R. Duane Ireland
Recent surveys reveal that a relatively large percentage of young people in the United States view socialism favorably while holding a negative perspective about capitalism. Operationally, these survey results suggest a preference for outcomes flowing from a command-and-control structure compared to those resulting from a free market structure. This is intriguing given the number of radical and incremental innovations that are a part of this country's founding and historical commitment to and reliance on a capitalist/free market structure. Capitalism's free market structure is an economic system where property is owned privately, exchange within the structure is voluntary, and market forces determine the goods and services that firms produce and the prices they charge for them. Entrepreneurship, of course, is foundational to the innovativeness that characterizes the United States.
Considering the preference for one system over another in a somewhat more granular way, we note that today, estimates from surveys show that for 18–29-year-old people, those stating a preference for socialism range from 35 to 60 percent. Results from a Rasmussen survey highlight operational specifics of this preference in that 76 percent of under-40 voters agreed with the statement that "major industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized to give more control and equity to the people." Other reasons for the preference of socialism among parts of the US population today include perceptions or beliefs that corporations and wealthy citizens pay too little in taxes, housing costs are too high, cronyism accurately describes capitalism in today's markets, and income inequality creates too many disadvantages for lower-income households compared to their higher-end counterparts. On the other end of the potential reasons for this situation are people suggesting that the country's educational system is failing to effectively differentiate socialism's principles from those of a capitalist system. The degree to which this is an accurate conviction and what to do if it is will play out across local school systems in the years to come.
An argument could be made that a strong commitment to ethical business practices and ethical entrepreneurial practices could create positive visibility for capitalism and a concomitant reduction in an appreciation for socialism. This is not to say that entrepreneurs and those practicing entrepreneurship within established organizations operate unethically; rather, this is to say that a renewed and more robust commitment to ethical practices in general and ethical entrepreneurial actions in particular could highlight capitalism's ability to provide opportunities to all and to remediate society's problems.
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