Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
'Giving' isn't always 'Helping'

'Giving' isn't always 'Helping'

Capitalism Is Socialism That Works

Year Of The Opposite's avatar
Year Of The Opposite
Feb 10, 2025
2

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
'Giving' isn't always 'Helping'
3
Share
Article voiceover
1×
0:00
-3:36
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.

Capitalism gets a bad rap as a ruthless, dog-eat-dog system, but in reality, it’s the most effective way to create shared prosperity.

Unlike socialism, which focuses on redistributing wealth, capitalism multiplies it. Take Peter Thiel’s $500,000 investment in Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. At the time, Thiel was the wealthier of the two. But as Facebook scaled, Zuckerberg became exponentially richer than Thiel—while Thiel still walked away vastly wealthier than before. That’s the power of investment: it creates more wealth for everyone involved, rather than just shifting it around.

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Difference Between Helping and Hurting

The problem with socialism—and even well-intentioned charity—is that it often weakens the very people it’s trying to help. Giving someone a fish feeds them for a day, but teaching them to fish feeds them for a lifetime. Yet capitalism takes it further—it builds the fishing industry, funding boats, bait companies, and supply chains that allow entire communities to sustain themselves indefinitely.

On the other hand, if we contrast that with TOMS Shoes’ “Buy One, Give One” model. The idea was simple: for every pair of shoes sold, they donated a pair to someone in need. It sounded great—but in practice, it wiped out local shoemakers in many African and Latin American countries. By flooding the market with free shoes, TOMS put local businesses out of work, leaving communities more dependent rather than self-sufficient. What seemed like generosity actually eroded economic independence—because giving isn’t always helping.

Charity Without Investment Creates Dependence

This doesn’t just happen on a macro level; it happens in personal relationships too. Think about a family member who struggles with addiction or gambling. Giving them money doesn’t fix their problem—it fuels it. Paying off their debts or covering their rent doesn’t make them more responsible—it teaches them that someone else will always bail them out.

Real help isn’t a handout; it’s an investment in transformation. Just like an entrepreneur needs mentorship, capital, and a path to self-sufficiency, struggling individuals need accountability, discipline, and real stakes in their own success. Without personal responsibility, no amount of outside aid will create lasting change.

The True Social Good of Capitalism

This is why capitalism isn’t just about making money—it’s about creating opportunity. When you invest in a person, a business, or a system, you’re not just providing resources—you’re building capacity. You’re giving people the ability to create, grow, and become self-sufficient rather than remain dependent.

The beauty of capitalism is that it aligns incentives and scales effort. It doesn’t just redistribute fish—it builds a fishing economy. It’s socialism reimagined—not as a static transfer of wealth, but as a system where success fuels more success.

The more we understand this, the more we can use capitalism to empower rather than enable—to build instead of just give. And that’s what makes it the only system of shared wealth that truly works.

Leave a comment

Share Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack

David Silva Smith's avatar
2 Likes
2

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
'Giving' isn't always 'Helping'
3
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Lois Mummaw's avatar
Lois Mummaw
Feb 11

I agree with one big caveat—the capitalists doing the investing must have the same vision as you or it turns into trickle down economics.

Expand full comment
Like
Reply
Share
1 reply by Year Of The Opposite
David Silva Smith's avatar
David Silva Smith
Feb 11

YES! Well said!

Expand full comment
Like
Reply
Share
1 more comment...
Clearing Up The Rumors: The Real Story of How Matthew Hill from Liquid Web Died
Let's clear this up once and for all.
Jul 13, 2023 • 
Year Of The Opposite
3

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Clearing Up The Rumors: The Real Story of How Matthew Hill from Liquid Web Died
11
A Crappy Lifeguard Makes Us All Less Safe - The Peltzman Effect
A counterintuitive Truth: Why the appearance of safety actually makes us less safe.
Mar 4 • 
Year Of The Opposite
2

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
A Crappy Lifeguard Makes Us All Less Safe - The Peltzman Effect
1
I harmed my career and my brain by staying in Lansing, Michigan.
My advice for people getting started in their career - from someone who thinks advice is BS.
Aug 4, 2024 • 
Year Of The Opposite
12

Share this post

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack
I harmed my career and my brain by staying in Lansing, Michigan.
8

Ready for more?

© 2025 Travis - Year Of The Opposite
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.