The rebirth of capitalism the media seems to ignore
To those Americans that believe capitalism is broke, I have one simple suggestion. Spend less time reading about our “broken” system and more time in your community visiting the “new” small business establishments that are cropping up everywhere.
I will make an admission here. I love “small business”. I think they are and have always been the heart and soul of what makes a town a place you want to live in. I have nothing against “big box” stores and they serve a purpose. But to me nothing beats the “owner/operator” entrepreneur finding an under served “niche” and filling it with products and services people want and need.
My wife and I like to eat. She was born in Asia and I grew up on the east Coast visiting my grandparents in Europe every three years for the summer. Our taste palate runs the globe and we search out new restaurants on a regular basis to try the food and support the business. More and more I am finding these new “non chain” local establishments are tied to people that have a passion for food, many are started by women and minorities reproducing their own ethnic foods from their mother countries. Another new kind of restaurant are the farm to table restaurants where the owner of the restaurant has gone the extra mile to secure only locally grown food usually organic and often served within 48 hours of harvesting.
And then there are the hobby businesses, thanks to Etsy, I have been able to purchase stuff that in the past you could not find. I like Hawaiian shirts but want specific patterns that mean something to me. So I decided a Hawaiian shirt featuring humpback whales would be neat (I think humpback whales are neat) and thanks to the internet, I found a small Hawaiian high end clothing designer and retailer that had the perfect pattern. Sometimes I find these retailers, but thanks to Google, Amazon, Facebook and all the other sellers of my personal information, often they find me. These little establishments that might of died trying to get their name out to potential customers are making it today because of the internet.
And then there is Yelp. Whether I am looking for restaurants, veterinarians, golf repair shops, whatever, you can find these small businesses on Yelp. When it first came out I wondered who would use Yelp, now I know, me! I use it in town to find new places, I use it when I go out of town to find local places with real cooking and not big chain restaurants. Those of you that do honest reviews, thanks… it makes a huge difference.
We are entering a golden age for small business. For decades small businesses were being crushed by the big box stores, but now these big box stores often get their “lunch” eaten by small retailers with “no store” front selling through on line markets like Amazon, Etsy, Ebay, etc. Many small retailers can provide competitive pricing and home delivery in two to three days.
Even my dog, Morgan, who is sixteen years old and quite healthy for his age has benefited. Every few weeks/months (depending on the product) he gets shipments from three retailers, two are small businesses. One is provider of healthy low fat “senior” dog kibble that uses a network of local at home distributors to drop off dog kibble in a reusable container when ever we need a refill.
The other is a purveyor of freshly made healthy human grade food that has been pureed and is delivered in a box similar to those used by Omaha steaks from a company called the Farmer’s Dog. I mix it into his kibble. He has never loved his food so much… long after its done, he keeps licking his bowl hoping to extract just a little more flavor.
You would never realize this explosion in choice and small business is going on reading the media talking about the end of capitalism. Fortunately, for these small businesses there are more and more packaged services that help them deal with the complex Federal and State regulations. My belief is that if cities rather than give away millions and billions to large companies to relocate to their city, helped small operators to open businesses by absorbing all the licensing, permitting, and other regulatory costs needed to open a business, that the cumulative effect to the city’s revenues would be pretty substantial and payback the city’s investment in short order.
My wife and I started a small property services business, when I retired. We use a network of contractors that can do almost any kind of repair needed for a property. Most of our clients own expensive rental properties where tenants expect high levels of service and quick response times. We started what we thought would be a nice “part time” business but it has grown to a full time job in only four years for my wife and half time job for me. :(
Through this business I have become even more aware of the power of the internet to support small businesses. For example, once I needed a “reproduction” mid eighteenth century door lock mechanism for an “antique” home and a skeleton key to lock it (I am internet procurement officer for the company… a big title that means if Lowe’s or Home Deport don’t carry the part, it is my job to find it). After an hour on the internet I found a guy, whose hobby business is refurbishing old skeleton key locks and providing new keys for them. Can’t imagine a business like this could have existed before the internet.
With all the media focus on Trump and Washington and the battle between Republicans and Democrats, one would think the country is falling apart. But the truth is our economy is not falling apart it is doing great. Opportunity has not been better in a long, long time. To misquote, Mark Twain, the rumors of the demise of capitalism are premature. So then what is the problem?
Simply stated, while the economy is doing great. So then what is wrong. More and more politicians are viewing our economy as a golden goose that can fund any idea they come up with in the name of “fairness”. So while our economy continues to grow at the rate of 2–3% per year, employment is at record levels, small businesses are thriving, and wages are rising, politicians are unhappy that it does not produce the tax revenues they want.
That does not mean our “economy” is “broke”. It simply means it “can’t cash the checks” our politicians are writing with their “mouths”. And so they are blaming our economy rather than themselves for generating unrealistic expectations. As a nation we are struggling with the fact that we have gotten so far “over our skies” when it comes to what we can afford in the form of social entitlements, that we are bound to tumble someday in the future and yet to blame the economy may cause dumb choices when the real problems lie elsewhere.
