Can Capitalism Survive? Chamath Palihapitiya Isn’t Sure

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Innovation and productivity growth are the most important features of capitalismThe pandemic has highlighted our lack of preparedness which is a function of innovation and productivityHistorically, innovation, productivity and wealth transfer worked in unison -everyone got a “piece of the pie”, richest to poorestAs companies increase employee compensation, the wealth gap narrows allowing for upward mobilityTrickle-Down Economics – the idea that if you put money in the hands of the wealthy, and it will trickle down to those with less – but it doesn’t“If a consumer mismanages his finances and goes bankrupt, why shouldn’t a business?” – Chamath PalihapitiyaBuybacks should be allowed only if a company: 1. Invests in R&D 2. Has a fixed gap between CEO pay and employee pay 3.  The share value is below a certain amount

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American capitalism is kind of like apple pie. We know it’s supposed to be a quintessential component of our culture, but we’re not really sure how to make it from scratch without leaving a bad taste in someone’s mouth.

This week on Morning Brew’s Business Casual podcast, the provocative and recently very viral venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya argues that today’s recipe for capitalism isn’t working.

Palihapitiya’s case against this “perversion” of capitalism looks a little like this: 

We’ve strayed tremendously from the free market system that allowed all entities, wealthy or poor, to move together in unison.To Palihapitiya, that’s resulted in a massive zero sum game between resilience and efficiency. If we want to have both, we need to make some changes. 

You might not agree with Palihapitiya. But this episode is full of thought starters guaranteed to provoke even the least civically inclined of your group chat. And just wait for Part II coming out next…

Go listen to Part I now.

+ And if you want to check out the viral interview we reference in the episode, find that here.