Today, more than ever, there is great debate over politics and which economic system works the best. How needs and wants should be allocated, and who should do the allocating, is one of the most highly debated topics in our current society. Be it communist dictators defending a command economy, free market conservatives defending a market economy, or European liberals defending socialism, everyone has an opinion. While all systems have flaws and merits, it must be decided which system is the best for all citizens. When looking at both the financial well being of all citizens, it is clear that market economies fall short on ensuring that the basic needs of all citizens are met. If one looks at liberty and individual freedom, it is evident that command economies tend to oppress their citizens. Therefore, socialism, which allows for basic needs to be met and personal freedoms to be upheld, is the best economic system for all of a country’s citizens. Market economies, as a whole, inherently and inevitably lead to poverty and a large class disparity. In a capitalist society, the ones who supply labor, the ones who work the hardest, are the ones who are paid the least. The owners, who are already rich, receive most of the profit and accumulate large masses of wealth. “Under capitalism workers receive only a small fraction of the wealth that they alone produce, while the lion’s share goes to the capitalist owners and to the bankers, landlords, insurance companies, lawyers, politicians, and all the other parasites who live off the back of labor and perform no useful work.” (SLP). Thus laborers are paid much less than the value of the labor that they contribute. As Karl Marx said, this is stealing, or exploitation of labor. The wages for... ... middle of paper ... ...ll being and freedom of the people, socialism is the best economic system available. When considering the well being of all citizens, socialism is the best economic system. Command economies do not work, market economies only provide for the needs of a small elite group of people, and traditional economies are impossible in a world of this size. While there are certainly arguments against socialism, the arguments for it outweigh. Socialism is better because it allows for the government to provide for the basic needs of all citizens—this is impossible in a market economy, and outweighed by the negative aspects of a command economy. In time of great national economic and political turmoil, it is important that a consensus be made as to the best economic system for the U.S. and the rest of the world. In my opinion, this best system is socialism.
The Capitalists have their own idea of justice which suits their own needs and desires, evidently overlooking the waged class. This leading to the waged class forming their own concept of justice as Cohen points out “The exploited class… the proletariat, develops a conception of justice different from the prevailing one and arrives at a negative evaluation of the existing distribution of productive wealth and income.” (Cohen, M. 2014) on top of this Husami states: “it is valid… for the proletariat and its spokesmen to criticize capitalist distribution using proletarian standards of justice. Marx… offers such a critique.” (Husami, 1978). Through this argument, it shows that Marx condemned capitalism as unjust through the use of justice from the waged workers point of view. Marx was adamant that the capitalist state was only beneficial for the individuals who are able to exploit it in order to reach the top of the social
This paper aims to provides a full understanding of the free market system and how it can potentially benefit individual’s needs. The free market system is fully explained and classical economist’s views are considered separately as well as in contrast with one another. The specific economists discussed include Ricardo, Marx, and Mill. Their individual opinions on how the free market system could impact the economy is examined and the effects of an economic system controlled by the government is also discussed.
Marx expressed many views about the over empowerment of the bourgeoisies in The Communists Manifesto. Marx believed that the working class was not getting paid what they deserved for the quality of work that they were producing. Marx thought that the all workers should be paid the same rather than by social position. For instance, Marx thought that a mineworker should be paid as much as a doctor. Marx states, ?The average price of w...
Capitalism, by definition is known as “a way of organizing an economy so hat the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government”(Marxism). To some, this is the correct way of handling the economic situation in one’s country. But to others, such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith, there are other systems that would be more adequate. Is capitalism really the best way to go? What are the other options that could be better than capitalism? We must see which would be the best for society. If one were to negatively affect it, then it is not an option that should be taken. So, we must see the pros and cons for capitalism and how it can affect the economy and our society.
Throughout history the world has experienced several types of socio-economies, from Mussolini’s fascism to Mao’s communism. All of those economies have its weaknesses and strengths and most have countries that can validate its effectiveness. However, to decide which economy is truly better for society, there has to be criteria on which to judge the economy’s effectiveness. So what is a society? In essence, it is a network of bonds we as human beings forged under the assumption, that working together we can all be happier than if we were only looking out for ourselves. With society, everyone is able to concentrate on what they do best, reap the benefits from the skills of others, and avoid the conflict that would arise otherwise. Thus, it follows that the ultimate goal of society is the happiness of everyone. And currently, there is only one economy that has staved off the test of time and reached that goal. Capitalism, with its merit system, flexible cost adjustments, and by having no other economic contenders is able to achieve a better society than any other socio-economic system can.
