Who Gets the Credit? Rethinking Progress Under Capitalism
Posted in :
Capitalism boasts about progress, but real improvements were hard-won by those who fought the system—not gifted by it. The story is far messier—and more human—than we’re often told.
The popular narrative that credits capitalism for improvements in quality of life, exposing what is left out of that history, the forces actively resisting progress, and the groups left behind or erased in the story’s latest chapter. Drawing on analysis of Richard Wolf and incorporating unexpected angles, real numbers, and lived experiences, we’ll untangle the myths and bring overlooked players and uncomfortable truths front and center.
Last week, over a cup of tea with my neighbor—an 83-year-old former textile worker—I heard a story that sounded awfully familiar: how every big improvement, every factory rule change or wage bump, had come not as a gift, but as a fistfight. She laughed, recalling how she and her friends were called ‘radicals’ for demanding clean water in the company bathrooms. Meanwhile, history books heap praise on capitalism for making our lives longer and cleaner, as if those changes arrived by magic. But what if a vital part of the story is missing? Let’s flip the script and look at the untold side of progress—the sweat, strikes, and silent erasures behind the headlines.
The Convenient Hero: How Capitalism Claims Credit for What It Resisted
Who Gets the Applause?
Cleaner cities. Better diets. Longer lives. These are the headlines often linked to capitalism’s rise. The narrative is familiar—capitalism, the engine of progress, delivering comfort and health to the masses. But is that the whole story? Or just the version that fits neatly in a boardroom speech?
Credit Where It’s Due?
- Capitalism is widely credited for improved living standards: safer homes, cleaner water, longer life expectancy.
- Yet, many of these reforms didn’t come from corporate generosity. They emerged from persistent, sometimes radical activism.
- History shows capital interests often resisted workplace protections, food safety, and labor rights.
Behind the Curtain: The Real Drivers of Change
Richard Wolf, an economic historian, argues that the story of reform is often painted to flatter capitalism’s legacy. He points out that many standard improvements—public health, labor rights—were hard-fought, not handed down.
Think about it. Did child labor laws, workplace protections, and food safety regulations just appear out of thin air? Or were they forced into existence by decades of grassroots organizing, strikes, and, sometimes, tragedy?
- Child labor laws—won through relentless activism, not corporate goodwill.
- Workplace protections—secured after years of strikes and public pressure.
- Food safety regulations—implemented only after public outcry and exposés.
The timeline tells its own story. The federal minimum wage in the U.S. hasn’t been raised since 2009. That’s over 16 years ago from 2024. Progress, it seems, doesn’t always come easily—or quickly.
The Irony of Credit
A system that blocked child labor laws now celebrates literacy rates.
It’s a strange twist. The same system that once fought against basic protections now wraps itself in the statistics of progress. As if these gains were natural outgrowths of the market, not concessions pulled from the grip of power.
Wolf calls out this deliberate rewriting of history. Capitalism, he says, often demands applause for reforms it fiercely resisted—only conceding after radical struggle. The improvements people take for granted today—clean water, workplace safety, public health—were not gifts. They were won, sometimes at great cost.
- Socialist agitation, grassroots movements, and decades-long fights forced these changes.
- Capitalist interests, more often than not, were dragged into the future—kicking and screaming.
So, when the story is told, who really deserves the credit? The answer, it seems, is more complicated than the headlines suggest.
Minimum Wage: Progress Frozen in Time
The Stalled Floor Beneath Workers
Sixteen years. That’s how long the federal minimum wage has stood still—unchanged since 2009. Meanwhile, the price of everything else? Up, up, and up. Food, rent, transportation, healthcare. All rising. But for millions of Americans, their paychecks remain frozen in time.
For America’s lowest paid workers, time stood still.
The minimum wage is supposed to be a safety net. The lowest legal amount a person can earn for an hour of work. But what happens when that safety net stops rising, even as the cost of living soars? The answer is simple: the floor cracks, and people fall through.
Who Benefits from Stagnation?
- Corporations and business interests routinely push back against wage increases. Their argument? Raising pay would hurt the economy or destroy jobs.
- Yet, corporate profits haven’t paused. In fact, they’ve soared. CEOs collect record bonuses. Shareholders celebrate windfall profits.
- Meanwhile, workers at the bottom watch their real wages erode, year after year.
It’s not just economic inertia. It’s political. Deliberate. Every time there’s a push to raise the minimum wage, a familiar chorus emerges—business lobbies, industry groups, and their allies in Congress. They warn of job losses, higher prices, economic doom. But the real story? The people with the most to gain from low wages are often the ones writing the rules.
A Lost Generation
- 2009: Last time the federal minimum wage was raised.
- 2024: Sixteen years later, the gap remains. That’s an entire generation of workers left behind.
- Inflation didn’t pause. Neither did rent or healthcare bills. But paychecks did.
Unions and advocates have pushed for change. Liberals have called for action. But the business community? They hit the brakes. Every time. When it comes time to share prosperity, suddenly, caution replaces confidence. Suddenly, “we can’t afford it.”
But what about what society can’t afford? Families working two or three jobs just to survive. Children missing out on basics. Communities hollowed out—not because there’s no wealth, but because it’s locked away at the top.
