Quick note before we get started today: please pay close attention to the title.
It’s called “Why Is Capitalism Bad?” but that does NOT mean I’m saying everything about capitalism is bad.
This is important. I have a lot of really smart friends in the “capitalism has lifted people out of poverty” camp and also the “conscious capitalism” camp. I actually helped start the Conscious Capitalism Chapter in Los Angeles many years ago! I have close colleagues that would call themselves “capitalists.” I do a lot of work inside big corporations. I do not want to damage my relationships with any of you. As of right now I still think it’s very possible that good things have come from capitalism.
But this article will not be discussing those things — even though they may exist.
This is a piece about why capitalism will ultimately not serve our species, and why it’s ultimately a bad way for us to organize our collective reality. We’ll talk more about what we ought to build instead in a future article.
So… let’s take a deep breath. Here we go!
It’s Right There In The Name
My argument is very simple.
In the next few minutes, I aim to convince you that capitalism is ultimately bad for our species with ONE core idea, and it’s right there in the word:
CAPITAL-ism.
“-isms” are belief systems, and they put the thing they value most right in their name.
This seems so obvious to me now that I’ve seen it; I really can’t believe no one pointed this out to me in this way before!
- Environmentalism most values the environment.
- Humanism most values human dignity.
- Nationalism most values the nation-state.
- Socialism most values society.
- Capitalism most values capital.
In other words: Money. Assets. Ownership. Wealth.
Capital.
It is right there in the name.
We live inside a belief system — a story — that believes capital is the most important thing in the world.
And we’re taught that capitalism and “the economy” are roughly the same thing.
But they’re not.
The word “capitalism” really only started being used less than 200 years ago. Some form of “economy,” by which I mean humans trading goods and services back and forth, existed long before the belief system of capitalism.
But the world I’ve grown up in basically treats capitalism as an immutable law of physics. We have a whole field of study — economics — that makes us feel like we’re studying science when we talk about this. But most of it isn’t science, it’s stories we’ve chosen to believe.
The story of capitalism has been so embedded in us that we don’t even see it as a story anymore.
“The fish isn’t aware of water” might be a somewhat overused metaphor, but it’s incredibly accurate here.
We have been “swimming” in the water of capitalism our whole lives. Our parents and grandparents, too. Generation upon generation of human beings who have known no other reality than the one that is both underpinned and overlorded by the belief system of capitalism.
Sure, we’ve seen other ideas surface over the years — most notably communism, authoritarianism, and fascism — but in the past century especially, we’ve mostly succeeded in beating those ideas back with the heavy stick of capitalism.
Everything Is Capital, Now
Furthermore, we live in a world where everything — and I mean everything — has been turned into capital.
You’re not a person at work — you’re human capital.
Your friendships? Social capital.
Your ability to smile while dying inside at your job? Emotional capital.
Nature? That’s Natural capital.
You meditate? Spiritual capital.
Your ideas? Intellectual capital.
Your credibility? Reputational capital.
Feeling guilty about all this? Don’t worry, slap on a rainbow logo and you’ve got some ethical capital.
Want to build your political capital?
Here’s the real game…
It takes physical capital to extract the natural capital to make enough financial capital to get elected so you have the political capital — in the D.C. Capitol — to change the laws so you can make even more… capital capital.
It’s just not that hard! Why haven’t you made a billion dollars yet!?
My friends, this is insane.
But this is what the current story does, right? Have you ever stopped to think about how gross it all is?
I don’t want to be “capital.”
I don’t want you to be “capital.”
I don’t want the trees or the whales or the relationships in my life to be “capital.”
But none of those things are included in GDP because, you guessed it… THEY AIN’T CAPITAL.
I guess some of this stuff you can kill and turn into capital… like trees and whales… maybe relationships too because then you need therapy which you need capital to pay for…
Are you seeing the problem? When things have to be dead for us to count them as valuable, I’m pretty sure we’ve majorly missed the mark.
Before We Go Further…
If these ideas are a bit new to you, it feels really uncomfortable.
I know, because I’ve been there. I’ve been working through this myself over the last decade.
There’s a really scary part of this conversation deep down. You’re probably feeling it, even if you’re not conscious of it yet.
Here it is; are you ready?
We ALL rely on capitalism to live.
So questioning the belief system is really frightening, because not only does it feel like it’s attacking some foundational pillars of how we understand reality, it also feels like introducing more uncertainty into the basic ways we stay alive! We don’t need more uncertainty, right!?
I promise I’m actually not actually introducing MORE uncertainty.
I’m just helping us understand the CURRENT uncertainty.
This isn’t “more” — this is the REASON why everything feels the way it does.
Once you see this system for what it is, everything makes more sense.
You’ll get through these feelings, I promise. Just stick with me. This kind of disorientation is actually a very normal part of what it means to live in a liminal time. We’re existing in a moment between stories. The old one is cracking. A new one is going to be born. As anyone who has been pregnant (or walked alongside someone pregnant) will tell you, it gets really uncomfortable. And I promise I will talk more about these cycles in an episode very soon! For now just know: this phase, like all phases, will not last forever.
Also: everyone is impacted by this.
Whether you realize it or not, you are at the mercy of capitalism.
It doesn’t matter if you work inside the private sector, a nonprofit, or in the public sector — if you are alive, this impacts you.
That is why this next point is so vitally important: absolutely NONE of what I’m saying is an indictment of the people working inside the system.
Whether you are a CEO or an independent consultant or a yoga teacher or a small business owner or the Executive Director of a nonprofit or a manager inside a state entity… I see you. You are working hard. You are doing your best.