A Socialistic government holds the promise of utopia and equality for those who have been downtrodden by society. Unfortunately, such a society would never work as long as human beings are involved. With no ability to raise or lower your standard of living, such a society quickly robs a person of their self worth and desire to contribute to society. While each society has its advantages and disadvantages, Capitalism is the only society to survive for any length of time as all previous Socialist societies have become dictatorships before they reached a utopia.
In Marx’s opinion, the cause of poverty has always been due to the struggle between social classes, with one class keeping its power by suppressing the other classes. He claims the opposing forces of the Industrial Age are the bourgeois and the proletarians. Marx describes the bourgeois as a middle class drunk on power. The bourgeois are the controllers of industrialization, the owners of the factories that abuse their workers and strip all human dignity away from them for pennies. Industry, Marx says, has made the proletariat working class only a tool for increasing the wealth of the bourgeoisie. Because the aim of the bourgeoisie is to increase their trade and wealth, it is necessary to exploit the worker to maximize profit. This, according to Marx, is why the labor of the proletariat continued to steadily increase while the wages of the proletariat continued to steadily decrease.
Socialists suggest that social stability and cohesion is the leading method towards of social equality, and therefore prefer cooperation to competition, and favour collectivism over individualism. As socialism’s core value is equality, it is often referred to as egalitarianism. Due to the distinctive gap between social classes, the goal of socialism is to eliminate class divisions by promoting freedom for the need of material and basis personal
Democratic socialism is not a "free for all" system and it is not a governmental "cash cow" for the lazy. The United States total discretionary spending on social services is twelve percent and its mandatory spending twenty-two percent. America’s welfare spending is one of the last in line when it comes to funding. Even with these facts alone it is still often misconstrued that all "socialism
The poor gets poorer, and the rich gets richer. Economically speaking, this is the truth about Capitalism. Numerous people agree that this inequality shows the greedy nature of humankind. The author of the source displays a capitalist perspective that encompasses an individualist approach towards an “un-ideal” economic system. The source articulates a prominent idea that capitalism is far from perfect. The reality is, as long as capitalism exists, there are always those people who are too poor or too rich in the system. We do not need elitists in our society but that is exactly what capitalists are. In this society, people are in clash with those who “have” and those who “have not”, which creates conflict and competition. Throughout
Correspondingly, socialism contains many pros and cons. Socialism promotes positive concepts including social equality, economic equality, equal access to healthcare and politics,and also requires public education to a certain level. On the other hand, socialism also has many cons.From showering funds on social benefits to welfare schemes, health care to education, right to food and almost every aspect of normal livelihood of people, the state would have to fund everything("Top 12 Pros and Cons of Socialism | NLCATP.org."). Socialism creates a financial burden. Furthermore, socialism keeps the rich people rich and the poor people poor("Top 12 Pros and Cons of
Capitalism is the best economic system for many reasons. The first one is because the government believes in “ Laissez Faire”, which means “Hands off”. The government has no role
One of the first and major differences between a Communist and Democratic government is their contrary economic systems. In a communist government, the community owns the major resources and means of production. The goal of such a system is to prevent any one person or group of people from becoming radically rich, while others are extremely poor. The system attempts to eliminate lower class by balancing the wealth between rich and poor, therefore giving everyone equal pay and ownership. Unfortunately, this results in an increased lower class. However, in a Democracy, free enterprising is permitted, and smiled upon. ? Here, free enterprising helps the economy to flourish. People can organize their own businesses and receive their own profits if it succeeds, or debts if it fails. In this system, the harder a person works, the more money they receive, allowing them to ‘make ends meet.’ The downside to democracy is that people can get a high paying job through education, but may work just as hard at a lower paying job and receive less money. As Winston Churchill once said, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." Generally, Democracy’s seem be more successful economically.
In a capitalistic society, the owner exploits his workers by draining them of their self-worth. A worker gets paid only for his sustenance as the product he works on gets sold by the capitalists in the interests of creating a profit. This leads to the worker’s alienation from his surroundings and his work leading to the estrangement from the process of production. The existing social relationship is inherently antagonistic in nature and will give rise to class struggle that will eventually lead to the collapse of capitalism, and the creation of a new
The Oxford Dictionary defines Socialism as “a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”. Over the last two centuries, the term socialism has been used to refer to positions as divergent as the strict centralized socialist policies typical of the Soviet Union era to the modern social democratic policies common in Western Europe. Two main characteristics of modern socialist economies include Social Welfare/Wealth Redistribution to create social equality and rigorous labor/worker protection. Considering these defining characteristics of modern socialism, most Western European economies are indeed socialist.