Capitalism In America
Undeniably, capitalism is the most dynamic social and economic system ever found on earth. With its fundamental principles of individual rights, free market, and the ultimate purpose of profit seeking, the modern capitalism has created the most prosperous time ever known in human history. The recent history also witnesses that capitalism has transformed and built American into an economic superpower on earth. However, the intrinsic nature of capitalism is just like any kind of magic drug. The more powerful it is, the severer side effect it possesses. While the signs of affluence are almost everywhere in America, so are the economic inequalities, especially the evident disparities in the distribution of wealth and income. As a matter
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In other words, many American people, especially in business world, are said to be greedy for money, and are the unmatched patron of diverse financial manipulations in pursuit of monetary gains. For the sake of money alone, in America money means everything, power, status, prestige, freedom, and security; and also means something mighty enough to supersede the significance of family, love, and contentment. It is the capitalism in its barest, most stripped-down version. So, for those CEOs, the issue is not whether the compensation package is adequate for their desired livelihood or not, but whether the package is larger enough to match up with their inflated cravings and mimetic desires for power and status because they consider that “they were the true creators of wealth in society and therefore were deserving respect” (Botton 54). Conspicuously, the bigger the package is, the better, and the sky is the limit. One of the most distinctive aspects of American money culture over the past decades is just how overwhelmingly the media is bombarding the public with articles, stories and comments of glorifying money and wealth. As a consequence, there is no such corner in America that people are not obsessed with money and wealth, exemplified by nationwide lottery mania. When a big environment is money centric, it is hard to blame CEOs who strive for an eye-popping compensation since they know the importance of financial achievement, and recognize that money is the socially visible measure of their success. Moreover, it takes money to make money. If CEOs want to be more successful and powerful in the future, they need to hoard more money and wealth, just as what Adam Smith puts into words, “Wealth, as Mr. Hobbes says, is power. But the person who either acquires, or succeeds to a great
In other words, many American people, especially in business world, are said to be greedy for money, and are the unmatched patron of diverse financial manipulations in pursuit of monetary gains. For the sake of money alone, in America money means everything, power, status, prestige, freedom, and security; and also means something mighty enough to supersede the significance of family, love, and contentment. It is the capitalism in its barest, most stripped-down version. So, for those CEOs, the issue is not whether the compensation package is adequate for their desired livelihood or not, but whether the package is larger enough to match up with their inflated cravings and mimetic desires for power and status because they consider that “they were the true creators of wealth in society and therefore were deserving respect” (Botton 54). Conspicuously, the bigger the package is, the better, and the sky is the limit. One of the most distinctive aspects of American money culture over the past decades is just how overwhelmingly the media is bombarding the public with articles, stories and comments of glorifying money and wealth. As a consequence, there is no such corner in America that people are not obsessed with money and wealth, exemplified by nationwide lottery mania. When a big environment is money centric, it is hard to blame CEOs who strive for an eye-popping compensation since they know the importance of financial achievement, and recognize that money is the socially visible measure of their success. Moreover, it takes money to make money. If CEOs want to be more successful and powerful in the future, they need to hoard more money and wealth, just as what Adam Smith puts into words, “Wealth, as Mr. Hobbes says, is power. But the person who either acquires, or succeeds to a great