Mercantile Capitalism
In the Middle Ages
the consumer
went to the producer
and asked the producer
to produce something
for him.
There was no middle man
between the producer
and the consumer.
When the producer
started to sell his products
to the middle man
he no longer
saw the consumer.
The producer
saw only the middle man
and the consumer
saw only the middle man
and the middle man
was only interested
in buying cheap
and selling dear.
And the functional society
ceased to exist
and the acquisitive society
came into existence.
And everybody shouted:
“Time is money!”
Factory Capitalism
When the use of steam
was discovered
the middle men
started factories.
The craftsmen
deserted their craft shops
and went to work
in the factories
and became
factory hands.
Factory owners
turned out gadgets
to take drudgery
out of the home.
And then they took women
out of the home
and brought them
into factories.
And then they took children
out of the home
and brought them
into factories.
And men had to stay home
to look after young children.
Monopoly Capitalism
With the American Civil War,
monopoly capitalism
came into existence.
With monopoly capita1ism
came the trusts.
With monopoly capitalism
came high tariffs
for the protection
of infant industries.
With monopoly capitalism
came unionism
for the protection
of proletarianized workers.
With monopoly capitalism
came trust-busting laws
for the protection
of the buying public.
With monopoly capitalism
came Federal laws
for the conservation
of raw materials.
Finance Capitalism
With the first World War
finance capitalism
came into existence.
With finance capitalism
came installment buying.
In January, 1927,
the Yale Review
published an article
by a business man
in which he said
that installment buying
has the result
of booming boom years
and starving lean years.
Installment buying
gave us the New Era
and the promise
of a two-car garage,
a chicken in every pot
and a sign “To Let”
in front of every poorhouse.
But this promise
failed to materialize
and people found themselves
in the midst of the depression.
State Capitalism
Finance capitalism
has not been able
to employ
the unemployed.
The State
has now assumed the task
of employing the unemployed.
Economic activities
are now supervised
by State bureaucrats.
State bureaucrats
can give the people
State supervision.
State supervision
is not a substitute
for personal vision.
And without personal vision
people perish.
Personalist vision
leads to personalist action.
Personalist action
means personal responsibility.
Personal responsibility
means dynamic democracy.