Is capitalism on the brink of failure?

As a self-declared capitalist, I still believe that capitalism remains the most effective economic model humanity has developed thus far. Its ability to drive innovation, reward risk-taking, and generate prosperity has lifted millions out of poverty and reshaped the world in countless positive ways. I say this not as an outsider, but as someone who has directly benefited from the opportunities that capitalism can offer. I started my journey in a poor and underprivileged neighborhood in India. From those modest beginnings, I was able to pursue an education, become a scientist, and later transition into a career as a lawyer. That path, that upward mobility, was made possible through the systems and incentives that capitalism creates. I know firsthand how capitalism can fuel dreams and help turn aspirations into reality.

But I also know that my story is becoming increasingly rare. Two of the most pressing criticisms of capitalism today, both of which deeply resonate with me, are the growing income disparity and the persistent failure of capitalist societies to provide for the basic needs of all their citizens.

One of the fundamental promises of capitalism is that hard work and ingenuity will be rewarded. In theory, everyone has the opportunity to succeed. In practice, however, that promise is slipping further out of reach for many. The gap between the rich and everyone else is widening at an alarming rate. While top executives, investors, and shareholders continue to accumulate immense wealth, wages for the average worker have stagnated. The cost of living keeps rising, but economic gains disproportionately flow to those already at the top. This isn’t just an economic issue; it’s a moral and social one. A society that rewards the few while leaving the many behind is on a dangerous path toward instability. 

Let me be clear: this is not a call for financial equality, nor for equal distribution of wealth. I’m not advocating that everyone should earn the same. But I do believe deeply in equitable access to resources, and in equitable wealth distribution in the sense that every honest job should afford a decent, dignified life. Anyone willing to give their best should be able to provide for themselves and their families without living in perpetual financial insecurity. Capitalism must be measured not only by how much wealth it creates, but also by how that wealth is distributed across the spectrum of labor.

Capitalist societies, particularly the wealthiest among them, pride themselves on progress and prosperity. They flaunt their economic data and talk continuously about fulfilling the dreams of their residents. Yet many consistently fail to ensure their citizens have access to life’s basic necessities: shelter, food, education, and healthcare. In nations brimming with wealth, how is it acceptable that so many are homeless, hungry, undereducated, or medically underserved? How can a wealthy nation tolerate anyone dying without access to necessary medication or medical treatment? The problem is that these essentials are often treated as commodities rather than rights. Those with resources can buy the best care and education, while those without are left to fend for themselves. These are not luxuries; they are fundamental needs. And when people are denied these, not because of laziness or lack of ambition, but because of systemic barriers, the system itself is failing or malfunctioning. The idea that market forces alone will meet these needs has proven inadequate. The market may be efficient in distributing goods and services, but it often does so without concern for equity or dignity, and this is where capitalism needs to step up.

This post is not a call to abandon capitalism, but to reform it. We must push for a version of capitalism that values fairness, dignity, and access. We need a capitalism that works for everyone, not just shareholders. No doubt organizations and their shareholders are important, but workers, families, and future generations also also equally important. This should not be just on paper or in slogans; our actions as a society must demonstrate this. That means rethinking tax structures, corporate responsibility, access to public services, and how we define progress and prosperity. That means ensuring that work is rewarded not just with wages, but with security. It means designing systems that open doors, not close them, and that lift up those who are trying to climb rather than trap them at the bottom.

Unregulated or indifferent capitalism is not sustainable. If we care about preserving this model, we must confront its failings with courage and clarity. Otherwise, the growing discontent and inequality will erode trust in the system and invite more extreme alternatives, some of which may do more harm than good. Capitalism has the potential to be a powerful force for good. But only if we recognize that its survival depends on its ability to evolve and act accordingly. My story is proof of its potential, but for that potential to be realized for everyone, we must demand a more just and inclusive version of the system that helped build it. That requires not idealism, but pragmatism—and the political will to make sure the system that has fueled so much progress doesn’t leave too many behind. Capitalism is standing at a very important juncture, and we cannot afford it to fail.

Thank you for reading, and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved. Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com

Whose scorecard are you using?

