P@triot
Diamond Member
- Jul 5, 2011
- 61,418
- 11,660
Mackey, who grew up in the 1960s and 70s, was a self-described progressive and social Democrat. He believed, like many on the left do, that business is an evil, zero-sum game that fostered a system of exploitation. Once Mackey started his own business, however, his ideology changed dramatically.
In the passage below, excepted from Conscious Capitalism, Mackey describes how being a business-owner caused him to re-evaluate his philosophy and the way the world works:
Our customers thought our prices were too high. Our team members thought they were paid too little. Our suppliers wouldnt give us good prices because we were too small. A local Austin nonprofit sector was continually asking us for donations. Various governments were slapping us with fees, license fees, fines and various business taxes. Not knowing much about how to operate a business, it didnt pay off for us in the first year, but we managed to lose only 50% of our capital. And despite all the losses, despite our intentions, we were still being accused by anti-business people of exploiting our customers with the high prices and our team members with low wages. Despite all of my good intentions, I had somehow become a selfish and greedy businessman to all the people I used to be with. All of my friends now said I was one of the bad guys. But I knew in my heart that I wasnt greedy or selfish or evil. I was the idealist who wanted to make the world a better place, and I thought I could best do it by operating a store that sold healthy food to people and provided good jobs. And once I realized this, I gradually began to abandon the social Democratic philosophy of my youth because it no longer adequately explained how the world actually worked. And I started looking for other narratives that would make sense of the world. I devoured dozens and dozens of business books trying to help Safer Way, which was the predecessor of Whole Foods, succeed. I stumbled into reading a number of free enterprise economist and thinkers including Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig Von Mises, Milton Von Friedman
I learned that voluntary exchange for mutual benefit has actually led to an unprecedented prosperity for humanity. I learned that with free enterprise when combined with property rights, innovation, the rule of law, and constitutionally limited democratic government results in societies that maximize societal prosperity and establish the conditions that promote human happiness and wellbeing action not just for the rich but for the larger society, including the poor. I had become a business person and a capitalist, and I had discovered that business and capitalism, though not perfect were both fundamentally good and ethical.
A case for capitalism ? Glenn Beck
In the passage below, excepted from Conscious Capitalism, Mackey describes how being a business-owner caused him to re-evaluate his philosophy and the way the world works:
Our customers thought our prices were too high. Our team members thought they were paid too little. Our suppliers wouldnt give us good prices because we were too small. A local Austin nonprofit sector was continually asking us for donations. Various governments were slapping us with fees, license fees, fines and various business taxes. Not knowing much about how to operate a business, it didnt pay off for us in the first year, but we managed to lose only 50% of our capital. And despite all the losses, despite our intentions, we were still being accused by anti-business people of exploiting our customers with the high prices and our team members with low wages. Despite all of my good intentions, I had somehow become a selfish and greedy businessman to all the people I used to be with. All of my friends now said I was one of the bad guys. But I knew in my heart that I wasnt greedy or selfish or evil. I was the idealist who wanted to make the world a better place, and I thought I could best do it by operating a store that sold healthy food to people and provided good jobs. And once I realized this, I gradually began to abandon the social Democratic philosophy of my youth because it no longer adequately explained how the world actually worked. And I started looking for other narratives that would make sense of the world. I devoured dozens and dozens of business books trying to help Safer Way, which was the predecessor of Whole Foods, succeed. I stumbled into reading a number of free enterprise economist and thinkers including Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig Von Mises, Milton Von Friedman
I learned that voluntary exchange for mutual benefit has actually led to an unprecedented prosperity for humanity. I learned that with free enterprise when combined with property rights, innovation, the rule of law, and constitutionally limited democratic government results in societies that maximize societal prosperity and establish the conditions that promote human happiness and wellbeing action not just for the rich but for the larger society, including the poor. I had become a business person and a capitalist, and I had discovered that business and capitalism, though not perfect were both fundamentally good and ethical.
A case for capitalism ? Glenn Beck
