I was last night saving in my car things that I bought in the Mall, and a man approached me, he stared at my BMW and told me: Do you never ask yourself how many people could be feed with the money that you use to buy that car?
I turned around, I kept looking at him and I replied:
“I’m not sure, but I imagine that It fed many families in Munich, Germany where they build it.
Also surely fed the people that work building the tires in Japan, and fed in India and Korea the people that work making the internal components. In the same way fed in Chile to the people of the copper mines that perform the extraction of the mineral for the electric cables. Fed to the truck drivers that transport the copper and who brought the car from the port to the dealer.
Also surely, fed to the breeders who sell the leather of the seats; to the sellers, marketing expert, even to the people in charge of cleaning to the pizza maker on the corner that sell pizzas to those workers.
But, the reality is mister, and I need to be honest, I think that I really don’t know how many people has been able to feed from this car. But, surely, many more that I name you.”
The man was speechless. He turned around and gone.
Although the answer seems rhetoric, it is however, one of the biggest differences between the capitalism and the socialism.
When you buy something, you put money in the pocket of a lot of people, you give them dignity for having using their abilities, intellect and work; then it is the moment when that money has value.
When you give something to someone for nothing, you stole them dignity and self-esteem; that free money has no value for the society.
The capitalism is give freely your money in exchange of something that has value for you.
The socialism is when they took your money against your will (that is to say: steal) to give freely to someone who, in many cases, don’t do something for deserve it.
This big difference is very important, if we don’t understand it, we can´t emerge as a society, develop our countries and get out from the poverty that submits us.
Thank you.