Whereas the universe is held together by the laws of physics, the social systems on our planet, whether religious or economic, are held together by faith alone. It is people’s faith in the concepts of the state, the religious institutions, the fiat money system, that makes their existence possible. Once people lose trust in a given social construct, it crumbles.

In a recent interview, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Fed, shared his opinion that the expansion of the market capitalist system (referring mostly to the former Eastern Bloc and China) is due to the spread of the general belief among people that it leads to material prosperity. He, however, noted that if the currently increasing gaps in income, health-care and education continue to widen, people may lose faith in the system and its existence may become threatened:

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“You cannot have a market capitalist system if there is a significant view within the population that its rewards are unjustly distributed.”

– Alan Greenspan on Charlie Rose’s TV Show, 21 September 2007

As I have previously said, the market capitalist system highlights the solution; it is not a cause of the problem. Increasing taxation or attempting to appropriate some of the core market functions only distorts the situation; it doesn’t bring us further.

The market system has been so successful because it enables participants to interact with one another efficiently, stimulating productive economic activity that generates material well-being. Entrepreneurs, that is, people with extensive direct symmetrical presence in the market, note — both as consumers and producers of value, have prospered tremendously. Starting your own business is widely regarded as the way to go if you want to become rich.

Contrast this with the general perception about companies: how many people truly believe that they can earn riches by becoming employees? Not many!

The real ‘disparity’ here is that employees have a one-sided presence in the market - only as consumers of goods/services, never as producers. In this they miss a lot. Within companies millions of employees are isolated from many of the beneficial mechanisms of the market, like the ability to form direct monetary relations with colleagues, to reward one another financially, to enjoy a higher degree of economic agency — in order to learn, develop and earn more.

It is in this asymmetry where the real ‘gap’ is hidden: companies that are internally devoid of the beneficial mechanisms of their market environment; employees that don’t have a chance to fully experience their economic potential as producers of value but only as final consumers.

You don’t have to be an independent entrepreneur in order to prosper, you can also become rich as an employee of a company. It is a mission of The Transaction Company to restore this faith in our workplaces.