Do we really need any scorecard to evaluate our lives? Not really, but we all use one. It is inevitable to review and judge our personal and professional lives using some parameters or scorecards. The problem is we all use the scorecard handed over to us by either our parents, friends, family, religion, or society. We are told what it means to be a successful person. Some common items of that scorecard are a degree from a reputable college/university, a high-paying job in a reputed company, a nice home, and a car, even better if you have a private jet, a loving family with kids (better if they are biological), regular vacations at exotic locations, and early retirement. These are just a few parameters ingrained in our minds to evaluate a successful person. The question is not whether these parameters are right or wrong, or whether we should judge our lives based on these parameters, but whether these parameters are selected by us or by someone else. There is nothing wrong with desiring things prescribed for a successful person by the media or society if that's what we want. However, the question is do we really want them? It would be really odd if everyone in any society wanted to live their life based on one standard scorecard. Humans are complex animals and it is impossible for all of us to desire the same things unless we all are brainwashed. We all should have our own scorecard to live a more balanced and fulfilled life. But the problem is we are not taught to develop our own scorecard. Neither our family nor education teaches us to do that. We are given examples of previously successful people are are told to idolize them. The result is most of us either have no clue how to develop our own scorecard or adopt a scorecard handed to us as our own and evaluate our lives. Once we fail to develop our own scorecard, we may score high on the one we are using but still feel empty or unhappy from inside and keep wondering why are we not feeling the happiness and fulfillment that we are supposed to feel. The reason may be that what we chased we never wanted in the first place, it's like running in the wrong race and after winning not being happy with the award. Everyone has to climb their own Everest, my challenges, difficulties, and limitations are different than most around me, I cannot judge my success or failure based on someone else. Similarly, everyone needs to have their own scorecard, other's scorecards can be used as a template but ultimately we need to come up with our own. Only and only a scorecard prepared by us by carefully analyzing our goals and limitations will do justice to measuring our success and failure. 

We all have our outer success, based on the parameters that society, our family, and other people around us value, and our inner success, this what we feel based on our own desires and passions. Most of us care a lot about outer success because that's what we are made to believe to be a universal parameter to measure success. However, only we know what defines and matters for our inner success, it may or may not include all or any of the parameters set by others defining everyone's outer success, this is why I am emphasizing preparing our own scorecard and evaluating our life based on that not based on some standard template. So, whenever you feel frustrated, feel that you are a failure, or going through a low phase in your life, don't forget to ask, whose scorecard are you using?    

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com 

Fear of failure

Why do people hesitate to pursue the career of their dreams? Why do people hesitate to switch once they find their job or career boring or burdensome? Why do people hesitate to study nontraditional fields that no one around them studied? One common answer to all these questions is "fear of failure." Fear of failure is not just about failure, it is more about being judged as a failure. 

There is a difference between actually failing at something and being judged as a failure. We fail for so many reasons, lack of preparation, underestimating the difficulty, better competitors, or plain bad luck. Sometimes things because of which we fail are not in even our hands, for example, if we miss the exam because our car broke down or we miss the train, there is nothing we can do about it. Most people are not scared of these types of failures, but being judged as a failure is an altogether different animal. Even if you are doing or trying to do something you love or still trying to figure out what to do, people may judge you as a failure based on your family, social, and economic background. People judge an engineer's child just because he or she did not choose to study engineering but chose music. If a doctor's child doesn't become a doctor and chooses any other profession that is supposed to be riskier and less monetary rewarding, people judge them and many feel sympathy towards these parents as if their kids failed them. Many people from my circle assume that my kids will be doing either science or law because I have that background and both fields are considered lucrative career options. I admire and applaud kids who chose to travel a different path. It is not easy, fear of failure is not an easy thing to overcome. I face this fear, and this is why I chose science as people told me arts has no future and commerce is for business-savvy people. Both pieces of advice were completely wrong but they affected my decisions, because of fear that I may end up without any job if I didn't study science. 

Also, the Asian community overseas is stereotyped as a science and tech-savvy community, which is far from true. Just because mostly STEM-educated people from India and China come to the USA or other countries doesn't mean that everyone in India or China is only good in science-related fields. The Asians are interested in arts like writing and music, they also love cinema and theater, they also like to be entrepreneurs in areas other than science, and they also want to tell their stories. However, many Asian kids are not encouraged to take these paths and are coerced or brainwashed to take more traditional careers that are considered as safe and monetarily rewarding. 

