Apple vs. Epic Games…
Capitalism, the entitlement mentality, and government bailouts…
Can I rant for just a moment?….
What the heck happened to capitalism!?
Where have all the capitalist gone?
Today guys, this might come off as a bit of a gripe session but somebody needs to say these things because the fabric of our free society, the economy, and our country is starting to fray and unravel at the edges.
If we’re not careful, we may implode and be one of the great studies of powerful empires in history that have fallen….
We’ll be right up there next to the Roman empire.
Because when the mighty fall…. Oh how the mighty fall.
Capitalism and the Entitlement Mentality
So what am I all worked up about?
It’s been a progressive thing, but over the last few years I’ve seen a shift happening.
It’s a shift of thinking.
A shift of personal and business philosophy, it seems to be a slight shift… but it’s gaining momentum and I fear it’s happening on a bigger scale than I thought.
I’ll tell you what it is in a moment.
The problem I have is this… when a bad seed takes root…. Whether in a country, a family, an organization, or an individual, it can have devastating consequences.
Seeds seem so inconsequential, so insignificant, and quite frankly, so harmless.
But a seed can grow into a massive tree.
If that tree is too close to a building, it can decimate the foundation and destroy the building.
Either I’m getting older and more crotchety or there’s a shift taking place in our society that is promoting a dangerous ideology.
The philosophy that’s being promoted is that of entitlement over freedom.
The philosophy of “since I exist… I deserve”.
Our Declaration of Independence states we have been endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
First, don’t even let me get started on the fact that our forefathers mentioned the word creator in the declaration of independence.
It seems that nobody wants to acknowledge that as we try to rip God out of our schools.
But that’s a different topic for a different discussion.
Let’s go back to those rights that our creator has given us.
The right to life.
The right to liberty (otherwise known as freedom).
And the right to the pursuit of happiness.
I want to focus on #3 for a moment.. the pursuit of happiness.
It says we have a right to pursue happiness.
Pursue it!
Not necessarily have it.
That is NOT a statement saying that we have a right to BE happy.
Nobody can guarantee that.
Happiness isn’t guaranteed.
Success isn’t guaranteed.
You are not automatically entitled to anything!
I am entitled to nothing.
Having a right to pursue something and being entitled to it are two very different things.
You have a right to work, to start a business, to pursue higher education, and to earn as much as you want and as much as you possibly can… that’s capitalism.
You don’t have a right to have all those things without sacrifice….
Without taking risks…
Without the possibility of failure.
The thing that kicked this rant off to begin with was a news story I saw this week where Apple is being sued by Epic Games for…. well…. basically because they don’t like that Apple charges them to have an app in the iTunes store.
Apple Verses Epic Games Lawsuit
Here’s my message for the EPIC Games company.
If you’re going to swim in the big boys pool and have your own company, you have need to put on your big boy pants and learn to swim with the sharks.
If you’re going to use Apple’s platform and the audience and userbase that THEY have invested time and money into acquiring, then you play by their rules or don’t play at all.
If the rules they set up are pay to play… then you pay.
If you don’t like it… then don’t use their platform!
It’s your job as a company to decide which platforms are a viable option for you and if it’s in your best interest to use them.
If you don’t think it’s worth it, create your game in the traditional style and spend money advertising to acquire your own customers.
But don’t sue Apple because you don’t like their monetization methods.
EPIC games is basically suing Apple because they won’t change their business model for them and/or because they’re charging too much (in their eyes).
Here’s a question for YOU Epic games.
What’s next in the break down of a free market?….
Do you get to sue companies like Facebook for making you pay to advertise on their platform?
Do gamers and customers get to sue you because it’s not fair that there are “in-game” purchases they have to pay for?
After all, everything in the game is digital, so it should all be free.
Do you see how stupid this is?
The EPIC lawsuit is frivolous and ridiculous.
Apple should be able to charge whatever they want.
If they can get consumers to pay for their devises and service, then that is fair market value because quite frankly, a digital devise is not a necessity and certainly not a right that somebody is entitled to.
