Capitalism without a grassroots ethos of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is nihilistic and ultimately un-useful. There is a reason that “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” a book written by Max Weber in the early 1900’s, forms a foundational social/economics thesis among modern social scientists and scholars. Written strictly from an agnostic evaluation of American ingenuity and economy, Max Weber’s book reveals a dynamic functionality between successful Capitalism and a Christian ethos. Having now lost this balance, the simple truth is that modern Capitalism, standing without this counterweight, is worthy of the criticism it often receives. Capitalism has lost its “savor” by forgetting its roots in the Golden Rule.  

I stand with many others in taking exception to Hillary Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village” because it was, in my opinion, written from a “government is best” point of view. But the fact is that it does take a village to create an economy. In other words, The American Dream is not strictly individualistic. The Christian Ethic is no small or insignificant part of American history but the Christian Ethic, while empathizing individualistic responsibility, is not completely individualist as it also supports collaborative effort and the honoring of intersectional abilities. It takes honest work and all hands-on deck to make a village and entrepreneurial enterprise at a “village” level is the way to raise all boats. 

I don’t know when the idea of money accumulation became the dominant measure of value in America, but it surely has risen to a high place in our modern system of merit. The love of money certainly drives status seekers and grifters to exceptional levels of hubris, but the love of money in the general population also drives a stake into the heart of the true catalyst of Capitalism and that is profit, being misunderstood. While a profit motive alone or making money only for money’s sake is “chasing after the wind,” a proper understanding and use of profit is essential for the functional and sustainable existence of any economic society. 

What really counts is the Marginal Propensity calculus at the local level. A Marginal Propensity calculus is a metric used to evaluate the ways that “extra” income is used in a community. In other words, when an individual or family realizes that they have income over their basic needs, Marginal Propensity measures how that “profit” is used. There is an old story told many times at Scout meetings called Stone Soup. Basically, it is an economics story about the value of sharing what you have and thereby creating enough for everyone. When profit is used to either save (at a local bank who invests in the community) or spend for local goods, the effect is multiplied as many times as it is transferred. It is the banker, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker on steroids that creates wealth for a broad spectrum of that “village.” This kind of wealth building is true Capitalism.

On July 30 2015, Vitalik Buterin launched a new entity onto the world: ETHEREUM. 

This is something unlike anything the world has ever seen; this new creation is, in essence, a decentralized global computer. Inspired by Bitcoin but with grander ambitions, Ethereum has opened up a world of new markets made of smart contracts, Web3 and NFTs. But how is Ethereum able to do this? And how can you participate in this exciting new financial world?

On April 14, 2009 a fateful event occurred in the online game World of Warcraft. There was a big upgrade planned for that day and Blizzard, the creators of the game, had decided to remove the damage effect from a spell on the Warlock class. Vitalik Buterin, an avid player of the game, was very distressed at the removal of his beloved character’s damage ability.  He has since said about the event:  “I cried myself to sleep, and on that day I realized what horrors centralized services can bring. I soon decided to quit.” He was 15 at the time and in a fit of teen angst took his first steps down the path of decentralization.

Bitcoin was released later that year in December of 2009 and showed the world a new asset class through which we can all transact in a trusted, decentralized, borderless, frictionless way over the internet. Bitcoin does one thing and it does it very well: allows the sending and receiving of tokens. While this is powerful, it’s also somewhat limited to just handling a transaction between two people and not much more.  But it also gave Vitalik the final piece of the puzzle he needed for his vision.

Vitalik took his dismay of centralized control and his knowledge of computer programming and in 2013 he set out to create something new: a decentralized global computer secured by a Proof of Work algorithm similar to Bitcoin’s. The owners and operators of the hardware used to secure the activity on Ethereum are rewarded in Eth, like Bitcoin miners are rewarded in Bitcoin. Eth is then used as the token that triggers all activity on the Ethereum network.

Anyone can learn Ethereum’s coding language, called Solidity, and can upload executable code onto the network, these are called Smart Contracts. They execute when they receive payment for the task they are coded to perform, payments are made with Eth. A user of a smart contract can send the smart contract some Eth and it will execute its commands based on the amount sent.  

Initially this gave way to ICO’s in 2016 and 2017. Much like IPO’s, Initial Coin Offerings were smart contracts written to issue a new type of virtual token at a set exchange rate against Eth. Users would receive new tokens that could be stored in their Ethereum wallets and the issuing company would receive the Eth as funding for its projects.

There was an explosion of ICO’s in 2017 & 2018, the largest and most famous was Telegram, a widely used chat app. In March of 2018, they decided to launch a new token called TON (Telegram Open Network) and were able to raise a whopping $1.7 billion dollars in Eth. Unfortunately this wasn’t entirely legal and in 2020 the SEC fined Telegram $18.5 million in damages and forced them to refund all $1.7bn to investors as they were found guilty of securities fraud by not registering the token sale with the SEC.

There were also a large number of scam ICO’s launched during that time. These projects would write some code on Ethereum and publish a website and a white paper as a proposal. The general public would then fund the project and shortly after the offering closed the creators would take the eth, shut down the project and disappear. In fact these scams were roughly 78% of all ICO projects launched in 2018 worth approximately $1.3bn. In recent years ICO’s have dropped in popularity and scammers have moved onto other methods.

Not all ICO’s ended this way however and today there are approximately 5000 successful ICOs operating in the crypto market space. Some of these have gone on to achieve their goals of creating a new type of platform and building wealth for the initial investors. 

One such successful project is Decentraland (decentraland.org). Launched in 2017, they endeavored to create a virtual world; If you’ve ever seen the movie Ready Player One or read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash then you have an idea of the virtual world they are looking to build. Access to the world can be done through a simple web browser; however, users can become even more immersed in it by using virtual reality goggles. 

Parcels of virtual land were represented on the ethereum network as tokens, known as NFTs (Non-Fungible Token) and its virtual economy was funded with a coin called MANA. MANA is created using a smart  contract  on Ethereum and when the project launched they funded their goals with an ICO. This one was successful, however, because the token had utility and has gone on to create wealth for early investors. At launch the token was worth $0.02 and today it is worth $1.73. Similarly, the land sold initially was at a value of $20 per parcel, but today some parcels go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This increase in value comes from the impressive 3,300% increase in users the platform has seen in the past year. Decentraland is an excellent example of Web3; the idea that online services can move away from the centralized nature of web 1.0 and 2.0 (i.e. Google, Facebook, Amazon) and into a decentralized structure where networks, instead of servers, underpin the services offered to users.

