A company that explores the universe and provides access to something called the internet, powered by another revolutionary technology known as artificial intelligence, recently sold stock to the public, rising to a valuation of over $2 trillion.

The venture employs all sorts of people, from engineers to factory workers. More of them will find work after the money it raised from investors, themselves taking a chance on its future, is put to use. 

Last month, the IPO for SpaceX set a record as the largest ever — triggering a debate about the company’s ptential. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

The employees, no doubt, will be buying homes, some mansions. Shareholders are getting rich. They are all living productive lives in a country where such productivity is commonplace because of a system known as capitalism, the only economic system envisioned by our founders 250 years ago.

Quite remarkable. Just think of how many people SpaceX will employ if it really does deliver on its promises of space exploration, if it expands our economy into Mars.

Also remarkable that, in the days since the historic stock sale — the largest IPO ever, in fact — a debate emerged about SpaceX’s potential and that humongous valuation. Shares started to zig-zag; management will have to deliver results — such as spaceships that potentially set the stage for a colony on Mars, with AI that helps engineers build that infrastructure — all at a profit, or the company will crash like one of its malfunctioned rockets.

Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public in June. Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / BACKGRID

Investors could lose money if it doesn’t work out. But they will make more by finding greater appealing ways to direct capital. The employees will find jobs elsewhere. Inevitably, someone will try to make a fortune by building a better mousetrap, aided by investors looking to take a chance and make money, because that’s how capitalism works. 

And if SpaceX lives up to its touted potential by its great capitalist with a record of delivering on such promises, aka Elon Musk — whose worth soared to $1 trillion — all the better. 

Yes, capitalism is a messy business, and so-called creative destruction can be tough on everyone involved. Much like our constitutional democracy, it’s imperfect. The “warmth of collectivism,” as New York City’s foolishly naive current mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has called the alternative, sounds appealing to many lately.

Capitalism is a messy business, and so-called creative destruction can be tough on everyone involved — but it’s extended life expectancy by decades, made the working class more comfortable than ever before, and allowed the government to create programs to benefit the poor.  Paul Martinka

But let’s look at what our founders set the stage for through free market capitalism. Collectivism starts out warmly in theory, until it’s put into practice: The Stalinist famine unleashed on farmers after agriculture was collectivized in Ukraine; the dictator’s many purges to impose his command and controls; not to mention the years of economic misery that befell the people of the old Soviet Union.

Mao followed this playbook with the same results. China’s “great” Cultural Revolution wasn’t so great if you were deemed a capitalist pig and perished during his purges. Let’s not leave out Pol Pot’s Cambodian genocide that began with the grand vision of a class-free society and wiped away all traces of freedom of thought and commerce through re-education camps and the deaths of millions.

Venezuela was once an economic superpower that tried the warmth of collectivism and its people, including the most productive, left in droves as its economy collapsed except for the favored few at the top. The weather is warm in Cuba, but the cold hard facts of Castro’s communist revolution continues to impoverish the many, while the few in government live in luxury.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is a monument to how prosperous and powerful America is. Christopher Sadowski

Now let’s look at what America’s founders gave us, as messy as it was. A constitution that holds supreme individual rights and liberties — so much so that, when it was violated for some, we fought a civil war to set things straight. A system that doesn’t divide its people into classes; for every robber baron, there were plenty more wildcat oil men who made their fortune.

Thomas Edison began selling newspapers to support his family when he was 12. By the time he died, he had made a fortune because he was incentivized to do great things, including one of the greatest advancements ever in the development of the lightbulb — without which, Musk would not be venturing to Mars.

There are many more like Edison, people incentivized to build a better lightbulb or ways to transact business or download music. Just ask Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs, both sons of America’s middle class who made it big by making our lives better.

Capitalism — the desire to make money doing something good — has extended life expectancy by decades. It’s made the working class more comfortable than ever before. It has allowed the government to create programs to benefit the poor. 

Yes, it’s imperfect, but it’s better than any alternative. Screw with it at your own peril.

A bunch of very imperfect dudes created this very imperfect economic system that resulted in the greatest, most powerful and prosperous country this world has ever seen. Here’s to another 250 years.