They should also be allowed to charge whatever they want for businesses to be part of their platform.
If it’s not worth it, businesses will leave.
Just the same, EPIC games should be able to charge whatever they want for their games and in-app purchases.
Otherwise, who makes the rules?… Consumers?
Does Rolls Royce or Tesla have to lower their prices because it’s not fair for the common person to not be able to drive one?
Entitlement Mentality on Steroids
Our society is playing in dangerous waters.
I think it started really getting momentum in 2008-2009 when the government starting offering bailout packages to companies.
Many of these companies got Billions… with a B.
It’s the same entitlement mentality philosophy that has been poisoning our societies youth (but on a corporate level).
When did we replace the common phrase “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” with….. we better bail them out because they’re “too big to fail”
When did we start thinking corporations were entitled to succeed.
When did they become entitled to NOT go bankrupt and fail?
That’s entitlement… and it’s ruining our free market.
Capitalism vs. Socialism
People are starting to talk about democratic socialism.
If you hear one thing, hear this.
There’s no such thing as democratic socialism.
Even if implemented, it will fall apart.
Those two things are mutually exclusive like water and oil.
Can I be an atheistic Christian?
No.
You can’t believe in a God who became a man and is the Savior of all if you don’t believe in God.
It doesn’t make sense and neither does democratic socialism.
But I digress.
Let’s go back to the corporate entitlement mentality.
The Truth Behind Corporate Bailouts
Let’s take a look at what would actually happen if we just allowed huge companies to fail.
First, they would start to fail.
Then they would fire a bunch of people to try to save the ship.
Finally, they would fail, close their doors, and everybody in the company would be jobless.
Then there would be a void in the market.
Then somebody would step in, take on the risk to fill the void, and start producing the product or service again.
They would probably change some things to make it better or more profitable so they don’t also fail someday.
Then they would hire people and start implementing their vision.
At the end of the day, you may possibly end up with a better product, a better widget.
This is the normal the rise and fall of business, the ebb and flow of a free market.
Companies (and people) must be allowed to fail.
Without true failure, there is not true success.
That’s how it works and quite frankly, it’s my mistakes and failures that have made me the man I am today… not the successes or… dare I say, the things that were given to me for nothing.
The entitlement mentality is corrupting our youth.
This mentality I’ve seen in the younger generation and it only seemed like a minor issue to me, like an annoyance.
It wasn’t until recently when I did a video on universal basic income and saw that so many people started defending it that I realized how much of an issue this thinking really is right now.
This devastating philosophy has quietly infiltrated our country.
The seeds of socialism have been planted and are slowly starting to take root.
If we’re not careful and we allow this thinking to grow unchecked, it will start to crack the foundations of our society and eventually destroy it, just like a tree that grows too close to the foundation of a building.
It will happen slowly over time.
I know people want change.
That’s causing them to be sucked into this idea and they are clamoring for democratic socialism….
It’s not the first time something like this has happened.
This has happened before.
There was a thing promoted once called revolutionary socialism…
You know… it’s not socialism, it’s revolutionary socialism.
Do you know what that turned out to be?
If you guessed communism, you’re right.
Capitalism is where the majority of things are owned by private companies and socialism (ideally) is that everything is owned by the people…. which in effect means it’s all owned and run by the government… of course… on behalf of the people.
Think about it.
Are you ready to give politicians unchecked power?
But let’s not even talk about a lack of checks and balances already in the system.
This post won’t be long enough to go into that.
But… Let’s look at how government control has worked for us so far.
The DMV, public education, the post office, public housing… these are all government run or state run institutions and entities.
Not privately owned, but publicly owned.
These are the best example of how things would run if they were not privatized.
I would argue none of those things I just mentioned are particularly efficient or cutting edge when it comes to keeping up with changes in the market or in the world.
Thinking everything is going to work better the further we get from a free market is ridiculous and dangerous thinking.
Okay… now that I got all that out of my system, let’s talk about why sticking with capitalism and a free market is the best option and the path we should continue on with.