This idea is well represented when we look at Twitter as a bad actor in the world of free speech. The platform has centralized control over which accounts get cancelled and which are allowed to stay on. In a web3 environment, no single person or small group of people would have the ability to cancel anyone else’s account. Instead the network would vote collectively on a single set of rules that would apply to everyone equally. If anyone violates these rules, they would automatically be penalized in accordance with these collectively agreed upon rules. 

Many believe that Web3 will bring the promise of freedom that was originally envisioned when the internet first started to take hold in the 90’s. In fact we are starting to see examples of that appearing in different corners of the world. In 2021, an Australian engineer decided to use a smart contract-based lending platform to mortgage his own home using the eth he had as collateral. By going through the smart contract, he was able to bypass the banking and credit score system and was able to fund his house purchase at midnight on a Saturday without seeking approval from anyone. This is the type of freedom web3 is offering.

Another successful area that Ethereum has been able to shine is in the art world. There have been a number of successful digital artistic projects that have launched on Ethereum since 2020. These are commonly known as NFTs and they tie a piece of digital art to a token and send that token to the owners wallet. The holder of that token is granted copyright rights to that art connected to the token.

OpenSea (opensea.io) is the most successful online marketplace for these artistic NFTs and artists now have a decentralized platform on which to sell their artistic ability in the digital world. This platform has grown pretty big, in the last month their trading volume was 2.03 million NFTs valued at $2.9bn. 

Other projects are also starting to adopt artistic NFTs, such as Decentraland and Twitter where users can display their NFTs in a virtual house or virtual art gallery, or in their profile details.

Ethereum isn’t the only player in this space, it’s just the first. Since the success of the Ethereum platform there have been quite a few copycats that have emerged onto the internet. Some more successful than others, but my top picks beyond Ethereum would be Binance Smart Chain (BNB), Solana (SOL) and Lightning Network (BTC). The first two operate very similarly to Ethereum as their own independent networks, where coders can upload their own smart contracts and in fact a number of projects have already launched on these platforms. 

The last one is slightly different, however. Lightning has been built on top of the Bitcoin network to give it the ability to handle a larger number of transactions at a cheaper rate over its innate capabilities, while still taking advantage of the massive security provided by Bitcoin.  This initial capability of lightning has allowed for one of the largest use cases of Bitcoin to take off in the country of El Salvador. In 2020, the president of El Salvador declared that Bitcoin was now national tender and could be used to buy goods and services without any taxation. The country released a wallet app built on lightning to allow for a very large number of transactions to occur at very cheap rates (fractions of a penny per transaction) and the country has now fully embraced it as a medium of exchange. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has decried the move and urged the President to cancel his Bitcoin plans but it has fallen on deaf ears. In a similar move, the Central African Republic, which is made up of Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, has recently adopted Bitcoin as a means of transacting within the group, in addition to its current CFA currency backed by France. 

Decentralization is starting to take hold in the world and as an interested investor there are a few ways you can get in on the action. 

The first thing you need is some Eth and an Ethereum wallet. To get some Eth you’ll need to use an onramp service where you can buy Eth for dollars. I recommend Coinbase (coinbase.com), once you connect your bank account to your newly created coinbase account, you’ll be able to purchase some Eth. From there you’ll need a browser-based wallet, I recommend metamask (metamask.io). This will install an extension onto your browser that will give you an eth address where you can send your newly acquired Eth from Coinbase into Metamask.

Now that you have some eth, go take a look at some of the services I have mentioned in this article. I would also recommend looking at sushiswap (sushi.com). Born from a previous service known as Uniswap, Sushiswap came about in 2020 and is a collection of smart contracts that allow users to earn yields on tokens they stake on the network. Lending, borrowing and trading services between the supported tokens are also offered through sushiswap and it is emerging as the most successful decentralized banking network on Ethereum. 

Born from teen angst, Ethereum seems to have disrupted the world financial system and its philosophy of decentralized finance (DeFi) is slowly taking hold from large countries all the way to individual investors; From Celebrities such as Justin Bieber who paid $1.3 million for an NFT to El Salvadorian merchants using it to trade daily goods. As with many innovations Defi will take hold of the financial world slowly at first and then all at once.

Over the past decades, Saratoga County has been transforming from an area of agriculture and vacation homes to a suburban region full of economic growth and technological innovation.  

With local divisions of companies, such GLOBALFOUNDRIES, General Electric, SunPower Inc. and Solar City, comes plenty of job opportunities. Saratoga County’s schools have been at the forefront of industry-academic partnerships. For example, Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) offers hands-on training for the workforce in their state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories at the TECH-SMART Campus in Malta. 

To further prepare students for college and the workforce at an early age, Ballston Spa High School students have the opportunity to participate in the International Baccalaureate® Programme. The International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) at the high school level is a rigorous two-year, internationally recognized program for juniors and seniors. Soon the Ballston Spa Central School District will have fully transitioned their 6-8th graders into the International Baccalaureate® Middle Years Programme. 

“The program is really preparing [high school] students and giving them the skills to be to be good college students,” said Mrs. Nicole Stehle, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Coordinator. “They work really closely with their teachers to develop the skills that are needed to be successful in college classes.” 

Juniors and seniors are given the option to pick and choose courses or enroll fully for an IB Diploma, in addition to the NYS Regents Diploma. IB has their own graduation requirements, and students who are fully enrolled have committed to continuing studies in a second language and upper-level coursework in all subject areas. 

“Classes are inquiry and discussion based. Students in these classes are explaining, through speaking or writing, what they know and how they know it,” said Mrs. Stehle. “These skills take them far, whether going into the workforce or college-level classes.” 

Mrs. Stehle sits down individually with each student interested in the program to learn about their goals and counsel them in the right direction, whether that is to pick and choose courses based on their interests or to work towards the IB Diploma. Each student in the IB Programme at Ballston Spa High School has their own personalized 2-year plan.

IB is a great opportunity for any high schooler, as 95% of students who participate in this open-enrollment program go on to a four-year institution. Students from Ballston Spa High School who have gone through the program to pursue a higher education attended well-known, top-ranked colleges and universities such as Cornell University, Brown University, The University of Chicago, The University of Florida, SUNY schools across the state, and many more. 

Introducing the Middle Years Programme

Ballston Spa applied for and was accepted into the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in June, which is school-wide for 6-8th graders. It could take up to three years for the school to transition fully, and the process is already underway. Teachers will be trained in IB classroom practices and unit plans, while the students will learn about the profile traits of an IB learner. 

