I came home recently from a vacation to Europe, I had 5,865 spam messages in my promotions email folder on Gmail. That equals 217 junk emails per day. Never before in history, has so much been marketed and sold to people under the assumption that the marketplace is a dispenser of happiness. I have written a five-part series on the evils of Corporate Capitalism, and I have written many posts about the dangers facing our civilization today from the excess of greed and profiteering which infest and assail too many cultures and societies all over the world.
My spouse Karen felt that many of the things that I was saying in this blog were too harsh. If you felt this way when you read my blog, consider that 162 golf course owners in Phoenix did not want to accept a recent recommendation for a 3.1 percent cut in water usage. (Some Arizona golf courses are pushing back against the state’s plan to reduce water use) They proposed a counter recommendation for a 1.6 percent cut. This on the heels of an unprecedented drop in the water feeding much of the Southwest from Lake Mead and a record drought with significant increases in heat. What have we come to when water for golf courses is more important than water for crops and drinking?
In Wisconsin, where I live during the summer, the residents have been fighting the siting of a CAFO for the feeding of 26,000 hogs. The operators of the “Concentrated Animal Feed Operation” do not care about the water, trees, odors, property values, soil, bacteria, or any other repercussions for their operation. They are only concerned about the ability to make a profit.
The local residents have been fighting this potential development for nearly three years now. It is big money against the little farmer and little land owner who object to the spoilage of their land, water, and lifestyle. The property owners in Barron, Burnette and Polk County Wisconsin are fighting not only corporate money and greed but also elected politicians. Politicians at both the local level and state level, many who support the development of “free enterprise” regardless of the externalities caused by the business operation.
Everywhere I turn, I see greed, waste, and short-term thinking based on profitability guiding human decisions. The sad part is that Corporate Capitalism has become a religion. And whereas faith in the old religions has waned dramatically in the past fifty years, faith in Capitalism to save us from hell has only grown. Like some sort of communicable disease, the belief that Capitalism will provide a heaven on earth has become almost indisputable among a large majority of Americans. I think the time is long past for soft pedaling the dangers of Capitalism. I only hope that it is not too late.
A version of this myth is the “Too big too fail idea” widely heard during the “Great Recession” and now during the Coronavirus epidemic. General Motors was one of the first giant corporations in America and even as late as 2019, it was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. In 1952 during his nomination hearing for Secretary of Defense, Charles Wilson (former CEO of General Motors) was asked if he could make a decision as Secretary of Defense that ran contrary to the interests of his former company. He replied with the now infamous remark YES but that he could not conceive of such a situation: “because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.” — 
The foregoing belief in the common interests that corporations shared with America came to epitomize the ideology of Corporate America. American corporations then used the media and astute public relations to convince the majority of US citizens that they are indispensable, and that the welfare of the average person depended on the welfare of the corporation. To put it another way, the interests of a giant corporation are claimed to be synonymous with the interests of the average person. “What is good for America’s Corporations is good for You.” “What is good for Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Exxon, Facebook and Pfizer is good for you.”
When a company makes and sells a product, it is no longer responsible for the effects of that product on either the buyer or the environment. Unless evidence can be shown that somehow the corporation either lied or had some kind of criminal intent in the sales process, the consumer and society are responsible for the negative effects that a product or service might have. For instance, oil companies sell gasoline but are not responsible for the effects of polluting the atmosphere by burning gasoline. Another example is the packaging that many companies use for their products. Amazon is notorious for over boxing even the smallest products. The boxes must then be thrown away or recycled in a landfill. However, the cost of this recycling is not born by Amazon but ultimately by the taxpayer who must pay for the recycling through taxes or direct payments. Meanwhile, Amazon makes a great profit by being able to take advantage of tax loopholes and escaping any costs. These costs are called in economic terms: “Externalities.”
Dr. Deming wrote reams about the failure of management to balance what he called the “Problems of Today” with the “Problems of Tomorrow.” I would typically hear when beginning a consulting engagement numerous reasons why “it could not be done.” One of the most common excuses was expressed colloquially as “We are up to our ass in alligators.” Another excuse was “We have too many fires to put out.” I was fond of reciting Dr. Deming’s comment that, “Putting out fires is not improvement. Finding a point out of control, finding the special cause and removing it, is only putting the process back to where it was in the first place. It is not improvement of the process.” — Out of the Crisis, W. E. Deming
I have sat in many boardrooms for many planning meetings, and seldom did I ever hear an executive worrying about the environment or the hidden costs of externalities. The oft assumed legal mandate of a corporation is to make a profit. However, corporate law states that a company does not have to pursue profit maximization at all costs. This is idealistic though since the tendency in the marketplace and short-term thinking push corporations to ignore other considerations and pursue profits at all costs. It is also much easier to measure profits than it is to measure a “good” to the environment or a “good” to the social system. Thus, generally profits will trump other considerations in running an effective business.
Aging Capriciously 