Hi all, I am new to The Straight Dope and I am glad to be here!
I searched for a thread about capitalism, but only 2 came up. So I thought I would start a new one. Here is my question:
Is capitalism the best economic system?
Thanks!
I believe it is. I believe the best system for anything is one in which people are essentially free, and their rights protected. Capitalism develops as a consequence of such systems, whereas other economic systems, especially socialism, are forced onto people after the fact.
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*Originally posted by friedo *
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How about this:
Maybe capitalism just seems like the best system? Doesn’t it leave too many people in the cold (because of the whole greed thing)?
Just a thought…
You might want to read this thread:
Try to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, then you die. Suffice it to say, I don’t think people under capitalism are essentially free – and I agree with you about the greed factor.
Welcome to SDMB!
There is a famous saying that Capitalism is not the best conceivable system but it is the best possible system.
Is capitalism the best economic system? For what? What outcome do you wish to produce? If want every pie sliced and served equally, then no it’s probably not the best system. If you want to make a lot of pies, or a bigger pie, then yes, it’s pretty damned good. You need to define an outcome before you can determine the best tools to achieve that outcome.
It also depends upon what you mean by ‘capitalism’.
If, by such, you mean unfettered market forces (“laissez-faire” capitalism), then it’s not the best system.
If, by such, you mean the general idea of means of production being owned by individuals, with government acting as a curb upon the excesses of the system, then yes, it is the best system, because it fits with peoples’ natural interests.
Communism and socialism are great as theories, but they posit a populace that is selfless and near omniscient in their ability to predict the outcome of their choices; the failures of communism are less the failures of the system as posited, than they are the failures of people to live up to the utopian ideal the system expects them to naturally be. Capitalism makes no such expectations upon the people.
Ask a Libertarian about the rewards of a free market economy. Wall Street is one of the remaining realms of pure capitalism.
Thanks for the info. all! But one question:
Where do you draw the line when it comes to Govt. intervention? When is it too much? Also, how do you choose which company needs intervention? I mean, why Microsoft and not, say, Intel (although there has been talk of it)?
B.
Wall Street is not a realm of pure capitalism. If it were, there would be no SEC.
it is easy to find a lot of rhetoric about capitalism, marxism, communism but a lot of it is pseudointellectual bullsh!t.
in the late 80’s a book came out, CULTURAL LITERACY. there was a lot of talk about how great this was for american education. it contained a list of 5,000 terms that americans should know. i found some things missing that were very interesting. the terms
NET WORTH, ASSET & LIABILITY were not in the list.
shouldn’t EVERYONE in a capitalist society understand them?
IOU was in the list, it is an asset to the holder and a liability to the signer. why weren’t ASSET and LIABILITY in the list.
in american capitalism some people are supposed to be ignorant/stupid so they can be ripped off. how does this square with Adam Smiths enlightened self interest.
use the net to do a search on ECONOMIC WARGAMES, see what turns up.
Dal Timgar
It’s true that some people get screwed over, but every other economic system I’ve seen is one in which people’s rights are restricted, and that’s bad. The people who are screwed over still have their freedom. Can you name one socialist country where
a) people are essentially free, and
b) people’s fundamental rights (let’s say the UN declaration of human rights as an example) are protected
I can’t. Now it’s possible there may be an economic system better, but I haven’t heard of any yet.
Jmullaney, why would anyone want to read that thread? You simply went in circles and managed to avoid making any decent points.
Marc
Capitalism, by definition, is the ONLY economic system. Anything else is a political system.
Good lord, didn’t we just have this debate?
If you’re interested read Is Capitalism destined to fail?" and its follow up Is Capitalism destined to fail, part II. The paint has barely dried on them.
Oldscratch kicks it all off with some Marxist refutations of Capitalism and it snowballs from there - a pretty good thread I thought.
pan