CAPITALISM CONTINUED- CLAIMED POSITIVES Many people claim positives for uncontrolled capitalism such as 1. Improving standards of living and making everyone richer over time 2. Being the most effective way of providing people with incentive to work hard 3. Being the most effective way for society to improve technology and overall advance 4. Best way to distribute wealth and goods across the world Although these are overall contentious topics, I will try to explain why I do not believe these are true. 1. The reason why standards of living have improved and everyone has become richer in developed capitalist countries is not because of capitalism, but rather because of governmental control of capitalism. The capitalist oriented government parties and companies have opposed the abolition of slavery, creation of a minimum wage, restrictions on workplace health and safety and child labour and so on. As evidenced through history and in present, capitalism is not interested in helping people, it is interested in making profit. Again, the reason for the improvements in peoples lives is labour governments, trade unions and peoples protests and movements. If it were not for these, we would have the living conditions of the industrial era. 2. Although this may be a valid point, I do not think making people work harder is justification for robbing and abusing them. I would also argue that crushing people into poverty, as capitalism does, eventually results in strikes, revolutions and protests- therefore refusing to work hard, unless conditions are improved. Ultimately people will continue to fight for improved conditions until they demand ownership of the institutions in which they work- and then capitalism will end. I also believe that there are many ways in a non capitalist system in which you can give people incentive to work- such as payment or ownership of their workplace conditional on working to a certain standard, or working more hours entitling people to more money/rewards. 3. I think reality proves this not to be true. The greatest scientific achievements in history have not been due to mass amounts of money or rich companies, they have been either through the independent research of an exceptional and passionate individual who had no interest in money, or funded by the government in institutions such as universities by people (professors) who work long hours for next to nothing- money is obviously not an incentive for the great minds of humanity! There are obviously some aspects of science that need money, but this can just as easily be provided in a non capitalist system as in a capitalist one. 4. The best way to distribute wealth and goods across the world... Im, going to let Russell Brand explain this one! https://youtube/watch?v=hbOb0kpYUTo https://youtube/watch?v=hbOb0kpYUTo
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:40:19 +0000
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