The Most Important Piece You’ll Read All Month April 24, 2026April 23, 2026 Seriously. Which Capitalism Are We Defending? by Nick Hanauer. . . . There is no such thing as capitalism in the singular. There are many capitalisms. The capitalism of 1880s America — child labor, company towns, no weekends — was capitalism. The capitalism of 1955 America — 35% union density, 91% top marginal tax rates, the GI Bill building the largest middle class in human history, GDP growth rates double what they are today — was also capitalism. Denmark is capitalist. Singapore is capitalist. The neoliberal version we have run in America since roughly 1975, delivering four decades of stagnant wages for most workers while routing nearly all productivity gains to the top, is also capitalism. These systems produce radically different outcomes — in wages, mobility, life expectancy, civic trust, democratic stability. The question is never “capitalism, yes or no.” The only question that has ever mattered is: which capitalism, designed how, for whose benefit? . . . Nick, a billionaire, is one of my heroes. Long-time readers will know I’ve long pitched his 2012 TED Talk — Rich People Don’t Create Jobs” (6 minutes) — and, from 2014 —Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, The Pitchforks Are Coming (20 minutes). This latest piece is, I think, so worth reading in full.