It takes a special kind of stupid to fail to see that the poor are far better off now than at any other time in history. It takes an epic level of stupidity to actively oppose the very thing that is making the poor less poor, and the sick less sick.

Capitalism is the greatest force for good in the history of mankind.

I’m going to say that again, because you may think I made a mistake:

Capitalism is the greatest force for good in the history of mankind.

Am I serious? C’mon! Everyone ‘knows’ that Capitalism is the cause of the global financial crisis, of income inequality, of [insert pet issue here]. Capitalism is blamed for almost everything that’s wrong with the world today… but that’s exactly it… there’s less wrong with the world today than there has even been before in history. Don’t believe me? Watch this short video from the excellent Hans Rosling:

I highly recommend you spend some time on Youtube checking out Hans’ work. He strays into ‘green preaching’ from time to time, but put that aside because his data is excellent and his way of presenting it is simply superb, and everyone needs to know just how amazing the world is today.

But some people are determined to blame Capitalism for being evil, for exploiting the poor, in short, for making the world worse. We see this all the time in many forms, let me raise just one example, the ‘scandal’ around Beyonce and other ‘Athleisure’ brands having their clothing made in ‘sweat shops’ in Sri Lanka:

Last week, the Sun on Sunday published interviews with some Ivy Park factory workers who described working for nine hours a day and living in cramped boarding houses away from their rural villages, all to sew $165 leggings meant to, in Beyonce’s words, “empower” women.

Oh the horror, 9 hour shifts? For shame…

The company that employs the Ivy Park factory workers is MAS Holdings, a $1.6 billion conglomerate that owns 48 manufacturing sites in 15 different countries, headquartered in Sri Lanka.

Aha! See, it’s that evil word ‘conglomerate’, and its value starts with a ‘B’, so it has to be super evil…

Big brands like to say they’re offering poor women economic opportunities, but what they’re really doing is taking advantage of women’s disempowerment.”

Ah yes, because these women have been dragged away from their wonderful and prosperous lives doing… err… In most cases ‘subsistence farming’ in extreme poverty with no prospects for an education or better life… no prospects until this ‘slave labor’ job came up and they grabbed it with glee because they are actually better off than they have EVER BEEN IN THEIR LIVES! 

As this excellent rebuttal article details:

Sri Lanka is not a rich country and wages are low but so are living costs. The Official Poverty line at national level for April 2016 is Rs. 3,943 per person, according to the Department of Census and Statistics.

A nurse in a government hospital would start on a salary of Rs. 15,620, and once promoted would receive Rs. 21,660. Salaries for teachers in the government service is similar, ranging from Rs.13,410 to Rs. 15,540. Like the apparel industry, both professions predominantly attract young women, although nurses naturally require a much higher level of education.

Set against the everyday realities of ordinary Sri Lankans, the basic wages of a sewing operator of Rs.18,500 seem more reasonable. Basic wages also do not include overtime and other benefits afforded to garment workers which could push their earnings well over Rs.20,000, at times going as far as Rs.30,000.

To be sure, these wages are still low and the job is demanding. The workers are undoubtedly poor and life will not be easy, but they are better off than some of their neighbours who eke out an existence in subsistence agriculture, work as maids, or are simply unemployed.

You want to talk about woman’s empowerment? How about the fact that they can suddenly earn as much as a man does, or at least the closest to it in the history of the country? How about the fact that they are no longer financially dependent on others, and can stand on their own feet if they wish? How about the fact that they can proudly provide for themselves and their loved ones in ways which were unthinkable only a few years or decades ago?

Yes the jobs are tougher and more repetitive than we would like here, and yes the pay is lower than we would accept (even when adjusted for purchasing power in the local economy), but it’s the best they’ve ever had! And by attracting more and more companies like these evil ‘conglomerates’ they will only have more opportunities and higher wages and better conditions in the future.

Don’t think about the money from your point of view, think about it from theirs:

And with all this in mind, think about the total lack of self-awareness a ‘Social Justice Warrior’ must have in order to oppose the very thing that is most helping the global poor. Think about how self-absorbed they must be in order to assume that everyone around the world has the same opportunities as them and therefore should get the same outcomes.

At what level of ‘Privilege’ must they be operating to be so unaware of the realities faced by those they pretend to be helping?

Capitalism is far from perfect, but at the risk of repeating myself, it is the greatest force for good in the history of mankind.

If SJW’s really want to make a statement about global poverty, instead of demanding that the CEO’s of these evil ‘conglomerates’ live on a seamstress’ wage for a month, how about they go and live on whatever these people would be living on if they didn’t have the job the ‘evil conglomerate’ gave them. I would pay good money to watch a bunch of SJW’s live on subsistence farming for a month. (oh wait, I think that’s called ‘survivor’…)

Maybe then they would understand why the people in these factories actually seem to be ok with capitalism, and why we should be celebrating it, not opposing it.

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