capitalism gets thrown around like an epithet these days. my brother didn't go to college, didn't have any family money, didn't have any social capital and comes from a historically oppressed group. still, he had an idea, started a business and sold it to a much larger company 1/

he's not larry page with it. he still needs to find new ideas, as he's only in his 40s. but in the space of about two years he was able to *transform* his life. he literally made something out of nothing. this is possible in the US. i don't think this could ever happen in france.

he was employing business school grads with MBAs. providing jobs.

Anyway, can’t prove a universal through a particular, and I realize there is deep injustice and exploitation and the floor is too low in the US compared to europe, but there is also tremendous capacity for uplift that we should hesitate to downplay or wish to do away with.