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Sadly, many people don’t seem to care because all they want to do is trade the stock and make money…
The recent excitement surrounding the latest SpaceX offering got me thinking. Much of the conversation wasn’t about governance, shareholder rights, or the concentration of power. It was about one thing… how quickly people thought they could make money. That reaction says something far bigger than what it says about SpaceX. It says something about us. I understand the appeal. I’ve invested in stocks, watched markets, experienced the satisfaction of seeing an investment grow. There is nothing wrong with wanting to build wealth, support innovation, or benefit from the success of great companies. But somewhere along the way, something changed… we’ve become increasingly willing to overlook almost anything if we believe it’ll make us richer.
Watching investors line up to accept fewer rights in exchange for the possibility of greater wealth says as much about us as it does about SpaceX. We celebrate markets as the ultimate check on power, yet we’re increasingly willing to concentrate that power in the hands of a few if we believe they’ll make us richer. AND it isn’t just SpaceX… you see it across today’s investment landscape. Cryptocurrency projects fueled more by speculation than utility. Homes treated as investment vehicles before they’re places for families to live. Companies adopting governance structures that weaken shareholder rights because investors are willing to accept almost any terms if they think the valuation will soar.
The common thread isn’t the asset class. It’s the mindset. We’ve quietly shifted from asking, “Is this creating long-term value?” to asking, “Can I make money on it?” Those are not the same question.
For decades we’ve been told that if investors win, everyone wins. Capital flows, innovation accelerates, jobs are created… and often that’s true. But when the overwhelming focus becomes maximizing returns above all else, it’s worth asking… who’s looking out for the employees, the customers, the neighborhoods, the next generation, AND the long-term health of the economy itself?
Somewhere along the way, capitalism stopped being primarily about building great companies and increasingly became about building great valuations. We stopped asking how businesses serve their customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, and started judging success almost exclusively by shareholder returns, company valuations, and quarterly expectations.
The problem isn’t wealth. The problem is when wealth becomes the only thing we measure, the only thing we reward, and eventually, the only thing we value.
For years I’ve said that RETURN ON RELATIONSHIP creates the kind of ROI that lasts. I wasn’t just talking about business, I was talking about life. Relationships, trust, reputation, community, and opportunity all create value that doesn’t show up on a quarterly earnings report. Yet they’re often the very things that determine whether success endures or eventually falls apart. When we stop valuing those things, we begin optimizing for short-term gains while quietly undermining the long-term strength of the very systems we depend on.
When housing becomes less affordable because homes are viewed primarily as financial instruments, when private equity firms acquire neighborhood businesses, healthcare providers, nursing homes, veterinary practices, apartment communities, and other essential services with little objective beyond maximizing returns, when workers become expenses to be minimized rather than people to be invested in, and when shareholder rights become optional because returns matter more than accountability, we’re no longer just talking about economics… we’re talking about the kind of society we’re creating.
Profit matters, businesses have to succeed, investors deserve returns. But when maximizing shareholder value becomes the only measure of success, we inevitably begin sacrificing things that are much harder to measure… trust, community, affordability, resilience, opportunity, and even human dignity.
We shouldn’t be surprised that more people are questioning whether the system is working for them. We shouldn’t be surprised that ideas like Democratic Socialism are gaining traction… not necessarily because people reject capitalism, but because many no longer believe today’s version of capitalism is working for everyone.
One of the simplest descriptions I’ve heard of democratic socialism is this…
Anyone can be rich… but no one should be poor.
Whether you embrace that philosophy or reject it entirely, I think it reflects something deeper. Most people don’t resent success, they resent feeling that, no matter how hard they work, the system is becoming less likely to reward them fairly. Maybe it’s because too many people feel that the game is no longer about creating opportunity… it’s about protecting advantage.
Markets were never meant to exist simply to create wealth… at their best, they allocate capital, encourage innovation, reward responsible risk-taking, and provide accountability. Ownership was supposed to come with both opportunity and responsibility. Today, we’re increasingly willing to surrender that responsibility if someone promises extraordinary returns.
History has shown us, over and over again, that when wealth and power become too concentrated, the consequences don’t stop with those left behind… eventually they reach everyone. Growing inequality weakens trust, fuels resentment, destabilizes communities, erodes institutions, and creates the very polarization we’re struggling to understand today.
The widening wealth divide isn’t someone else’s problem… it eventually becomes everyone’s problem.
I’m not arguing against capitalism. I’m arguing for a capitalism that remembers why it earned people’s trust in the first place. One that rewards innovation without abandoning accountability, celebrates success without forgetting opportunity, and creates prosperity that lifts more people than just those who were already positioned to win. Because, in the end, I don’t believe the greatest threat to capitalism is Democratic Socialism. I believe the greatest threat to capitalism is capitalism forgetting what made it successful in the first place.
I’ve spent much of my career talking about RETURN ON RELATIONSHIP because I’ve learned that every lasting relationship, whether it’s between people, brands and customers, employers and employees, or governments and citizens, is built on trust, mutual benefit, and the belief that both sides matter. Economies aren’t any different.
Capitalism, like every relationship, depends on trust. Trust doesn’t survive when too many people believe the relationship only benefits one side. And when trust erodes, people don’t just lose faith in businesses or markets… they lose faith in the system itself.
When people stop believing they have a fair chance to build a good life through hard work, when homes become investments before they’re homes, when wealth and power continue to concentrate while opportunity becomes harder to find, the relationship begins to fracture. Not because people suddenly reject success, but because they no longer believe success is realistically within reach.
Winning at any cost eventually comes with a cost. The question isn’t whether we’ll pay it… the question is whether we’ll recognize it before the bill comes due.
Related: Relationships Are the True Currency of Life and Business