Meow Wolf buyback is true U.S. capitalism

FORMER S.E.C. Chairman Arthur Levitt said some years ago that “The American economy is the eighth wonder of the world; the ninth is the economic ignorance of the American people.” (The Aug. 7) article about Meow Wolf by Megan Bennett demonstrates that this is true today, even at the Journal.

The U.S.A. has never had a capitalist economic structure, the stock market is a casino and Wall Street banks are pirates — they want, they take; the “experts” and uneducated masses are misled on the matter.

The principles of paleo-capitalism are very simple: entrepreneur asks for capital for some project, investors trade capital for stock shares; if the new business fails, investors lose all their stake; if the stock price falls, investors lose part of their stake; if the new business is a success, the entrepreneur pays his investors back by buying back those shares — in Meow Wolf’s case, this is a 100% return on investment.

The purchase of “treasury shares” or stock buybacks is an important function of paleo-capitalism because it returns capital back into the market for use elsewhere. The current negative attitude toward buybacks prevents reinvestment in other new enterprises. The grossly inflated stock market is designed so that bankers can churn the stocks and reap billions of unearned dollars, sometimes daily!, because there is nothing to stop them from doing so.

Since actual capital is hard to find, Wall Street bankers are happy to lend non-existent virtual dollars at usurious rates — again because there is nothing to stop them from doing so.

The people at Meow Wolf are excellent business folk and also qualify for that very rare title in America: “Capitalist.” G.E. NORDELL Rio Communities