1) Capitalism Fosters Growth
First of all, capitalism and a free market allows for real personal growth and real achievement.
It’s exciting.
I have no problem with people like Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos being worth billions.
I don’t have a problem with anybody making any amount.
I wouldn’t care if someone became a trillionaire.
If they did become trillionaires, I am grateful for any philanthropy that they would do, but they are not obligated to do it.
I think it would be dumb for them not to because happiness actually comes from helping others and serving people more than it comes from simply achieving.
But they shouldn’t be mandated or required to give back.
When people use intelligence, connections, determination, market timing, luck, and whatever else it takes to get them where they want to go, it’s all good and all fine by me.
Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffet are great poster boys for capitalism and for a free-market based economy.
They have shown what’s possible with capitalism and what is possible in a free market society.
And guess what?
They both did it by clawing their way to the top.
Jeff Bezos wasn’t born rich and neither was Warren Buffet.
They went from nothing to billions in one lifetime.
Jim Rohn said that too many people go around whining in life saying “I need, I need, I need….”
But the world responds to deserve… not to need.
And it’s an earned deserve.
You don’t deserve success because you are breathing, you deserve it only if you earn it.
I already touched on that so I’ll move on.
2) Socialism is Too Expensive
We can’t afford it and ignorance is bliss.
People want what they call democratic socialism but it’s only because they don’t really see where it will lead.
They’ve been sold on a fantasy.
It’s because what they hear is “everyone gets free health care, free higher education, and maybe even free ongoing monthly checks” in the form of universal basic income.
It’s going to be a never-ending gravy train.
But where’s the gravy coming from?
Let’s again go back to a phrase that used to be a well known cliché…. “Nothing is free in this world”.
Nothing means nothing.
Nothing is free.
There isn’t a loophole like “Nothing is free in this world…. but if we set it up a little different everything could be free.”
No, it’s a statement of absolute fact and based on timeless laws of the universe.
Newton said “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
For everything that has value, there is a price to be paid.
Want to speak another language?… You gotta pay the price and do the work.
Want to lose weight?… gotta pay the price.
Want to pass that test, get certified, learn the guitar, get a diploma, drive a car, learn to cook, and a thousand other things?…. you gotta pay the price.
Nothing is free.
That goes for free money, free health care, free education, and free anything else as well.
Somebody has to pay for it because it’s not actually free.
It costs money to educate people.
It cost money to give health care to people.
It cost money to build buildings, build roads, create infrastructure, etc.
Maybe the system we have now doesn’t work perfectly and needs adjusted, but moving from privatization to government control is a dumb idea.
We can’t afford it and convincing ourselves that semantics (like adding the word democratic on the front of socialism) will change the rules is ignorance.
It’s like having a democratically elected dictator.
Sure, it’s a democratic election the first time around.
We can elect a dictator the first time around but once someone’s a dictator they get to change the rules.
Let me be dictator for a few years….
There won’t be an opportunity to vote me out (or if there is it will be a highly rigged election that’s just for show).
4) Our Country is Already Split
We’ve already had one civil war and there are a ton of guns in this country.
We saw this divide with the elections of 2020.
This country is divided right down the middle.
Moving toward socialism and away from democracy would cause a rift in this country that could end in civil war.
While we’re fighting amongst ourselves, we’d be lucky if we didn’t get attacked by a foreign nation as well.
It’s just not worth the risk of tearing our country apart.
5) Democracy vs. Hopeful Socialism
Are we ready to risk the proven governmental operating system our forefathers set up for an unproven system that we hope will work?
That seems a bit naïve to say the least.
Hope is NOT a strategy!
It never is and making large societal changes based on hope is not a good idea.
We are currently the superpower of the world.
Let’s not roll the dice on that by throwing out capitalism, a system that has been proven to work, and replacing it with a system catered to those with an entitle mentality who want to live off the hard work of others.
That’s enough of my ranting.
I hope you got something from this post.
Related Posts:
– Inflation, Hyperinflation, & How to Prepare for an Economic Collapse
– Why Universal Basic Income Theory will NOT Work (It’s a bad idea)
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