But you need to know: the system is not doing its best to help you.
The System Is Not Your Friend
There are two contrasting headlines from this week showing how clear it is that capitalism is at the core of our current struggles. Both of these were pretty hard to miss…
First, Zohran Mamdani became mayor-elect of New York City, a place many would describe as the financial (ahem, capitalism) center of the world. Mamdani is a self-described “democratic socialist” who told Meet The Press that billionaires should not exist. He is a 34 years old Muslim, and more than 20 billionaires spent $22+ million trying to stop him from winning. Mamdani won anyway with the highest voter turnout in 50+ years. There’s a lot of commentary in this story about capitalism.
Second, Elon Musk’s proposed Tesla compensation plan for $1 Trillion got approved by its shareholders. I really didn’t think the shareholders were going to go for this! There is so much insanity here I could do a whole episode about it, but for now let’s just talk about this staggering amount of capital. Like we discussed a few weeks ago, big numbers break our brains. We have no way to conceptualize how much money a trillion dollars is, but let me try by putting it in the frame of time:
One million seconds is 12 days.
One billion seconds is 32 years.
One trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
Or to put this another way: if you started counting at 1 second per second when the pyramids were being built, you still wouldn’t be at a trillion. You’d need to have started around 30,000 BC to hit 1 trillion seconds by today.
Do you remember what we talked about last week? 42 million people in the U.S. are counting on assistance to buy FOOD. And we’re going to give ONE GUY a trillion dollars in the next decade.
This is what capitalism does.
The only thing that matters to capital-ism is CAPITAL.
Elon is winning this game. (Yay?)
But hopefully by now you see that the game itself is completely, totally rigged towards one thing and one thing only: CAPITAL.
We all have some version of Stockholm Syndrome — we are in love with our captors. They continually feed us stories that convince us to keep trying, keep working, keep going because someday you’ll get that breakthrough to riches.
You won’t. Neither will I.
In the U.S. you and I are almost 5X more likely to become homeless than we are to become a multi-millionaire.
So… if you’re holding out hope that capitalism is eventually going to make you rich… statistically speaking, it’s definitely not.
You’re not the next Elon.
You’re not the exception.
Neither am I.
And that’s by design. We are in a continual state of being gaslit by the holders of capital, my friends. Because the capitalist system doesn’t need you to win. It needs you to keep believing you can win.
Because that belief keeps you grinding.
The Optimistic Rebellion: Un-Gaslight Yourself
So what in the world do we do with this?
I’m pretty sure changing the “-ism” of life is going to take some time. How do we bring this about? Where’s the optimistic rebellion today?
I think we start by un-gaslighting ourselves. For most of us, this takes a lot of persistence and practice because we have been so indoctrinated by this system since before we were born… for many of us, this belief system has been embedded in our family worldviews for generations.
Here are 5 practices that help me continue to un-gaslight myself:
- Watch Your Words, Because Language Creates Reality — The more we call people “resources” or “capital,” the more we see them that way. So start noticing, and correcting, your own language. Correct your thinking, too. People are not capital. Humans are not resources. Remember: many things described as “capital” actually are very much NOT.
- Follow The Money — Want to know why something seemingly inexplicable just happened? Follow the money! Why did that uber-profitable company do more layoffs? (It benefits capital!) Why did senators vote for tax cuts for the already wealthy? (It benefits capital!) Why did we cut down that forest? (It benefits capital!) If something confusing or contradictory happens, just follow the money… you can almost always bet “it benefits capital” was the reason. (I’m telling you, EVERYTHING makes more sense when you see this.)
- Pay Attention To What’s Deemed “Valuable”— What do you see being called valuable? What do you see being prioritized? The system only values capital, and it only really wants to prioritize things that make more capital. Practice noticing this. It’s everywhere, all around you, all the time, but it’s like the water we don’t see.
- Recognize Why Doing Good Is So Damn Hard — Are you a good human trying to make a difference? I bet you are! But I bet it’s hard, right? This is why! If you are trying to do something good that doesn’t immediately benefit capital, you are pushing a boulder uphill. But actually: you’re actually an insurgent rebel in the system. Don’t stop trying to do good! Keep fighting the fight, but recognize what you’re doing — you are usually battling a really powerful system, not other people.
- Let The System Be The Problem — If you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or like you’re failing, please remember: it’s not you, it’s the system. Seriously. Capitalism is a story designed to extract your energy and make you feel like it’s your fault. But you’re not broken. The system is.
Taking The Future Back
Here’s the truth you already know but haven’t been allowed to say out loud:
You are not capital. Your kids are not capital. The planet is not capital. But capital-ism needs you to believe you are — because if you stop believing that, the whole game falls apart.
So let’s stop playing.
Stop believing the lie that this is all there is. Stop confusing “the economy” with “capitalism.” Stop thinking you’re broken when the system is rigged.
And most importantly? Start talking about this. With your friends. Your colleagues. Your family. Because the only way this story changes is if enough of us refuse to stay gaslit.
If you’re feeling a little uncomfortable right now… good. That means you’re paying attention. The system is counting on you to look away, to get distracted, to keep grinding and believing that someday it’ll pay off for you.
It won’t.
But here’s what will: seeing this clearly. Naming it. Refusing to participate in your own gaslighting.
Capitalism didn’t create the economy — it hijacked it. And we can take it back. Not tomorrow. Not with one election. Not with one podcast episode. But we start by un-gaslighting ourselves. And then we can build something better.
Because the future doesn’t belong to capital — it belongs to US.