I always encourage kids who want to pursue a different career path than the so-called safe career choices. This is not easy, ask anyone who tried this. These kids face a lot of anxiety and get a lot of unsolicited advice that is offered with good intentions but under the assumption that these kids are lost and misguided. It is not easy to try to enter a profession that is not commonly pursued in your community, where you don't know anyone, and where you don't have any example to follow from your community or family. This requires courage and self-belief, more than any other common profession that they could have chosen. Note that in these common professions, there may not have been anyone from their family, but just because these professions are so well structured there is less risk and a more defined career path that reduces entry barriers. Therefore, be proud if you are trying to chart an uncommon path. Seek the support of your family, and if they don't offer any support, then find a mentor who can support you. Be patient and believe in yourself, the path may be tough and uncertain, the entry barrier may be high, and you may face many failures, but you are on a journey to achieve something that no one around you dared to do, and that itself is commendable. Fear of failure will be there, but make that your strength and not a weakness, use that fear to better prepare yourself and give yourself the option to fail. Failures don't define us, our grit, determination, and willingness to struggle do define our character. Success is not always the ultimate destination, many times it is the journey that we take that matters more than the ultimate destination. All the very best. 

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com   

Failure can be an option

We all want to succeed. Mainly because we are taught that success is the most desired outcome of any activity in which we voluntarily engage, this is true for both, our personal and professional lives. We are taught to stay away from failures, as they hurt our careers, and our image, and make us less desirable entities. However, even though failures are not desirable, they are inevitable, especially for people who take risks or proactively seek new challenges and want to get out of their comfort zone. Failure is not easy to handle, not just because it is not on the list of desired outcomes when we start but also because we are not trained to deal with failures. We are not even taught to expect failures, even if someone predicts or suspects failure we label that person as a pessimist, a naysayer. These are just a few reasons why many people think that failure is not an option. However, failure can be an option, should be an option, and is an option, especially when we want to tread an unknown terrain.

Success or failure, both teach unique lessons, many of these lessons are exclusive to each other, what we learn from success cannot be learned from failure and vice versa. No doubt, success has its own charm and teaches us a lot, at the same time, failure has its own ways to enrich our lives. The lesson here is we need them both to experience our life to its fullest. If we fear failure, the first drawback is we become risk-averse, we try to be overcautious about everything. Being cautious is necessary and is a good thing, but being overcautious makes us fearful of every unknown aspect of life. One has to strike a balance between caution and risk, it can be different for different people, but too much of one thing is not good. Also, it is important to remember failure can be an option and is an option if we are willing to learn the valuable lessons that it provides. Without having the ability to learn lessons from failure and moving on we might only repeat the same mistakes resulting in the same results again and again.

Our fear of failure stops us from changing the status quo, challenging traditions, traveling unconventional paths, and being a risk-taker. To be a risk-taker does not mean to play with fire, that's stupidity. There is a difference between being adventurous and being stupid, there is a very thin line, but there is a line, and it's important to understand that. People who take risks or let's say dare to do something different are prone to fail. There is a reason why many don't try to break the conventional mold or try to travel a less-traveled path, there is a risk of failure, and many are not willing to face that risk. Apart from teaching us humility and the fact that there can be other factors apart from one's hard work that contribute towards the final outcome, once we make failure one of the options we open many more avenues for ourselves. If we do not worry about failure we are more prone to try new things. If we start considering failure as one of the possible and acceptable outcomes we will be more fearless in our approach, we should be able to put our 100% effort and not overly concerned about the final outcome. These things are only possible if we accept that failure can be an option.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Being average is not bad at all

Most of us consider ourselves average or people around us label us as average. We make efforts to get rid of this "average" tag as we feel it means "not good" or "below par."  We are people who try our level best, and work really hard but still can't reach that so-called top level. We are the students who, despite our best efforts can't make it to that honor roll, we can't get admitted to these so-called elite institutes or crack those entrance exams, our best writings or our oratory skills can't match many who seem to do it effortlessly. There are still spelling mistakes in our writing, our sentences sometimes don't make any sense, and we make some mistakes that get us in trouble. This list can go on but I think readers got the point which I want to make here. So, many people are termed average in conventional terms based on their professional achievements, financial status, or lifestyle. Actually, our society uses many parameters to judge how successful a person is, most of the time professional and financial success tops the list. As I mentioned earlier many people constantly try very hard to get rid of the "average" tag. It is always good to aspire to go to the next level but it is not good to lose self-confidence because of some social stereotyping. 

