Navigating Capitalism: Can We Build an Economy That Works for Everyone?
Circles USA recently hosted a webinar led by Felina Danalis, M.A., S.E.P., an expert economist who is also trained in the Trauma of Money—a rare and fascinating combination indeed. With Felina’s coaching, we spent time exploring what capitalism is and how it works. We debunked some of the myths surrounding it and looked at the system from the 50,000-foot level.
It brought up a lot of questions, and, if I’m honest, a lot of feelings.
Is capitalism morally neutral? Is it a necessary evil? Is it the best system we have for creating economic mobility? Is it inherently oppressive because the people with the most money—and therefore the most power—have disproportionate influence over the rules of the marketplace that run the capitalism we experience?
And perhaps most importantly: Isn’t this the system we are asking people to navigate when we support them in moving out of poverty?
Ay, de mí. How messy.
There are no simple answers when it comes to our economy, our economic systems, and the possibilities for economic mobility in the United States. And perhaps that is exactly why we need to resist the temptation to make this a simple, one-sided conversation.
At Circles, we talk often about taking a both-and approach. That means being willing to hold two seemingly disparate realities at the same time. Capitalism is a pretty good place to build that muscle. The potential bounty and the real trap. The bridge to the American Dream…that isn’t accessible to all Americans.
Seeing both sides of the equation
On the one hand, capitalism can be generative. Our economic system works through the “marketplace.” Markets can create opportunities for people to exchange goods and services, start businesses, innovate, solve problems, create jobs, and build wealth. Many of the things we value and depend upon every day have been created, in part, through the energy and innovation of markets.
On the other hand, the outcomes of a market are not created in a vacuum. Markets operate according to rules created, interpreted, and enforced by human beings—and human beings do not all enter the room with the same amount of money, power, influence, or access. And that matters, especially as we are working to end poverty.
If you have significant wealth, you generally have more capacity to weather a financial setback, invest in an opportunity, start a business, obtain education, purchase a home, or take a risk that might pay off. Wealth can create more wealth.
If you have very little wealth, even a relatively small setback can become a crisis. A broken-down car can mean a lost job. A medical bill can become debt. A missed paycheck can mean an eviction. A promising business idea may remain just an idea because there is no capital to get it started. Even a pay raise at work can lead to catastrophic loss of benefits (the dreaded Cliff Effect).
So while capitalism may not be oppressive by definition, the way capitalism is structured and practiced in what we call “the free market”—particularly when unregulated—broadly creates and reinforces unequal opportunity.
This unequal opportunity has further marginalized the poorest Americans. Evidence shows that the American promise of upward mobility has become harder to realize. Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues published research they titled, with devastating simplicity, "The Fading American Dream." This study finds that, in the generation born in 1940, ninety-two percent of children grew up to earn more than their parents. By the time the 1980 cohort came of age, only fifty percent could say the same.
What’s more, capitalism affords the ultra-wealthy of both major parties an outsized influence in shaping “Big View” economic policies and laws. Forbes and the New York Times report that, as recently as 2024, “[p]olitical donations from billionaires and their family members made up 19% of all reported federal campaign contributions… Donations from 300 billionaires and their immediate family members to federal elections in 2024 totaled $3 billion, either directly or through political action committees. Those billionaire families each gave an average of $10 million, which equates to the contributions of roughly 100,000 typical donors.” Today, the annual Harris Poll finds, “[s]even in 10 respondents said they want the ultra wealthy to play a smaller role in U.S. politics, and over a third of Americans believe the U.S. economy is an uneven playing field that prioritizes the ultra-wealthy.”
The American Dream has not disappeared. But the economic conditions that once made that dream attainable have changed significantly, putting it out of reach for so many Americans.
And that brings us to a deeper question:
What happens when a system designed to organize economic exchange is operating inside a society where wealth, power, opportunity, and voice are not equally distributed—and what can we do about it?
I don’t think the answer is to pretend capitalism is inherently evil. Nor do I think the answer is to pretend the system is neutral because markets themselves are simply mechanisms for exchange. The reality is more complicated, and that complexity matters enormously to the people we serve.
At Circles, we know that economic mobility isn’t just about earning more money. It’s about gaining enough stability, assets, relationships, opportunity, and agency that a person can withstand shocks and build a different economic future. Income matters. But income alone doesn't necessarily create mobility.
Someone can get a raise and still have no savings. Someone can earn more and still be one unexpected car repair away from crisis. Someone can get a better job but remain unable to build assets because housing, childcare, transportation, healthcare, or debt consume every extra dollar.
We can debate whether another system would be better. We can critique capitalism’s failures. We can advocate for different rules, stronger guardrails, better safety nets, more equitable access to capital, stronger labor protections, or entirely different approaches to economic organization. And we should.
But in the meantime, people are living their lives right here, right now. People need jobs. They need housing. They need childcare. They need access to capital. They need to build credit. They need to start businesses. They need to negotiate wages. They need to understand taxes and benefits. They need to navigate the benefits cliff. They need to build savings and assets. They need to know how the system works.
And this is where I believe the Circles model has something important to contribute to the conversation about capitalism. This is the economic system in which we find ourselves. Navigate it. Leverage it. Change it.
At Circles, we don't simply want to teach people how to survive a system that isn't working well for everyone. We want to help people become more powerful within that system—and more powerful together.
Circles USA asks:
How do we support Circle Leaders not only navigate the economy but leverage it?
How do we turn the resources that do exist into pathways toward greater economic independence?
How do we help someone see an entrepreneurial possibility and then surround that possibility with the relationships, knowledge, resources, and social capital necessary to make it real?
How do we help someone move from earning income to building assets?
How do we support people to understand the rules of the game while also developing the collective power to change rules that aren't working?
That is where a Circles coach, Allies, social capital, community resources, and relationships come together. A person doesn't have to navigate the economic system alone.
The Power of Community
This is one of the reasons the Circles model is about so much more than simply “helping people get jobs.” A job matters. Income matters. Education and skills matter. Entrepreneurship matters.
But relationships matter, too. Research on economic mobility has demonstrated that where someone grows up, the resources around them, and the cross-class relationships and opportunities they encounter can have profound effects on their economic future.
Circles sees this every day with innumerable Lives Transformed. Many of our chapters focus on entrepreneurship as a proven pathway toward economic mobility. With support from the community, Circle Leaders are building businesses, strengthening their marketability, and developing the skills and relationships they need to move toward greater economic independence. Bruce Forbes of Circles Upstate SC presented an incredible session on entrepreneurship at our 2023 Leadership Conference (available for Circles members to watch here).
Circles chapters continue to offer financial literacy, budgeting and planning, understanding hidden rules of the Middle Class (rules which govern many of our institutions), goal setting, and more, in an effort to develop personal agency and skills for success in our current system. Above all, Circles chapters build relationships. We connect people with the community resources that support their personal agency to take root and blossom over the long term.
We need to work at both levels
This may be the most important “both-and” of all. We need to help people navigate the economic system and we need to work to change the conditions that make that navigation unnecessarily difficult. We need individual agency and systemic change. We need resilience and reform. We need entrepreneurship and strong public systems. We need people to understand how money works and we need to examine who has access to money and who gets to make the rules. We need to help people build their own economic power and build collective power to create a more equitable economy.
These things are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would argue that they are essential to one another.
How do we build an economy that reflects what we say we believe about human dignity and worth? We wrote the rules. We can change the rules. And while we work toward a more just and equitable economic system, we can also help people become more powerful within the system we have today.
That is not either/or. It is both. And that is how we move forward—together.
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