How Capitalism Failed Me Today

Starvation:

Capitalism failed to let me starve today. I am eating a salad as I write this. The basis of it is alfalfa sprouts I grew in my kitchen. It started with seeds many capitalists provided me through an amazing dance of synergy and cooperation.

Some of the highlights include farmers tilling fields using machinery they bought from those who specialize in manufacturing and distributing such things. The farmers paid for it using capital they either saved or borrowed or else gathered by inducing others to join them in putting their capital at risk in the hope of receiving returns abundant enough to make it worthwhile. They bore the risk, and I dearly hope they reaped abundant profits so they’ll be there next year when I want to buy more seeds.

I could go on and on, describing the farmers planting and tending their crops, reaping the seeds, sifting them, packaging them and shipping them off to warehouses until they found their way to the retailer from which I bought them. At every step, those involved were careful to control their costs because they knew if the retailer’s price was too high I would buy my seeds elsewhere, and their efforts would be for naught.

My salad consisted of much more than alfalfa sprouts, but each of the ingredients … asparagus, Feta cheese, cucumber, carrots, mushrooms and…