Helping to bridge the gap into high school is the 8th grade service project, in which students work to identify community or international problems and come together to research a solution. Among other things, the problems can be related to charities or organizations in Ballston Spa and can be an educational presentation or community service. The intention is for students to learn what makes a good citizen and how they can insert themselves into their community, along with problem solving skills, critical thinking, and building character. 

“We are really excited for the community,” said Ballston Spa Middle School Principal Ann Laszewski, who came to Ballston Spa with a lot of experience overseeing the MYP in her prior school district. “There are not a lot of IB schools in upstate New York, and businesses in the community will be excited to hear about this.” 

Most importantly, the goal of the continuum from the MYP to the IB is for students to understand that school is a web of interconnected curriculum. Students, along with their parents, will see the culmination of the hard work they have put in over the years and be prepared for whatever their bright futures have in store for them. 

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Have you ever been curious about the Navy’s gated installation in Saratoga or its secluded, seemingly more secretive base in Ballston Spa? More importantly, have you ever wondered about the opportunity that these bases, hosts to some of the Navy’s best and brightest Sailors, present to your business? Saratoga Business Report sat down with senior Navy officials and the County Chamber of Commerce to learn about the bases, their relationship with our local business community, and the potential they hold to help your business thrive.

Bases are Economic Engines

Economists agree that military bases benefit the communities that host them. Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University, explained in a 2019 interview with an NPR affiliate that while service members, veterans, and their families are exempt from sales tax while shopping on-base, their off-base spending “far outweighs tax-free incentives.” Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, added that bases “cushion” regions during economic downturns. In the face of rising inflation and the prospect of uncertain financial times ahead, the Navy will execute its mission undeterred; it will continue bringing Sailors and families into our county, who inject money and talent into our local economy.  

Sailors in Saratoga

The Navy bases in our region operate under the leadership of commanding officer Commander Raymond Gamicchia and executive officer Lieutenant Tucker Bonow. Gamicchia and Bonow explained that the Navy’s presence in our region extends beyond the recognizable bases in Saratoga and Ballston Spa. The Navy also operates a health clinic in the Spa city (1 West Ave, where West Ave meets Church St), and an Operations Support Center in Schenectady. Between the bases, Gamicchia and Bonow oversee operations that support over 93,000 service members and veterans across three states. Notably, local Sailors also provide Military Honors for veteran funerals at Saratoga National Cemetery.

The Navy’s largest facility in our area is the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa. Hosted on the Kesselring Site, one of two local installations operated by the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, the base boasts one nuclear reactor used to train Sailors to serve aboard aircraft carriers and submarines. The Navy’s smaller base on Washington St supports the Sailors and families assigned to Ballston Spa with administrative, recreational, and managerial functions.  Presently, the reactor is offline for refueling, so the bases are staffed by only 3,000 civilian employees, military members, and families. When the Navy places the reactor back in operation and students return to Ballston Spa in late 2023, Gamicchia estimates that their population in our community will balloon to 4,500. Due to the sensitive nature of their mission and the years of intensive nuclear schooling that students complete prior to reporting to Ballston Spa, Gamicchia explained that the Sailors stationed in Saratoga are top-notch. “Mature, vetted, and committed to service, they are among the brightest that our nation has to offer.”

Interactions with Local Businesses & Opportunities for Entrepreneurs 

Gamicchia and Bonow also detailed how local Sailors and their families interact with our local business community. Aside from the sales, rent, and tax revenue that Sailors generate within our community, Gamicchia highlighted the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation events that host utilize vendors. Bonow added that the Navy has signed a contract with local YMCAs to provide fitness programs and classes to Sailors and families.

When asked about how the local business community could evolve to better meet the needs of Sailors, Gamicchia and Bonow outlined the following areas as ripe with opportunity:

• Housing. Gamicchia stressed how difficult it can be for Sailors to find quality housing close to their places of duty, particularly during track season. For property managers willing to offer preferential pricing options to Sailors and their families, the population of these bases offer several advantages over average renters. While unable to meet peak rental pricing during track season (which prices most military members out of our community) Sailors offer stability unmatched in other renter populations. Sailors are assigned to our area on orders spanning between two and three years, they receive a monthly stipend for rent, and they network. When one Sailor moves out of a rental that suited their needs, they tell their comrades; if they recommend the unit, another Sailor will quickly move in. Offering preferential pricing options to Sailors seeking to rent in our region not only shows support for the military community, it also provides property managers with access to a continuous stream of stable, reliable renters.
  
• Childcare. The bases in our region unfortunately do not offer any childcare services, which presents a real challenge to our Sailors and their families. According to Gamicchia, the Navy’s Fleet and Family Support Center is working to build relationships with local daycares and family centers; if your business could fill this need, reach out to them at 518-886-0200, ext. 146.
  
• Talent. Another challenge impacting military families is spouse employment. As Sailors receive orders to move around the country to meet the needs of the Navy, military spouses are often left to abandon their career and begin anew every few years. This population presents a deep pool of diverse, experienced talent that the Navy has brought to our community. Like the pricing of rental units, local businesses willing to offer preferential hiring options to military spouses will not only show their tangible support to the military community, but also benefit from gaining access to this skilled talent.
  
• On-base Jobs. According to Bonow, the Navy is currently hiring for positions in their Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department, Commissary, and Exchange. When the student population returns in late 2023, Bonow also anticipates that the Navy will hire several family advocacy counselors from the local population. Interested individuals should visit www.usajobs.gov for more information.  

Saratoga is a Navy Town

The relationship between the Navy bases and our local community runs deep, according to Denise Romeo of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Romeo, who repeatedly referred to Saratoga Springs as a “Navy Town” detailed the cooperation between the bases and our community.

Estimating the economic impact of the bases to be $5 million in annual spending at local shops, restaurants, and businesses, Romeo explained that the Chamber takes an active role welcoming Sailors into our community. Each of the last four base commanders has joined the Chamber as an ex officio board member and has been welcomed to address Chamber membership. These addresses present commanders with the opportunity to voice the evolving needs of the bases and steer the relationship in a way that best suits them. The Chamber also works to improve everyday life for Sailors in Saratoga County. From 2016 to 2019, the Saratoga Veterans Business Council, a subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce, worked with the Navy, New York state government, and Saratoga Springs City Hall to secure a $450,000 grant to fund construction of a new field house on the Saratoga base. Built in 2019 by Munter Enterprises of Middle Grove, the field house serves as a stalwart example of how the Chamber and base command can work together to meet the needs of Sailors and generate opportunities for local businesses. The facility, according to former base commanding officer Commander Phillip Boice, “is a great reminder of how much the community of Saratoga Springs, and the state of New York, appreciates the military.”

