Laissez Faire Essay

Capitalist economies hold that individuals have the means of production and that people have the potential to gain unlimited wealth. Rather than the government, private sectors oversee production, employment, and investments for the population. These tenants are made possible with the idea of laissez-faire in which the government is hands off and there are no regulations in the economy. According to Adam Smith, a distinguished expert in modern capitalism, a society free of government intrusion and rules is one where the economy and the people can thrive the most (Magstadt). In theory, laissez-faire allows all people to attain the level of prosperity they want and use their self-interest to do so. Upon further examination, it is found to be

The problem with this is that not all classes in will be included in that society’s economic progression. A facet of laissez-faire ideology is that everyone has the capability to acquire infinite wealth due to a free market. Together with concepts like supply and demand, it seems that everyone is equally benefited in an economy with limited government intervention. The government’s inability to maintain market competition and interference with market value would be eliminated from society (Ruger). Rather than participating in economical facets, the state would essentially comprise of police forces, law courts, and a national defense establishment (Reisman). This allows freedom for individuals and private sectors to have private ownership and the means to production. As long as a person has self-interest and is willing to put in effort, no matter if they’re in the upper, middle, or lower class; they can attain their goal of unlimited

Albeit Adam Smith being an influential proponent of laissez-faire, he stated that, “no society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable” (Henry). Naturally, as in any society, individuals have different levels of prosperity, whether they were born with it or acquired it (Coldwell). Usually those that have an abundance of prosperity in the upper class are the producers and the private sectors of the economy while the lower and middle class consist of the dissatisfied, underpaid working class. In order for the working class to make more money, their increase in wages would have to come from the producer’s affluence. To combat this, the producer could enact longer working days or even more work causing the workers to once again be dissatisfied and not being paid enough for them to develop economically. Thus, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer and inequality through out the classes