Capital-ism

An often under-appreciated characteristic of capitalism is (somewhat surprisingly, given its name) its reliance on capital and technology. Adding capital makes our labor more productive. Imagine having to walk to work instead of driving your car...or attempting to cook dinner using an open flame instead of a modern stove top and oven. Forgoing the use of capital would eat up a greater chunk of your time, making you less productive and society worse off.

This point was brought home to me last week when our dishwasher broke. In a household with 2 kids, the dishwasher is typically run at least once a day. I don't apologize for this, because the truth of the matter is that the dishwasher is a piece of capital that makes my labor more productive. It reduces the time needed to do the dishes by at least 80% (my personal estimate) allowing me to spend those valuable extra minutes and hours with my family.

So when the dishwasher broke last week, and the realizaton of all the increased hours of cleaning dishes by hand set in, I acted quickly. By logging on to the internet and searching for a description of the dishwasher and problem, I was immediately directed to a handiman's website that diagnosed the issue as a bad heating element. In the same post that diagnosed the problem was a link to the exact part I would need to replace. Perhaps the handiman that made the post also owned the store that sold me the part....did I begrudge him for just trying to make a buck off me? No! Because I know that it was the opportunity for profit that incentivized him to start the business and make helpful posts in the first place. If you take away the profit, you take away his incentive to help others by diagnosing the illnesses of our dishwashers and prescribing the appropriate remedies.

Within two days I had the requisite part and successfully operated on my patient. The dishwasher is back up and running, and my labor is back to being productive in the kitchen. So thank you capitalism. Thank you for dishwashers that make my labor more productive, saving my most valuable resource of time, and allowing me to spend it with my family. And thank you for handimen, that in an effort to provide only for themselves and their families, provide excellent service to their customers in an effort to win and keep their business.