{"id":184,"date":"2013-01-20T15:08:30","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T21:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/?p=184"},"modified":"2013-01-20T15:08:30","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T21:08:30","slug":"the-royal-rumble-an-allegory-for-capitalist-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"The Royal Rumble: An Allegory for Capitalist Economics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Royal_Rumble_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Royal Rumble<\/i> event inaugurates the most important 2 months in the professional wrestling calendar.\u00a0 For wrestling fans, it is the Olympic torch lighting, the tip off of March Madness, and the first night of Hanukah all rolled into one.\u00a0 The Royal Rumble <\/i>match itself is a unique, exhilarating spectacle that sets countless story arcs into motion.<\/p>\n

But the Royal Rumble <\/i>match also serves as a microcosm for Capitalist economics.\u00a0 The coordinated chaos, regulated in the ring by the participants themselves, is emblematic of market forces.\u00a0 In the interest of brevity, I will highlight some of the more demonstrative examples.<\/p>\n

The event pits people against one another in a dynamic, multi-faceted competition.\u00a0 <\/i>The Royal Rumble\u2019s <\/i>appeal comes from it\u2019s ever-changing nature.\u00a0 It starts with two people in the ring, battling to throw each other over the top rope.\u00a0 Every 90 seconds another combatant is added (to a total of 30 wrestlers) and the only way to win is to be the last man standing when all 29 other people are eliminated.\u00a0 At any given time, a wrestler may have to focus on 1 other challenger or 20.\u00a0 It may be ideal to go on the offensive, trying to tip a vulnerable wrestler out of the ring, or it may be better to skirt around a large scrum.\u00a0 The challenges of survival are always evolving.<\/p>\n

The marketplace is also in a constant state of flux.\u00a0 The amount of challengers waxes and wanes.\u00a0 If someone focuses too much on one other person or entity, they open themselves up to attack from others.\u00a0 Additionally, no 2 competitors are the same.\u00a0 There are some who are nearly exhausted (could be likened to those drawing a early number), those comparable to each other, and those yet to come (the coveted numbers 29 or 30).<\/p>\n

The event is fair, but also skewed.\u00a0<\/i> Everyone gets a chance.\u00a0 That\u2019s fair.\u00a0 Everyone draws a number randomly.\u00a0 That\u2019s also fair.\u00a0 But the numbering system plays a pivotal role in determining outcomes (or would if wrestling wasn\u2019t scripted).\u00a0 If you are entrant #1, you are at a significant disadvantage compared with entrant #30.<\/p>\n

This too is true of the marketplace.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum.\u00a0 The number drawing is a great metaphor for the extraneous factors one can\u2019t control about their fortune.\u00a0 You have no influence on if you are born into a wealthy family that can bankroll your startup fees, if you have contacts with success in a similar field or if you have the physical resources to accomplish your goal.\u00a0 This is the random, if somewhat unfair nature of American Capitalism.\u00a0 It\u2019s not to say the poor kid at community college (entrant #1) can\u2019t win against the wealthy kid at Yale, (entrant #30).\u00a0 It\u2019s just going to be harder.<\/p>\n

The demands of the immediate situation create strange friends and stranger enemies.\u00a0 <\/i>Not surprisingly, those who create alliances (albeit temporary) tend to be more successful.\u00a0 Often, the ad hoc teams are not built on friendship, but necessity.\u00a0 If Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara are staring across the ring at 7-foot-300-pound Kane, it is in their best interest to put past feelings aside and double-team the much larger competitor.<\/p>\n

Conversely, people who would be close friends in other situations become bitter enemies while competing directly against one another.\u00a0 Many tag-teams have split because of the Royal Rumble <\/i>event.<\/p>\n

These odd alliances and rivalries are typical to the market as well.\u00a0 The best way for smaller companies to topple a giant in a particular field is to work together, however there are inherent risks when putting trust in other competitors.\u00a0 Because business relationships are not rooted in camaraderie or altruism, the bonds are tenuous at best.<\/p>\n

The winner is often not the strongest competitor, but instead the most resourceful.\u00a0 <\/i>I mentioned Kane earlier.\u00a0 He has never won a Royal Rumble.\u00a0 Neither has the Big Show, Andre the Giant, Mark Henry, The Great Kahli, or One Man Gang.\u00a0 The biggest wrestler is not always the winner of the Royal Rumble.\u00a0 <\/i>The most successful competitor usually combines strategy, opportunism, intelligence, flexibility and, often, ruthlessness.\u00a0 The victory goes to those who can evolve.<\/p>\n

This is true of businesses as well.\u00a0 Large, powerful companies fold when they can\u2019t keep up with the rapidly changing environment (see Blockbuster <\/i>or Circuit City <\/i>among others).\u00a0 Ideas become small businesses when they are novel, which become large companies when they are shrewd, which sustain success when they are flexible.\u00a0 The Royal Rumble <\/i>and the free market are ultimately exercises in Social Darwinism.\u00a0 Adaptation is a competitor\u2019s greatest strength.<\/p>\n

The Royal Rumble <\/i>and the business realm are attractive to people because of their unpredictability, and the drama created within their framework.\u00a0 In many ways the Royal Rumble <\/i>captures the positive aspects of American Capitalism, while simultaneously highlighting it\u2019s pragmatic pitfalls.\u00a0 What exactly the positives and pitfalls are, is a matter of perspective, but few can say they weren\u2019t entertained by watching it all unfold.<\/p>\n

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The Royal Rumble event inaugurates the most important 2 months in the professional wrestling calendar.\u00a0 For wrestling fans, it is the Olympic torch lighting, the tip off of March Madness, and the first night of Hanukah all rolled into one.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[42,43,45,44,56,41],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plato-in-an-armbar","tag-capitalism","tag-economics","tag-jobber-de-silentio","tag-market","tag-plato-in-an-armbar","tag-royal-rumble"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-belt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}