Capitalism: Variety Is The Salt Of The Earth

Everything is getting more and more complex. This is like the second law of thermodynamics, known as entropy, as you may recall from your school days. You can see this even in a lot of well sorted American groceries and other shops. They offer you a huge selection of products. For example you can choose between almost hundreds of yoghurts, salad dressings, canned food and other things.

This huge variety is one of the advantages of capitalism. The profit motive leads producers and  grocery store owners to give you a lot of opportunities to choose from. Many commentators claim that  this variety is not needed. They feel allegedly overwhelmed and confused.

I believe these commentators misunderstand the idea  of variety. The huge selection is not just for them. Everyone has different tastes. Therefore different products appeal to different customers. The greater the variety, the higher the chance that everybody finds the product she or he prefers.

Therefore the huge selection raises the quality of life. The opportunity to "vote" for different variations is basically democratic and it`s fun to shop in big supermarkets.

By the way: If the high variety were as unnecessary and unwarranted, as many critics claim, then the supermarkets would lose money with it and therefore cease the offer huge selections.