Steering the ship of capitalism
Jake McFarland / USD Junior / Op-Ed Section / The USD Vista
Elections have consequences. After elections people often feel powerless. They feel that they cannot do anything besides wait for the next opportunity to vote in the subsequent election to create the change they want to see in their country. But there are more ways to vote than just in the ballot box. We can also vote with our dollars in our economy. Today we live in a country guided by the invisible hands of the capitalist free market. Whether you agree with the system or not, it’s the one we live in. Millions of people influence this market every day without even realizing it.
Every time you brush your teeth with toothpaste you support that toothpaste company and every time you purchase a new car you are supporting that automaker. What you are doing in these situations is voting with money to keep that company in business. Most of the small purchases we make on things like toothpaste and food are relatively mindless. For example, the average consumer in a grocery store spends less than 15 seconds deciding which milk to buy. Why is this? Because we are not taught to consider what we buy, we are just taught to buy.
What many people don’t realize is that the average American isn’t just a passenger on the ship of capitalism, but the captain. We have the power to influence which companies will still be around in the future. Today, we can create the future we want by taking the time to be more aware of which companies fit our various beliefs and contribute to the causes that we feel most passionate about. In the United States, companies are beginning to wake up to their societal responsibilities and are giving back to communities more than ever, largely because people have been demanding it.
Companies like Coca-Cola are seeking to clean up their supply chain by auditing them and making sure each person involved is treated with dignity and is not being taken advantage of by lax labor laws in other countries. Tom’s shoes donate to children who don’t have them. Even Domino’s is involved and will fix potholes in areas that their drivers deliver to. Our dynamic economy allows us to make changes to our society without the assistance of the government. When we live in a country where half the time the party we don’t like is in power, we need a way to make change without the government.
Many companies publish corporate social responsibility reports about how they give back to the community and how they tackle current issues like their environmental impact, diversity, and inclusion. One must be wary of their own reports, though, as they tend to show the company in a favorable light. I would recommend looking at how external sites and reporters rate the companies on these issues. For example, on Yahoo Finance companies are ranked for their sustainability; the Dow Jones sustainability index is another great place to look at which companies are environmentally conscious.
For diversity analysis, CEOAction provides info as to which CEOs are committed to implementing diversity and inclusion into their company. These resources as well as others can help the average consumer make more informed decisions as to which companies they want to support based on their espoused and practiced values.
We can use our money to guide the ship of capitalism in the direction that matches our values. We can use capitalism to empower us instead of disenfranchising us so long as we are active and thinking consumers. Often companies respond to issues faster than the government does because they are profit-driven and seek to follow public opinion and improve long term profit. An example of this would be when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, Budweiser was among the first to respond and retrofitted one of their factories to produce water instead of beer to aid the victims.
We as consumers need to encourage more companies to operate like this and create a better relationship between business and the people. In the geopolitical storm of today’s global economy, we often forget that we have the power to steer the ship through the chaos to the calm waters of a brighter future.