Compassionate Capitalism

Ethiques. Livre IX. La monnaie, commune mesure des échanges commerciaux. Trad. Nicole Oresme. Edition de 1454-1455

So money eh?! Love it or hate it we all need it to survive in the world we live in, a predominantly capitalist one. For something that is so fundamental to our everyday lives we humans have a remarkable reluctance to talk about it, at least in an open and honest way. I'm certainly not immune to this either and I'm not saying everyone should be constantly telling other people their private finances, but I do think what we all need to sit down and have a good natter about, is what we value. There are some that would say that capitalism is an inherently evil or bad system, that it's the cause of all ills in the world...personally I think this is a little bit of misdirection, whether intentional or not, which means we sometimes skip over the part where it's people doing bad things within the system that's the problem.

William James Webbe (Webb) (British, 1830 - 1904), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Now this may be difficult for some of us to admit to ourselves, but much like the metaphorical magpie, we humans like shiny things. For whatever reason over millennia this system has evolved and is the one we currently reside in, so what can or should we do about this? A quick and interesting side note, apparently it's a fallacy that magpie's like shiny objects, interesting article about this here, there we go projecting our own emotional baggage onto other animals again! I think part of our issue is that so much of the discourse about money is couched in ideas of shame or sacrifice...the stories that are valued and make the news are when a bunch of shitty people have hurt others for money, or someone has sacrificed an incredible amount personally to help others at great emotional or financial expense to themselves. We are generally only given these extreme examples, I mean when was the last time that you heard 'on Saturday Joe Bloggs donated £10 to a local charity and also happened to buy a fancy new pair of shoes they'd had their eye on for a while', I mean I get it, this kind of story doesn't make for scintillating reading and won't sell a lot of papers but it still has value.

But if we're constantly just told about these extremes, and none of the grey everyday in between, we can get ourselves in quite the muddle about our relationship to money and I very much include myself in this. We can feel awful for wanting the nice expensive things because we're worried it makes us somehow a bad person, we can even feel bad for not wanting the expensive designer labels because surely that's what we must all aspire to? Even when it comes to helping others we can make ourselves feel awful for not being able to donate a lot, like somehow it won't make a difference. The emphasis is always put on the campaigns that raise extreme amounts. But to borrow an appropriately enough co-opted for capitalism phrase 'every little does indeed help', each penny soon adds up. But when the narratives around money leave no room for these honest grey areas, these inevitable and understandable feelings get stirred up and what's more they tap into all those other times in our lives when we've been made to feel guilty, quite often through no fault of our own and by others treating us badly. So, in an understandable sense of self-protection we don't talk about it. We stay stuck.

Now does this make capitalism inherently bad...well simply put no I don't think it does. Is it bad to want to make a profit...well once again no it isn't. What is bad is to put that profit above absolutely everything and everyone else, to make it at the expense of the wellbeing of others and without empathy. This isn't something that is inherently part of a capitalist system it's part of some within it, who quite frankly are just assholes. It is absolutely 100% possible to make a heck of a lot of profit while at the same time being compassionate and kind to others and you don't just have to take my word for it, I entreat you all to watch a rather fantastic documentary called 'Automat' featuring the wonderful recollections of Mel Brooks and others about...well, automats. Those familiar with many a classic American movie will recognise these as the places you could go to eat in the US where there'd be an array of pre-prepared hot food all sitting waiting behind small glass alcoves for you, kinda like a super fancy vending machine. The story of how these places evolved is both fascinating and inspiring and shows how compassion and kindness was woven into the very fabric of the business from the start...and in it's heyday it made one heck of a lot of profit while still holding on to these values.

Horn & Hardart/Lumitone Photography, New York, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Here's another thing to consider too....it's alright not to want the latest designer item or trend, it may not be your kind of thing and there's nothing wrong with that, just because it's financially labelled as having value doesn't mean it automatically has to have a particular value to you. It's even OK to want to run a business and not have some grand ambitions to grow beyond what is comfortable for you, that doesn't mean you're bad at business, it just means you know what you value for yourself. Wanting the opposite, with the fancy things and the big businesses is also not an inherently awful thing as long as we all remember to value compassion and empathy as well as profit!

Now something I want to make markedly clear, there are some things which consideration of profit should be kept well and truly out of, one of which is whether someone lives or dies, aka healthcare. This is where kindness and compassion should be put firmly to the fore. After all a happy and healthy workforce with money enough to buy your products is just good business and that's what I'd call value for money.