Romeo added that the Chamber, in conjunction with the VA and the base, has scheduled a job fair at the Saratoga Springs base on March 25, 2022; businesses looking to hire separating Sailors, veterans, and their family members are encouraged to attend. If you or your business would like to be represented at the job fair, contact Denise Romeo at dromeo@saratoga.org.

When asked if she had any parting comments for local business owners or Sailors housed in these bases, Romeo responded robustly. To business owners, “you need to understand what we owe these bases.” To Sailors, “we are grateful that you are here, we are proud to have you here, and we want to welcome you all in the best way we can.” For their part, Sailors and families seem to be responding well. Commander Gamicchia himself paid the ultimate compliment to our community; after 30 years of Navy service that took him across the globe, his family made the decision to permanently settle in Saratoga “within six months” of arriving here.

The Importance of Estate Planning for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Having a valid, legally enforceable, and well-thought-out estate plan in place is important for every adult person to make a priority.  Different individuals at varying stages of life, facing different situations, will each have unique goals and needs, both personally and professionally. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all estate plan. In addition, the documents that make up an estate plan can often be quite complex when properly drafted, and it is much wiser to seek the assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney rather than turning to “do-it-yourself” forms or online resources.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs share a number of common concerns that should be addressed in their estate plans.  “Who will manage my business and affairs if I get sick, die, or become otherwise incapacitated?” “How do I protect my personal assets if my business gets sued?”  “How do I prevent my children from squandering my assets if they are still young when I die?”  “What will happen with my business if I die?”  With the proper legal documents in place, these questions can all be answered, and your wishes expressed in a legally enforceable manner.

Before taking a look at some of these concerns and how to address them, let us first define what we mean when we refer to an “estate plan.”  Your estate plan is a collection of legal documents that lay a framework for what should happen should certain, generally negative, events occur such as death or incapacity. These documents describe what you want to happen in such situations and give legal authority to specified trusted individuals to carry out such wishes and otherwise handle your affairs, both personal and financial, should you not be able to do so yourself. Some of the more common documents found in an estate plan that are particularly relevant to small business owners and entrepreneurs are a Last Will and Testament and a Power of Attorney.

 A Last Will and Testament is essentially a set of instructions describing what happens to your assets and affairs when you die.  The person you nominate as your Executor is the individual you want to be in charge and carry out these instructions. As a small business owner, if the person you select as your Executor is not the person you would want to continue to run or to wind down your business after you die, you can designate someone else specifically for just that role. For example, if you name your spouse as your Executor but feel he or she would not be able to competently manage your business, you can appoint someone else like a trusted employee to manage the business for the benefit of your estate beneficiaries. If you feel it would be more advantageous to your beneficiaries for your business to be sold rather than continue to operate, you can direct that it be sold and even specify conditions regarding such sale should you choose.

Your Will can also set forth conditions for distributions to beneficiaries. For instance, you can specify that if a beneficiary is under a certain age at the time of your death, such beneficiary’s share of your estate assets shall be held in trust for his or her benefit until he or she reaches the specified age. You can nominate someone to act as trustee to manage the assets of such trust account until the beneficiary reaches the set age. For some people, there may be reasons to create an inter-vivos trust in addition to a Will, but we will leave that discussion for another article.

A power of attorney is a document that gives legal authorization to a specified individual or multiple individuals to handle any non-medical matters for you while you are still alive, should you be unable to do so yourself.  This document can be drafted in a way to give a very broad scope of authority to the agent(s) you designate, or you could limit the authority to act in only certain matters.  An enforceable and well drafted power of attorney can be an invaluable document for a small business owner because it will allow someone to continue to manage the business in the event of an incident making you as the business owner unable to do so yourself.

Amid the increased amount of uncertainty that has been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the questions prompting the need for an estate plan have come to the forefront of more people’s minds than ever before.  The above is just a small sample of potential issues that small business owners may face and the legal documents they should consider having in their estate plan.  Do not wait until it is too late. Contact an experienced estate planning attorney and get the proper documents in place to protect your business, assets, and family and ensure your affairs will be handled as you intend in case of incapacity or death.

Phillip Vacchio, Esq. is a partner at the Shivers Law Group and of Counsel to Ianniello Anderson, P.C.

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Helping You Build A Financially Healthier Business

It’s 11 a.m. on a cold Wednesday morning and Sabrina Houser is at home in Saratoga Springs with her beloved dog, Pearl. Looked at another way, it’s 11 a.m. on a cold Wednesday morning and Houser is fully immersed in her job as CEO of CapitalCFO LLC, albeit with all the comforts of home in the company of her canine muse. That’s because Houser – who works from home – founded CapitalCFO to help companies and organizations that need remote or on-site professionals to fulfill vacant – but critical – roles in their workplaces.   

First and foremost, Houser listens. She makes sure she understands the scope of a client’s “pain points,” the areas in which the lack of staff is slowing down or impeding the stability or growth of a company. It may be that nobody is there to answer the phone when potential clients call, it may be that payroll functions don’t fall into anybody’s job description, it may be that recruitment expertise is nobody’s bailiwick, but one thing is sure: Sabrina Houser has a solution.

“Some of the companies we serve need someone full time, some only need a professional for 20 or seven hours a month. We can fill those needs on all points on the spectrum,” Houser says. “Some companies need one person who can do a lot of things, some companies need a single person to do a single specific thing. We can help. If a company is running up against a brick wall trying to get something done without someone to do it, I encourage them to outsource the function to us.”

Prior to her current career, and brushing aside a brief flirtation with the idea of being a lawyer, Houser spent 20 years as the CEO/CFO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, where she served in multiple roles, as many nonprofit leaders must for organizations with limited budgets and seemingly endless demands. So, the versatile Houser knows how to work with smaller companies that can’t afford to hire full-time staff, which incurs the costs of recruiting and onboarding, overhead, office space and equipment, and benefits. Instead, she finds the right person for the right fit for the right amount of time. Some of her professionals will come to an office site, others work from their homes. Houser tailors CapitalCFO contracts to fit the tasks and budgets of clients. It’s a win-win-win for Houser, the client company, and the contractor she places in the position.

