The Patriot Post® · Lesson From Wells Fargo

Capitalism is the best and the fairest economic system devised for both individuals and society at large that history has ever known. This is because capitalism correctly identifies and promotes what motivates human beings to work and produce, which is a combination of both need and desire. Yet capitalism, like any system, has rules that must be followed. Free-market capitalism rests in a belief that government’s role should be limited to fair regulation, which is not based on any favoring of one group or individual over and against another. In other words, government’s role should be limited to that of an impartial referee. No one enjoys seeing a game in which the referees are clearly favoring one team over another.

Cue the news that Wells Fargo has fired 2% of its global work force due to fraudulent practices, where upwards of 5,300 employees had engaged in gaming a “compensation incentives” program. These employees had created new accounts in customers’ names without those customers’ knowledge, resulting in customers being hit with fees totaling in the millions of dollars. According to reports, this practice had been going on since 2011. Wells Fargo announced it would refund those customers who were impacted. But now there is news that Wells Fargo was not the only institution whose employees engaged in this behavior.

When news like this breaks, there are often calls from the Left that capitalism is failing and is to blame for the greed displayed by these employees. However, as is often the case, it is not the system that caused the crime, but those who through their evil desires took advantage of the system. It’s similar to the arguments over crimes committed with guns, as the Left often argues that the very presence of guns is the primary cause of crime.

The argument boils down to perspectives on the role of government — either we have a government with a constitutionally defined and limited role in regulation that minimizes cronyism and favoritism, or we’re saddled with a large socialist government that seeks greater control through ever encroaching regulations, often favoring one group over another.