Swedish capitalists have never had it so good. So they should also make a commitment to build up their society. Financier Robert Weil raises the call.

Almost 10 years ago in DN Debatt, I challenged Sweden’s capitalists to unite and thank the wage earners who had gone without so much so that we capitalists could have so much more. Never in the history of capital had the division of the economic pie favored capitalists so much. At that time, I thought the party would end soon.

Ten years on, I see that it didn’t. Things are better than ever for us capitalists. We have received tax breaks that we couldn’t have dreamed of 10 years earlier. For example, we no longer need to pay gift tax if we wish to be generous to those near and dear to us, or if we want to support a good cause. Our estates don’t have to pay inheritance tax, and this year – for the first time in a long time – we won’t even have to pay any wealth tax.

We capitalists have now been given the means to choose on our own how active we want to be in building our society – or if we think we need to be active at all, which is far from certain in the minds of most Swedish capitalists.

It is my view that capital brings with it long-term responsibility for democracy. For example, for more than 20 years institutions such as Magasin III and the Jewish Theatre in Stockholm have helped me experience art and its experimental processes. Glasshouse Forum, a new arena for critical scrutiny of capitalism, compels me to reconsider my beliefs, as a businessman and a citizen. What research and the arts have in common are that they experiment, question, and cross the conventional boundaries of thinking, which is necessary for a well-functioning democratic society.

There are many capitalists who shoulder responsibility in their communities, but far too many others seem to believe that it’s just not their job. This is fatally shortsighted. Money brings power, and power always entails responsibility. In a political perspective, it is untenable if the elite live in prosperity while the rest of society suffers from deep-seated problems and many of the institutions intended to sustain society fall into decay. In the long run, that will undermine the market economy, which depends on a smoothly functioning society. In other words, to stop that happening we must have enlightened self-interest.

Disparities undermine capitalism itself, whose legitimacy rests on the system’s ability to generate prosperity and to divide it up fairly. Wide disparities are fertile soil for movements that want to neutralize democracy and negate the values of an open society. It is time for us capitalists to unite and find ways to take more responsibility for our society.

Robert Weil