“It allows everybody involved to be flexible,” points out the wife of a teacher and mother of two young kids, who can testify personally to the importance of being flexible when there are other people whose priorities require her attention. “Everyone’s needs can be met. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here.”

To pair the appropriate contract employee with the job, Houser and her company’s directors have created a roster of diverse professionals annotated with specifics like whether they’re willing to travel to a job site or prefer to do everything remotely, and whether they’re interested in a long-term assignment or a short-term gig. Houser peruses Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and other sources in search of both clients and professionals she might pair. (In addition to the Capital Region, because of her company’s flexibility, she has been able to serve clients in California, Florida, Chicago, and even London, England.)

“My commitment is to hire two new employees per month to keep our company competitive,” says Houser. “We have a phenomenal team.”

Outsourcing is as old as the corporation. One business arranges with another to make a widget or provide a certain service that it cannot do itself, or does not wish to do, so that it can focus on the parts of the business it does best. Outsourcing is not a tactical option that can help a firm save a few dollars here and there, but a strategic necessity. By outsourcing, firms can achieve more than cost-saving, but also access to better processes or efficiencies, or learning more effective management procedures. By outsourcing, you gain knowledge to superior knowledge and capacity.”

“It’s Time to Talk Sense About Outsourcing,” By Morris Cohen, professor of management and logistics, in Knowledge@Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

Outsourcing allows you to get more done and trust important tasks and processes to professionals without having to actually grow your team in a significant way, including for accounting, marketing, sales, information technology management, administrative tasks, customer service, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, research, and human resources.”

United States Small Business Association

Despite what Houser calls her “Chicken Little mentality” – always thinking the sky was about to fall – her company has taken off like a comet. “When the pandemic started, I felt validated, like ‘Yup, the world is going to end now’,” she recalls, laughing at herself. “Instead, I stayed inside and wrote my own success story.”

Part of what the company is doing is listening to the pain points and filling a need. Business owners and employees are looking for what model works best for them when a full-time person is not necessary. For example, who’s going to answer the phone and talk to clients when the business owner is out in the field doing the work? That’s where we come in as a phone concierge, to talk to customers and filter out spam.”

Saratogian Sabrina Houser, founder and president, CapitalCFO 

CapitalCFO LLC provides professional:

• Bookkeeping
• CFO services
• Nonprofit consulting
• Virtual phone concierge
• Recruitment 
• Personal finances consulting
• Payroll management

She adds that since the pandemic started, people have gotten used to working remotely and many now prefer it, which is a plus for her business, “because it allows for more flexibility. Yes, some of our contract employees do travel to an office, but many we meet over Zoom.” Her company even offers online professional development courses created in-house. 

“I help people find people. Instead of viewing us as a cost, we are ultimately a savings to a company that doesn’t have to waste time, energy, and resources on the wrong person in a job, or have to say ‘no’ to potential business. I do have – let’s be honest here, always have – some ideas for next steps, a vision of how to help companies outsource their C suites. It’s challenging to network remotely, but we have to develop strategies for that as well and see what other pain points we can help clients with. There’s a lot of juggling to make it all work, but the good news is: It works!” 

Reach Sabrina Houser at 518-350-4020.

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“If there’s a financial need, we can find a solution and deliver that solution in a very personal way.”

Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company has all the products business owners need from loans to business accounts to payroll assistance, according to President and CEO David S. Demarco.

“What we pride ourselves on and strive for is to build a business/banking relationship,” Demarco said. “We get to know the business, and then recommend solutions using our products.”

One important product the bank offers with business accounts, he said, is fraud protection. “One of the biggest issues is fraud,” Demarco noted, for businesses today.

The bank also offers a full slate of insurance products through its own insurance company, Upstate Agency. “We offer health insurance, property, casualty, and workmen’s comp,” Demarco said. 

Small businesses can get credit cards through the bank that display their company logo, Demarco said, which helps with name recognition when employees make business purchases in the community. Merchant processing, the ability to accept credit card payment from customers, is another product to benefit small businesses.

The bank also offers a payroll service, and programs to help employees prosper, such as 401K plans. “If there’s a financial need, we can find a solution and deliver that solution in a very personal way,” Demarco said.

Noting that the bank offers online banking, Demarco stressed that the bank works hard not to let modern convenience overshadow the personal approach. “As much as you hear about the digital transformation of banking, it’s the small business owner that still wants more of a relationship. They want a banking team that will listen and provide solutions.” 

Demarco recalled once visiting a business customer. He noticed that they had a small gym in the warehouse. Asking about it, he was told it was for employee use, before or after work. “Oh, you offer that to your staff?” Demarco said. “Have you talked to your health insurance broker? That may save you money.”

The business owner looked into this option, and did save money. Demarco stressed that this all came about because he visited the business on sight. “It’s easier as bankers to understand what the needs are when you can see and touch and kick the tires, if you will,” he explained. “By being present and not on a Zoom call, you can learn a lot more.”

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“The more I know about you and your business, the more quickly I can react.”

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Local banks give business owners the best of both worlds: modern convenience combined with personal connection.

“We really try to work with the small business,” said Christine Mesick, Vice President of Adirondack Trust Company. “We customize what we do to each borrower.” The bank offers all the standard loans, including Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs that offer low down payments and flexible terms. Express loans are also available.

Mesick said bank staff can tailor each loan to the needs of the company, working quickly as needed.

“When the Payment Protection Program hit, the teamwork that we pulled off to get that program out and that money into the community was pretty impressive,” Mesick remembered. “We were live the first hour it came up. The whole team was in here.” She even remembered the Bank President, Charles V. Wait, Jr., out on the floor taking drink orders and bringing food to employees. “It was like in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’,” she said.

“There is a ton of history here with this bank and with this community,” Mesick noted. The bank has a lot of repeat business customers, and is always open to fostering new relationships. Some companies are referred to the bank by their accountants, Mesick said. Others find the bank on their own. “We get people who show up in the lobby. They can find us online. We try to keep ourselves accessible. And the bank’s been here forever; it’s not a new name.”

Mesick said one of the enjoyable aspects of her work is watching local businesses grow. She used the example of Lazy Dog Cookie Company of Ballston Spa, known for gourmet dog treats. “It started in the couple’s kitchen,” she said. “We started out with a small line of credit for them to buy inventory. They grew and grew, and now they lease a 10,000 square foot warehouse. We have their treats in our branches.”

