In our society, it is quite often that those who succeed are thrown under the bus. Often, the leaders of big business are shown to be lying, dishonest, disloyal, and utterly immoral cheats, and to some degree, there are quite a few that are. The fact is that there are some CEO’s that are getting paid millions in bonuses that were paid for by TARP and the Bailout. Honestly though, I can see no reason why we should expect anything different – there was a reason they were in need of it to begin with. When you give a drunk a filled keg, do you expect him to use it wisely?
But, the fact is that in our society, we also have some of the most valiant human beings who run big businesses. I can think of no better example than the late Steve Jobs.
For Christmas I received his biography by Walter Isaacson. Though I haven’t finished, I can’t help but find it very interesting how the man himself represented the American Individual. While Jobs wasn’t the ideal man – none of us are – it can’t be denied that his whole intent and being was very much like the rugged Individual that we believers in Capitalism take heart to.
Contrary to the popular idea that CEO’s are all about money, Jobs was just the opposite. It’s actually quite funny to read some of the conflicts that he came into with those who were simply in the computer business for the money – he hated them. For Jobs it was about beauty, art, and the desire to create something that would last and that would revolutionize humanity. Much to the chagrin of some of his co-workers, he stayed with that belief whether it took him to bankruptcy or not.
However, this is the story of what Capitalism allows us to do. Capitalism, that is not crony-controlled, has shown itself to be the place for great Individuals like Jobs. Can it be argued that the man was not strong willed and ambitious? No. But then could he have done it if he had been hindered by government regulation? Could he have been able to compete had the government subsidized IBM or even Microsoft? That is something that we can never know, but we can look to the past and see that Individuals are squashed by the government intervenes either way.
And that is why Jobs is the proof that Capitalism is the greatest, and only moral, economic system. Were there any such people in the Soviet Union? No, the greatest inventor there was perhaps Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK47. And beyond that there was never true innovation as was seen when the walls came down. What of North Korea? Cuba? I believe we can collectively laugh at that thought.
We have fallen away as a society and a people from realizing what is staring us in the face. The Crony-Capitalism is not going to stop until those who are in control are taken out, when people are given a chance to do as they want, and when we have a Free Market and Laissez-faire Capitalism once again. Until then, the Steve Jobses of this country will become a dying breed and that should make us all sigh with despair.
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