Slavoj Zizek, one of the worlds most influential living philosophers discusses capitalism’s flawed priorities.

He wants to develop a very simple linear line of thought about one point: Why in our economy charity is no longer classed as an idiosyncrasy of some good guys, here and there, but basic constituent of our economy.

He starts with the so called feature of the today’s cultural capitalism and how the same thing applies to the economy in the narrower sense of the term.

Namely if in the old times, precisely before the transformations of capitalism into more cultural, post-modern, and carrying for ecology, there was a simple opposition between the consummation and speculation and what you actually do for the society.

For example, George Soros (an old school capitalist) in the morning grabs the money, and in the afternoon he gives the half of the money back to charities. In the modern capitalism there is a tendency to bring those two dimensions together, in one and same gesture.

Today when you buy something, your anti-consumerism duty to do something for the environment and the people is already included into it. An example would be Starbucks. When you buy a coffee they will explicitly tell you: It’s not just what are you buying, it’s what are you buying into.