Mesick said the important thing for businesses to remember when it comes to having a positive relationship with their local bank is to maintain open communication. “The more I know about you and your business, the more quickly I can react. It’s that constant communication, just staying in touch and getting to know each other.” Plus, the communication makes the experience of borrowing and lending more personal. “I’m having fun,” Mesick said. 

CASE STUDY – Anything But Idle: The Lazy Dog Cookie Co.

The Lazy Dog Cookie Co., Inc. is the brainchild of Amy Augustine. In 2001, the microbiologist began making peanut butter dog treats out of her kitchen for her colleagues. She and her husband Keith, now the vice president of sales for Lazy Dog, have always loved dogs, but haven’t always loved the ingredients found in typical dog food and treats. When they saw how much Amy’s coworkers liked her all-natural homemade treats, she signed up for a booth at their local farmers market, at that time, in Pennsylvania. The treats were a hit. And so, a business was born.

Fast forward to 2005…a move has placed them in their new community: Saratoga County. Once again Amy set up shop in their home, and her business continued to grow.

But with that success and fast growth came the need for financial tools to help the business scale. And with each move came a new bank that didn’t understand their business; so, until Lazy Dog found Adirondack Trust, the Augustines financed business needs with personal credit.

“We stayed with Adirondack Trust because we liked it the best,” Keith said, explaining that the other large, national banks simply didn’t take their business seriously.

Adirondack Trust provided the Augustines with a Small Business Administration (SBA) working capital line of credit to help consolidate credit-card balances. The line of credit helped them to build a stable base for their business, without having to dip into personal funds, like many startups do. They also are insured by Amsure, Adirondack Trust’s independent insurance agency.

In 2007, the business had grown enough that Keith resigned his corporate sales job, and completely dove into Lazy Dog with Amy, and hasn’t looked back. Since 2008, Lazy Dog has been headquartered in Ballston Spa, but its reach is far beyond the small town. Now, Lazy Dog treats can be found almost anywhere dog treats are sold: from local pet shops to PetSmart and Chewy, all across the United States and Canada. Lazy Dog’s expanding line of products now include items like Pup-PIE®s to celebrate life’s special occasions, Mutt Mallows®, Treat them with LOVE!® crunchy biscuits, a whole make-at-home line, and even a children’s book—Hairiot Found Home—about one of the couple’s beloved rescue pups.

“A lot of people don’t even realize we’re local,” said Keith, “but we’re rooted in the community, and want to be where our community is. We love it here.”

“This is the type of relationship career bankers wish for,” said Chris Mesick, Lazy Dog’s commercial lending officer at Adirondack Trust. “It is an honor to play a small role in their success.”

“The Lazy Dog Cookie Co., Inc.® is a perfect example of folks who worked hard and put in years of sweat equity to successfully build their business,” she reinforced.

“Regardless of how big we get, we feel supported,” Keith said of their relationship with Adirondack Trust and Mesick. “Our bankers help find solutions for anything, which has been so important during our years of rapid growth.”

“It’s not like a big corporate office,” he continued. “I know that when I call Adirondack Trust, someone will personally take care of us.”

Fellow local dog lovers are invited to sample The Lazy Dog Cookie Co., Inc.® treats at most Adirondack Trust Company branches, while supplies last. These all-natural treats come in a variety of delicious flavors, such as Candied Maple Sweet Potato, Ginger Glazed Pumpkin Carrot, Cinnamon Swirled Peanut Butter, Crushed Peanut Sprinkled Banana, and Toasted Vanilla Peanut Butter. All treats contain limited ingredients that are good enough for humans.

To learn more about The Lazy Dog Cookie Co. Inc.®, and to find out where to purchase their products, visit www.lazydogcookies.com. 

“Charmed” isn’t a word one expects to hear from climate experts, but Kathleen Draper, a member of the International Biochar Initiative’s board and US Director of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence, has coined the word “biocharmed” to describe reactions to the emerging use of biochar technology.

For hundreds of years civilizations have leveraged our planet’s abundant natural resources, sometimes for the greater good, and sometimes simply for personal gain. But this has come at a cost to our environment. Industrialization and population growth have simultaneously depleted natural resources from the Earth while introducing harmful chemical composition in and around the planet threatening our future in many ways: clean water, crop production, clean air.

The big question is: How do we keep the wheels of progress turning while acting as good stewards of our environment?

Something is Happening, Right Here in Saratoga County.

Enter eco-capitalist Ray Apy. An energetic 54-Year-old, Apy found himself looking for his next act after selling his company Annese & Associates – an IT firm in Clifton Park – to Minnesota-based ConvergeOne. After taking over as CEO in ‘08, Apy had grown the business to annual sales exceeding $100 million by 2014.

“After a few months of ‘retirement’ I was itchy to try something else, and knew I wasn’t ready to retire. I looked around at a few very different options and, as these things often happen, a referral from a friend lead me to the Midwest where I met a guy who had been doing some impressive work with alternative technologies in agriculture. As we talked more, the potential – beyond agriculture – just grew.”

What started as a conversation between two entrepreneurs blossomed into Northeastern Biochar Solutions, the parent company of Saratoga Biochar Solutions (SBS.)

“Our differentiator seemed to be this technology’s ability to significantly address a number of globally pressing needs, from waste disposal to agricultural enhancement to carbon capture, in a win-win way. The environmental and economic benefits are real and really significant,” according to Apy. “Our pillars are sustainability, innovation, ingenuity, and technology. We are in the business of resource recovery”

As the world faces growing global challenges such as constrained resources and a ticking clock, Apy realized the best solutions would have to achieve multiple goals, be simple, and cost-effective.

“The technology behind biochar is hundreds of years old. It is low tech tweaked and adapted to solve complex modern problems,” he says.

Saratoga Biochar Solutions has identified what Apy calls “an ideal location.” The plant will be constructed on six vacant acres near the Hexion Inc. formaldehyde plant in the 243-acre Moreau Industrial Park, located near Exit 17 of the Northway. “There are no immediately adjacent neighbors who might worry about trucks coming and going, and other industries might be drawn to this location to take advantage of cogeneration energy, by-products of our process; another win-win.” 

When up and running, SBS will have the capacity to produce approximately 65 tons of biochar per day. “Considering the vast amounts of municipal waste out there it is conceivable we will be turning away raw material,” according to Apy who, along with his partners, is eying additional plant locations in the northeast. “We are 80% of the way with our beta site and we have learned a lot. From this point on we will be ‘cutting and pasting’ – adapting and fine-tuning for future sites – what we are learning along the way. It is very scalable and transferable technology.” 

