I've fallen in love. Well as much in love as one can be with an intangible ideology. The object of my affections is the increasingly popular strain of New new socialist tinged capitalism. [note: the repetitive use of "new" is to distinguish my usage from the right-wing neo-socialists of 1930s France.]This do-gooder incarnation of industry is a fresh development in an age where all signs point to the ominous lurching death of everyone's favorite greed machine. One of the front-runners of the movement is a shoe company by name of TOMS A wholly for-profit endeavor, TOMS nonetheless ensures that for each shoe sold another goes to a child in need.
It's high time companies realize that giving doesn't subtract from profits. TOMS isn't going out of business anytime soon. Maybe some of that hokey, mystical nonesense is true: you only get back what you give to this world.
The age of the Haliburton-ites and their brethren is ending. The new school-socialism is here, and this time around, the philosophy is more in the vein of "Gain as much wealth as you can so that you can redistribute it as you see fit." I just recently bought a pair of TOMS (the style pictured, actually). I couldn't be happier with them. They look like sweet moon shoes and I feel pretty styling knowing somewhere out there a child will be getting his own pair of shoes soon.
So are we expected to just shut down our spending habits and soley buy from these Social capitalists? Not at all. But it is significant to note how one can enjoy all the perks of free American enterprise, without selling their soul or cascading into shamefully indulgent uses for wealth.