Stagnation or Sabotage?
This isn’t just economic stagnation. It’s political abandonment. The very people the system was supposed to protect have been left behind, sacrificed for margins and shareholder returns. The minimum wage debate isn’t just about numbers—it’s about who gets left out when progress is frozen in time.
The Vanishing Ladder: Veterans, Minorities, and the Politics of Erasure
Promises Made, Promises Fading
He served his country. She risked her future. They returned home expecting the nation’s word would mean something. In 1944, the Veterans Preference Act was passed—a clear promise: serve, and you’ll get a fair shot at a stable life. Jobs in federal agencies, protection from layoffs, a leg up to offset years lost to war. Not charity. Justice.
But now, that ladder is vanishing. Quietly. Almost nobody notices until it’s gone.
How the System Once Worked
- Veterans got hiring preference for federal jobs.
- They were protected from being the first to go during layoffs.
- Nearly one-third of federal workers are veterans—many disabled.
It mattered. For decades, this policy helped veterans rebuild. It recognized that military service comes with a cost—missed opportunities, lost health, broken networks.
Now: A Coordinated Retreat
- Federal job cuts are hitting veterans hardest, especially inside the Veterans Administration.
- At the same time, affirmative action for racial minorities is being rolled back by courts and lawmakers.
- Both groups—veterans and communities of color—are losing protections once seen as essential.
The language is always the same: efficiency, neutrality, fairness. But the reality? The scaffolding that lifted people up is being dismantled, piece by piece.
“What was once a promise becomes a footnote.”
What was once a promise becomes a footnote.
The New Narrative: Blame the Individual
It’s subtle. The story shifts. Instead of recognizing history and sacrifice, the system starts to say: If you’re struggling, maybe it’s your fault. Maybe you just didn’t try hard enough.
This isn’t just about veterans. Or just about minorities. It’s about a pattern—a political strategy to erase collective responsibility. The message? The debts are paid. The window for justice is closed.
- 2024: Job cuts disproportionately target veterans.
- Supreme Court rolls back affirmative action.
- States ban race-conscious hiring and admissions.
Bureaucratic language cloaks the retreat. “Neutrality” is the new buzzword. But ignoring inequality doesn’t solve it. It just hides it.
For those who sacrificed most, the ladder is being pulled up. Quietly. Deliberately. And the nation moves on, as if nothing happened.
Wild Card: If History Was a Group Chat (And Tangents on Tariffs)
Imagine if progress was just a giant group chat. Workers, capitalists, reformers, politicians—everyone fighting for the mic. Sometimes, it’s loud. Sometimes, it’s just a mess of unread messages. Who gets the last word? Who even gets heard?
Now, throw in trade policy. Tariffs, for example. When the admin (read: government) keeps changing the rules, nobody knows what’s next. One day it’s a 10% tariff. The next, it’s 25%. Then, maybe an exemption. Then it’s gone. Or back again, but with new conditions. It’s not a strategy. It’s improvisation. And it’s chaos.
From 2018 to 2020, the U.S. saw major tariff swings under President Trump. The numbers jumped, dropped, and sometimes vanished overnight. For businesses, this wasn’t just a tax. It was a threat. As one observer put it,
No business can plan for the future when the rules change by the tweet.
Predictability is the lifeblood of investment. When it disappears, so does growth. The consequences aren’t just abstract—they’re structural. Companies freeze hiring. Investors hold back. Workers worry. The whole system starts to feel like a game of tag. You’re it. Now it’s your move. But the finish line? It keeps shifting.
Tariff policy swings are just one example. They show how impulsive decisions can undermine long-term progress and the collective good. The discussion about who deserves credit for progress is rarely neat. It’s fractious, unpredictable, and full of left-out messages. Like a group chat, most of the real work happens in the background, while the loudest voices fight for attention.
In the end, economic gains don’t come from perfect teamwork. They come from a long, messy conversation—one that’s always in progress, never quite resolved. Maybe that’s the real story of capitalism. Not a race to the finish, but a never-ending chat, full of missed calls and half-finished thoughts.
TL;DR: Capitalism boasts about progress, but real improvements were hard-won by those who fought the system, not simply gifts from it. The story is far messier—and more human—than we’re often told.
StandardOfLivingMyths, AffirmativeActionCuts, EconomicJusticeHistory, CapitalismCritique, MinimumWageStagnation, WorkplaceProtections, LaborRightsHistory, WelfareStateOrigins, CorporateResistanceReform, VeteransPreferenceRollback,capitalism myth, laborrights, economichistory, workermovements, minimumwagestagnation, veteransprotections, regimeuncertainty, RichardWolff, wagesuppression, publichealthreform, economicjustice, capitalismcontradictions
#WelfareStateOrigins, #LaborRightsHistory, #EconomicJusticeHistory, #VeteransPreferenceRollback, #CapitalismCritique, #MinimumWageStagnation, #AffirmativeActionCuts, #StandardOfLivingMyths, #CorporateResistanceReform, #WorkplaceProtections,#capitalismmyth, #laborhistory, #minimumwage, #economicjustice, #veteransrights, #regimeuncertainty, #progressnarratives, #workerstruggles, #policyfailures, #hiddenhistory