Saratoga Biochar Solutions will use a proven and proprietary thermal treatment technology process to dehydrate and treat biosolid waste materials in an environmentally safe way.

Professor of energy resource economics at SUNY-ESF Tristan Brown, a thought leader at the New York State level, is in a pragmatic panic mode: “all the talk of ‘net zero’ carbon emissions is not enough, we need to find ways to be carbon negative, and we need to sequester – catch and hold – at least 50% of what we emit. Efforts like Saratoga Biochar Solutions will be critical to our success,” he says.

Burnt Toast and Silver Bullets

“I describe biochar to my mother this way” says Kathleen Draper, “think of burnt toast, that’s a basic biochar, an organic material that’s burned.” 

People having been burning things forever – accidentally or on purpose – with little need to think about it, whether there might be better ways. It just works. But now there’s an acknowledgment that better ways must be found, and a “technology” that has been around for hundreds of years can reduce waste while creating positive byproducts [soil enhancement, cement and other building and packaging products as well as usable energy cogeneration]. That’s biochar.

Draper is a veritable pied piper of biochar. Speaking with her even briefly begs the question “this sounds too good to be true, is it?” She laughs and says “no, it is not too good to be true; so many people have asked me that same question that I’ve identified the Five Stages of Falling in Love with Biochar.”

Why Fall in Love With Biochar? Well, Biochar Can:

• Reduce biosolid volume by up to 95%
• Destroy harmful chemicals, including PFAS
• Is carbon neutral to negative (Biochar has significant potential as an approach to carbon sequestration: capturing, saving, and putting carbon to good use in soil)
• Improves plant growth and enhances crop yields, increasing food production and sustainability in areas with depleted soils
• Create clean energy from biosolids
• Produce beneficial byproducts 
• Significantly reduce trucking (emissions and cost) 
• Cost-competitive with stable, predictable pricing.

A Growing Challenge with Diminishing Options

By 2050 the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion people, all of whom will require food and energy. That is 9.8 billion people producing trash and waste. 

How do we balance economic progress with environmental preservation? This is a serious question that humanity has been grappling with over the past 50 years. 

The U.S. alone produces seven million dry tons of biosolids annually, with limited options for safe, sustainable disposal. 

Q: What are Biosolids?
A: Biosolids are a product of the wastewater treatment process. During wastewater treatment the liquids are separated from the solids. Those solids are then treated physically and chemically to produce a semisolid, nutrient-rich product known as biosolids.

Current methods of disposal – including landfills, land application, incineration, and even composting – can harm the environment and contaminate our clean water supply.

Example of the Biosolid/Biochar Life Cycle:

Municipalities convert their raw sewage waste into biosolids.

Municipalities then pay waste removal companies to haul the biosolids to landfills. Moratoriums are forcing haulers to travel further and further and pay higher typing fees.

In the new model, those haulers would deliver their biosolids to Saratoga Biochar Solutions.

SBS uses a proprietary thermal treatment technology (Pyrolysis) to dehydrate and treat the biosolid waste.

This process converts the nutrient-rich organic biosolids into engineered biochar, a carbon rich, carbon-bonded granular fertilizer end-product.

This is a problem for municipalities, businesses, people, and the planet.

Tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG’s) are released into the earth’s atmosphere from these existing disposal methods in the form of carbon dioxide, methane (23 times more harmful than CO2 as a GHG) and Nitrogen Oxides (300x more harmful that CO2 as a GHG). In essence, today’s disposal methods for biosolids is a major contributing source of climate impacting greenhouse gases. Surprisingly, this problem gets very little coverage in the media or public discourse.

In an effort to mitigate these contamination risks, tightening regulations are reducing the volume of organic materials accepted by landfills, farmers, foresters and ranchers, with many no longer accepting biosolids at all. This in turn drives the cost of transportation and disposal of these materials higher, and higher, and higher. A viable solution is so badly needed.

Enter Saratoga Biochar Solutions

According to economic research firm Fact.MR, biochar is a growth industry: “the U.S. dominates the global market for biochar in terms of revenue. The U.S. biochar market is expected to increase 1.2X by 2031.” Their findings further state:

The United States dominates the market because of the growing demand for organic food and high meat consumption. Furthermore, the increased awareness of the product would support the market growth in the country.

Adoption of chemical-free farming techniques is becoming more popular as people become more aware of the health benefits of organic food. Moreover, expanding the use of biochar in chicken production to reduce litter and ammonia odors is a prominent market trend.

It may absorb liquids, gases, and ammonia to neutralize odors. Increasing number of small and large-scale manufacturing enterprises are expected to boost market growth over the next ten years.

Agriculture is likely to be the largest biochar application over the coming years, and it is expected to maintain its dominance. Biochar increases water and fertilizer holding capacity of the soil, providing important nutrients to crops and promoting plant growth.

Governments are pushing people to use biochar for farming because it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as nitrous oxide and methane. With increase in technological developments in sustainable agriculture, biochar uses in agriculture from both, developed and developing countries, has been steadily increasing.

(Source: Fact.MR, Global Market Insights 2021 to 2031, December, 2021)

So What’s the Hold Up? 

Every expert I spoke with expressed a kind of grim humor response that centered on education. 

“It will be a long road,” said Draper. “Even as public and private investors become more aware – and then more enthusiastically interested – a lack of understanding of biochar and its benefits remains a gating issue. I’ve even had conversations with EPA officials who don’t have a firm grasp on this technology.”

There is a nascent, looming bioeconomy out there. It is multi-faceted, and some aspects are already well known like the push for electric vehicles, wind and solar power. But no single solution is, as Professor Brown told me, a “silver bullet.” 

Regaining Balance: Hurry Up and Don’t Wait

There is an old phrase that fits our situation perfectly: It took us a long time to get into the woods but we don’t have nearly the same amount of time to get out!

Welcome to the Blossoming of the Bioeconomy: Sustainability & Capitalism

The bioeconomy is a hot topic for policymakers right now, but actually it’s not a new concept at all. It refers to economic activity derived from the use of biological material to produce goods, services, and energy. Think agriculture and forestry, construction and packaging for example.

But the current system is not sustainable: its practices contribute nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. It’s also of the leading culprit in pollution, degraded soil, deforestation, and water scarcity. In its Sixth Assessment Report, released this past October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states, “from a physical science perspective, limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions.”

Apy and his partners’ vision is “focused on building a sustainability movement where waste is not wasted, ensuring a healthy environment for generations to come,” in their words.