People who earn sufficient money enough for their needs, who are happy with what they are doing in their life irrespective of how much money they make are many times considered average or ordinary. Many times they get this tag just because they don't earn a crazy amount of money, they don't have an extravagant lifestyle and no magazine or news channel considers them as a celebrity. These people are not considered as newsmakers, money spenders, or party throwers. Their contribution or presence is hardly noticed by others as they don't stand out. In reality, the contribution of these average or ordinary people matters a lot towards the well-being of our society. Terms like average, above average, or extraordinary are relative terms. Different people use different criteria to decide who belongs to which group. I always try to focus on my efforts and my personal behavior without worrying about in which category people put me. If I know that I am giving my best under given circumstances then it doesn't matter if the outcome is average or above average in conventional terms, for me, it is giving my best matters most. What others say matters very little if I am happy with my efforts. It is important to learn from mistakes and try not to repeat them. We all make mistakes, it is impossible to avoid them. Some people learn the lesson in one shot and some learn it the hard way but learning is what matters. Next, criticism as well as appreciation are very important and should be always welcomed. Feedback from others can be used as a motivation for self-improvement but it should not be detrimental to our confidence. We need critics as well as cheerleaders in our lives. Many get affected negatively because of comments they receive from others. It is impossible to please everyone around us, there will be some criticism from someone no matter what we do. Being called an average doesn't mean something bad or there is something wrong with us, it just means people think we can do better. Average doesn't always mean below par, the meaning of the term depends on the situation and context it is used. It can be taken in a very positive way, as I said any feedback should be useful to boost our confidence not detrimental to it. Nowadays because of all these motivational pep talks, the word average or ordinary almost sounds like abuse, many people don't like these terms if they are used to describe them. If a person is happy and giving her/his best effort then it is the best possible scenario for that person and our society. Then it doesn't matter what people or society thinks about him/her according to me that person is successful. We need to focus on giving our personal best and forget about the labels given by society. Just give your best and forget the rest.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Self-discipline is the best discipline

Most of us struggle to bring some discipline into our day-to-day life. Few people can manage to live a very disciplined life, but most of us struggle. We all want to exercise regularly, but find some excuse not to do it, want to read books, but watch more TV, we want to eat healthy food, but can't resist the temptation of junk food. We try to get some motivation to bring this much-needed discipline which can make our lives better. Some find a remedy somewhere to overcome this problem, but most just keep on struggling for that much-needed discipline.

I feel the major problem here is that we always look for solutions outside as if the problem is imposed on us because of some external force. The actual problem is that I indulge in all these not-so-good (or bad) habits myself no one forces me to do these things. I prefer to eat unhealthy food, and I choose to watch TV instead of doing exercise so it should be me who need to believe that this is wrong and should be changed rather than someone else telling me to do this. As long as I feel that I am a victim of these bad habits and not the perpetrator who is doing this I will always blame those habits but not myself for whatever effect they have on me. Smoking, eating a lot of sugar, and watching a lot of TV can have a bad effect on health (sedentary lifestyle), we all know this. So, why do we still do these things? I agree that some of these things are really addictive and sometimes it's really difficult to control but the truth is we all know the bad effects of these habits and still, we do it. There are many articles, research papers, and books that explain the side (or bad) effects of these things on our health, most of us read about them, and we are aware of these things but still fail to act accordingly. Rarely any of us is forced into these habits, we all choose them ourselves. Aggressive marketing by food companies and heavy advertising affect our minds and influence our choices but I feel all this happens mainly because lack of self-discipline.

The initial part of our life is often spent under some adult supervision, they protect us, they also try to introduce some discipline in our lives. This external force imposes some rules and regulations on us. Most of us learn many good habits while going through this process. Once their control on our lives gets reduced (college days and life after that) we are free to do whatever we want. This is where self-discipline becomes really important. Self-discipline is very necessary when there is no external control. When there is no external force or pressure that can stop you from doing something (right or wrong) then self-discipline plays a major role. It's only our own mind which has ultimate authority, it controls our reactions to every stimulus from our environment. There are many laws, rules, and regulations but still, people commit crimes and break laws, that's why I feel self-discipline is a must for everyone as external constraints can only help so much. Self-discipline teaches us how to behave, and what is proper or improper under given circumstances. Patience, tolerance, and humility are some of the qualities that are becoming rare and rare. External force or pressure works only up to a certain extent, no one can force anyone to be humble or respect others' opinions. This has to come from that person's mind. Any number of rules or laws can not eradicate all corruption or discrimination from our society, only self-consciousness and self-discipline can do this, that's why self-discipline is the best discipline.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]