Two Side Of Capitalism Essay

Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners instead of the state. It is a system of relationships that allows anybody to have an economic opportunity. Due to a lack of government intervention, people have economic freedom, and in turn that helps political freedom. People can produce anything they want and sell at any price that they desire. This promotes efficiency and allows people to be able to produce goods that are high in demand, resulting in less waste. Business firms and individuals will be innovative to create economic expansion, resulting in better living conditions and standards, as well as increased wealth. Economic expansion and increased wealth benefits …show more content…

The other side of capitalism is how people can take advantage of and use exploits in the capitalist market to abuse consumers. For the most part, capitalism benefits a majority of people. Economic expansion and efficient production are better for everybody, producers and consumers. However, since there is no government intervention, some people can abuse the capitalist system. A downside to capitalism is a monopoly can rise to power. Due to private firms gaining power in a market, they can use their power and charge higher prices. For example, if a company produces a product that is exclusive and very high in demand, then they can abuse the fact that they are the only supplier and change as much as they please for their own personal profit. Clearly, this is not moral; abusing power to screw over the majority of middle to lower class consumers because of an exploit in the capitalist system is great for the company, but is unfair to the rest of the society. “People tend to take for granted the desirability and moral legitimacy of the political and economic system within which they live” (Shaw). Although this is unfair, it is morally defensible because this will cause the economic pie to become larger. By expanding the overall size of the pie, the proportions shared are the same, but the result is larger in terms of overall