There are no dominant blanket solutions. And biochar is not a universal silver bullet, but it can be a win-win and jump-start progress now. Just ask Ray Apy, he’s enthusiastic, positive, and focused as he leads Saratoga Biochar’s progress. In this case doing good can also mean doing well, giving “going green” a new meaning.

Biochar Can Return to the Earth with Any of the Following Benefits/Uses:

• It is a highly effective fertilizer.
• It is a powerful agent in contaminated soil remediation.
• It is not subject to nutrient runoff and the surface water contamination problems that arise from nutrient runoff.
• It increases soil fertility and agricultural yields.
• It improves soil structure, aeration, and water retention.
• It shrinks dependence on, and use of, imported oil, fossil fuels, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides.

Biochar’s efficacy in soil is measured in decades and centuries, versus the days or weeks of salt bonded, mass produced synthetic chemical fertilizer that dominate the fertilizer market today.

It’s a phrase Americans have been uttering for a long time: “It’s a free country!” 

In the United States, that phrase can refer to our collective freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly,  freedom of the press, or a number of other rights. And in the U.S., in monetary terms, we live by yet another form of autonomy, summarized by a different phrase: “free-market economy.”

America, in fact, is the world’s foremost free-market economy. No other country with that type of system (or any other, for that matter) has a greater economic output. As of 2021, the United States had the world’s biggest economy in nominal gross domestic product, about $22 trillion, based on International Monetary Fund estimations. 

And the engine that drives that free-market economy is CAPITALISM. 

Capitalism, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.”

Capitalism is the most commonly employed economic system in the world. Want to see it in action? Look no further than Wall Street and the stock market. There, large, publicly traded companies sell stock to raise capital, which is bought and sold by investors via a system in which prices are directly affected by supply and demand. In this system, everyone can participate, from individual investors to major financial investment firms.

In other words, it is ordinary people and companies, rather than the government, that call the economic shots. 

All countries in the world are capitalist. By that I mean that all countries in the world hold stocks of capital. The real difference between countries is who is authorized to own the capital. In our country, private citizens can own and control capital.  The ability of private citizens to own and control capital is a necessary precondition to freedom. By itself however, it does not guaranty freedom. You need political freedom as well to do that. Democracy is a system where everyone has the right to vote on laws and for or against those who seek to represent them. Capitalism is a system where people are given the right to vote with their currency for the goods and services they need. In the Communism system, for instance, all goods and services are provided by the government and all capital is controlled by the government. Therefore, private citizens have no freedom.  In our country, private citizens have political freedom as well as the ability to accumulate and control capital. This gives us economic and political freedom of choice. Anyone, no matter what their background, religion, color, sex, etc. has the opportunity to ascend to the highest levels in society. This freedom, to succeed, and of course also to fail, exists in very few places in the world.

Charles V. Wait, Chairman, Adirondack Trust Co.

That is not the case in communist countries such as North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and Laos. (China is another communist country, though it allows capitalism.) Under communism, profit-making companies have common ownership, which is to say they are owned by the community—in reality, the government.

Governmental control is another major difference between capitalism and communism.  Capitalism favors a democratic system in which the government has very little influence over an individual’s economic freedom. Communism, however, advocates totalitarianism, which delves deeply into many areas of the economy, such as the setting of salaries and the pricing of goods and services.

Similar to communism, in socialism the government plays an outsized economic role. Socialistic governments, for example, establish price controls, which hamper growth; in capitalism, prices are determined by supply and demand. In socialism, resources and services are controlled by the government, a model that increases its power at the expense of its citizens. In capitalism, resources and services are accessible to all and distributed by private companies.  In socialism, major industries, because they are owned by the government, have no competition and therefore have little incentive to be more efficient. By contrast, in capitalist economies, major industries develop through the competition of the free market. 

Let’s examine how capitalism works.

When you speak of supply and demand, what does that really mean? If, as a business owner, I produce a certain product, such as computers, how do I market it? I can make it any way I want, but if prospective buyers don’t like how it works or how much it costs, few will buy it, and my sales will be low. I therefore have an incentive to streamline its operation and lower its cost to compete with my competitors. That process, repeated throughout the economy, sets the price for each product and service. The effect, as opposed to other systems, is that the consumer, not the government, has the final say over the economy. 

Unlike other systems, capitalism spurs innovation. Because of fierce competition, there is a strong incentive for a business owner to anticipate market trends, think ahead and come up with a better product, delivery system or service to survive. This ultimately benefits the consumer, whose quality of life likely will improve.

By its nature, capitalism also promotes efficiency. If consumers demonstrate a demand for a product or service, production resources are amped up to provide that supply. If there is little need for the same, resources are not allocated. Productivity must be streamlined to meet the demand, otherwise the competition will win out. The process, therefore, limits excess production and wasteful expenditures.

“Under capitalism, entrepreneurship thrives.”

And, under capitalism, entrepreneurship thrives. By observing a need, such as an inefficient product or a missing component to a consumer desire, an individual, under capitalism, can foresee economic gain by solving specific market-oriented problems. As opposed to other economic systems in which an individual must work as part of an industry, capitalism encourages individual achievement toward the betterment of society as a whole.

To be fair, though the United States is considered a capitalist society, in practice, it is a mixed economy, employing some socialist characteristics. The government, through the collection of taxes and by providing public services, is thus able to provide social welfare. Late in the 20th century, capitalism overcame a challenge by centrally planned economies (such as those in communist and socialist countries) and is now the encompassing system worldwide, with the mixed economy as its dominant form in the industrialized Western world. 

There is no denying that capitalism has an inherent profit motive, which many have cited as the cause of financial inequality, i.e., the system leads to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. But after decades of globalization in the world economy primarily through free-market enterprise, there have been some surprising effects.

The Industrial Revolution, spurred by capitalism, created economic progress by improving the quality of life for all, including the lower class. And a prime example of raising-all-boats capitalism occurred In America during the era of the “Titans of Industry” around the turn of the twentieth century. The mass production of cars by Henry Ford not only made him rich but raised wages for his workers and allowed many to benefit from low-cost vehicles that allowed a freedom to travel unknown before then.

According to the World Bank, from 1990 to 2010, the global rate of “extreme poverty” (defined as people living on less than $1.90 per day) was cut in half. In 1990, 1.85 billion people lived in extreme poverty, but by 2013, the figure had dropped to 767 million—meaning the number of those living on less than $1.90 per day had fallen by more than a billion people.

There may be no “perfect” economic system, but in the United States capitalism seems to be working quite well.