Does Capitalism REALLY work?

capitalism does not work, at least in our current global situation. The only way I see capitalism working is after everyone is on an equal standpoint. Right now, since we don't all have equal access to education, shelter, and food, capitalism does not work. Anyone who says it works hasn't seen starving people in undeveloped countries.

Well, capitalism obviously isn't an everyone-gets-rich system. It's a system where you must compete in the market. If you have a good idea, a good work ethic, ingenuity, etc, you can make something of yourself. A free market dictates what goes on. Assuming that capitalism is why people are poor or homeless is to assume that there is a fixed amount of money lying around in a big pile. The more some people take from this pile, the less there is to spread around to everyone else. That's false. Bill Gates' 50 billion dollars doesn't mean 5 billion people have $10 less now than they had before. It doesn't work like that. As far as poorest people go, the ones who are starving in countries with no water or crops or jobs, capitalism works better for them than any other "ism," at least on a world scale, because more charity is able to provide. When governments use taxpayer dollars to help lift people up--call that whatever "ism" you'd like; I prefer hugegovernmentism--they're running up debt and are wasting far more than is being used to help. I'm not sure which "ism" out there would see to it that everyone had a home or everyone had a car. That would require hugegovernmentism to take from people to give to others. Is that really a better system than capitalism? I'm not so sure. There will always be greedy people out there. But you better believe that greed is a trait of humanity and not one solely of capitialism. People are greedy. Systems cannot be greedy. They cannot be anything in those terms. Any other "ism" would just switch the greed. Instead of people working to create wealth to spend on whatever their selfish needs might be, it would be government standing in and saying "No, you can only keep X, we'll spend the Y on what we see fit." What things need our thoughts that capitalism is stealing attention from? People striving to make a good life for themselves is also a pretty worthy cause. Not being 100% selfless doesn't necessarily make you selfish.

Capitalism is not wrong, misuse of the freedoms' that capitalism offers are what ails the capitalist societies. Corruption is prevalent in communist, socialist countries, in monarchies as well under military rule, it is not just a malady found in capitalist societies alone. I think it is incorrect to blame any ideology for corruption, blame the human misuse of a very good system of human progress that capitalism offers.

Capitalism always works. Every single time it is tried, it works. China: Embraced Socialism, became a 3rd world country with mass starvation and poverty. China: Embraced Capitalism, and is the fastest growing economy in the world. Venezuela: Embraced Socialism, and is set to be the worst economy in all of latin America. Brazil: Embraced Capitalism, and is set to be the best economy in all of latin America. Cuba: Embraced Socialism, and is a 3rd world country. India: Embraced Capitalism, and is a fast growing economy. And there are hundreds of examples. Capitalism always works, every single time without question. But how does it restrict us? Restrict us from what? If you are restricted from something, it is a choice you have made. People are controlled by greed, when they choose to be greedy. And people in any other economic system can be greedy. That is more a matter of the mind, than a result of an economic system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-o0kD9f6wo&feature=related Take a look at this video from the 70's. The speaker is Milton Friedman was (deceased) a Nobel Prize winner in Economics. It is treating corporations as individuals that hurts people. THAT came about by government interference in our economy.

Capitalism would work for a very small civilization, like a tribe or something. Some tribes in africa and South America had a similiar system that worked to an extent, where everyone worked to get food and supplies that were divided equally. In an ideal society it would work because greed wouldn't be a factor and lack of resources wouldn't be either. But the countries that tend to be capitalist are really the worst ones for it.