I'm excited to announce the launch of my new book, Why Socialism Struggles: Exposing the Economic Errors That Undermine Utopian Ideals, on January 20, 2026. This book is now available for preorder in a beautiful hardcover edition and a Kindle edition. Since many of you are familiar with my previous work, I believe you'll find this a compelling addition. It is a must-read for those interested in economics, political philosophy, and critiques of Socialism. The hardcover version is a limited run, with a paperback version to follow. I'd appreciate your support through preordering. Since supplies will be limited, preordering guarantees you'll be able to obtain a copy. If you've been intellectually stimulated by reading the articles on DougCardell.com, then you will find the book even more engaging. It covers topics that you may have read about here, but in greater depth. In his series, you'll get a sneak preview of the valuable insights the book offers. In chapter 5, “What Is Trade?” we learn that trade is the basis of economic systems. Money only exists to make trade easier. Money only effectively fills that role when its value is held constant relative to the value of the goods and services being produced. The gold standard was one way to do this. Another would be to tie a nation's money supply to its gross domestic product. Most countries today use fiat money whose supply is artificially controlled by the government. We live in an exciting time when it is easier than ever to create a business for ourselves. More and more people can forgo the security of working for a middleman for the riskier freedom of self-employment. This allows those who choose to do so to earn a direct share of the rewards for the value they create. However, those who choose the security of using a middleman—an employer—are not being exploited; they are trading some of the rewards for the value they create in exchange for the security of not risking going it alone. We also learn that in trading, value has to be negotiated, since nothing has intrinsic value. Some people try to artificially inflate the value of what they create. Then they struggle to trade that value with others. Value is not intrinsic, and no one can independently establish value. Value can only be decided between the producer and the consumer. We explode the myth that people should be equal. People are not equal. No two people are equal. People must be equal in the eyes of the law and society, but trying to create a society where everyone has an equal life is both unfair and impossible. We are all unique, and that’s wonderful. Our freedom to express our individuality will necessarily produce unequal outcomes, and that’s wonderful too. We learn that evidentiary economics—examining the evidence for the success and failure of different economic systems—proves that capitalism provides a better life for people than any other system. Socialism always fails because it is based on illogical philosophy rather than reality. As a result, it has failed every time it has been tried. Capitalism works because it creates wealth that everyone shares. In a fixed economy, the only way to get more is to take from others, but in a capitalist, growth economy, the way to get more is to create more and share it with others. We now live in an achieving society, where more than ever before in history, we are able to reap the rewards of our efforts by creating value for others. This is the single largest misunderstanding of capitalism. Capitalism tries to steer everyone to find something they love to do, then to develop the skill to do it very well. You then use that talent to create value for others, and trade the value you have created for things others have created more efficiently than you could. The problem is that too many people haven’t let capitalism steer them toward their niche. Instead, they take a job they don’t love, and never think about creating value. In a free market, the secret to success is creating value that you can trade with others, preferably by trading something you enjoy creating. Having said that, almost any job can be viewed as creating value, and those who do are happier and more successful. To paraphrase The Beatles, and in the end, the value you take is equal to the value you make. I’m sure that reading this synopsis has inspired many questions that can best be answered by reading the book. In the next article, we will preview Chapter 5. If you're ready to preorder, you can do so now at 'Amazon.'