A Response to Umair Haque’s “Six Myths About Capitalism Everyone Should Know”

Umair should be praised for coming forward with his beliefs on capitalism and the economy; Medium readers should also hear the other side of the debate.

Umair Haque, someone who I assume comes from a business background, has amassed quite an impressive bit of popularity on the Medium platform, writing about economics and the evils of capitalism. When I first joined Medium back in March, I must admit that at first I was a fan. As time progressed however, I began to notice oversimplifications and ultimately incomplete analysis of what capitalism is all about. I wanted to respond to one of his recent posts, “Six Myths About Capitalism Everyone Should Know” and much of what I think about capitalism can be a rebuttal to that plus almost everything else Mr. Haque has also written about capitalism. I want to give a response here, before providing some links of my other work on Medium that articulate the point far better, essentially coincidental counterarguments courtesy of my own views.

In his “Six myths” piece, Umair dismantles a wide range of different capitalist systems, systems that have all in his opinion produced some good, but have mostly failed to produce economic progress, leaving so many people behind. Part of that is certainly true. I also agree that people spend things on unnecessary things like McMansions (more than one) and yachts and other…