Hippies who became capitalists

One of the things I have seen over the years is quite a few of the hippie types change and embrace capitalism.

Many with interesting results. While Ben and Jerry of ice cream fame built themselves quite a nice empire for themselves, they also practiced what I would have to call comassionate capitalism. They had rules regarding a number of things, including pay. They made sure that the highest paid person made no more than (IIRC) nine times the money the lowest paid person made. They supported various liberal causes, including donations to whatever group or candidate met their fancy.

Although I really don't agree with their politics, I'd have to say that the way they did things was fine by me.

They worked, developed a product, marketed and sold it and made money.

Whatever they did with their money is their business.

Then again, the company wasn't public when they were doing all of this (I understand they have since sold the company) they owned it. As a result they were not slaves to the stockholders so they could run the company any way they chose.

It strikes me as a good deal for all people involved.

There is also another example I can think of whereby a hippie type embraced capitalism and I have to admit that in a certain way I consider it rather funny.

The guy was a rabid hippie type in his salad years and somehow managed to finish college and enter the work force. His start into the working world was spotty until something changed him and overnight he became a rabid, miserable speciman of a capitalist. He became the poster child socialists use as the sample of the evil capitalist pig.

A mutual aquaintance has seen him recently told me he is the most miserable human being in the world which, oddly enough, I am not surprised to hear. He was a miserable socialist and now he's a miserable capitalist. I swear that if his mother needed twenty-five cents for a life saving operation, he would watch her die a painful death. My acquantaince says that he is always having problems either keeping people or with suppliers.

I know I wouldn't want too work for the guy.

I've also seen a third type of former hippie that interests me. This is the one that went charging into the capitalist world and made as much as he could as fast as he could set himself up for life and promptly dropped back out again.

I know of one that retired in his late forties and is presently living on a sailboat somewhere. I haven't seen him for years, but we have mutual acquaintances and I hear that he winters in the warm waters and summer in northern climes. He also does some kind of artwork which really is a hobby because I guess it pays too little to live off of.

One thing I head that made me laugh. He cut his hair off to enter the capitalist world, swearing that when he dropped back out he would grow it back. When he retired he discovered he couldn't because he had started going bald.

I can't slight him because he made his lifestyle on his own.

There's no moral in this post, just a couple examples of people that were hippie types in their salad years that turned capitalist.



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