I've often questioned whether capitalism is truly the ideal economic system that people seem to say it is. People worship it. I've heard people with shining faces talk of God, democracy, and capitalism - like these are the holy trinity. That these three things are pure and perfect, and we need to spread them so that the whole world might be free.
I'm not sure about this.
Pure capitalism can be a brutal thing. It tramples the weak underfoot of the rich. So, it is the subject of many of my philosophical ponderings. Is capitalism truly good? Are there systems that might work better?
Many people, in defense of capitalism, will say that it breeds innovation through the competition of ideas. This may be true in some cases. But I've also seen another side effect of capitalism, and that is the scamming of the consumer.
Let's look at some examples:
1) Cigarettes. For centuries people have harvested tobacco and smoked it. But, once it became a big business, they started adding chemicals to make it addictive. Of course it makes good business sense to make it so that people are dependent on your product. If profit-motive wasn't an issue, chemical additives wouldn't have ever entered into cigarettes.
2) Lotion. I've been told (by women who use lotion) that lotion companies put alcohol in their lotions. Why? Because alcohol dries your skin out. So, once you use it to moisturize your skin, you feel the need to use it again in a few hours. Once again, making the consumer dependent on the product.
It just seems like if you look at products being put out and really think what the product would be like if profit-motive weren't involved, that you would often have a much better product, because the focus would be on making the best product, not on marketing, or getting people addicted to it, or cutting costs to protect your bottom line.
But how do we create a world without profit-motive? It seems impossible in modern America. And people claim that without profit as an incentive, people lose their motivation to work.
Thoughts? Innovations?
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2 comments:
Capitalism is a better system for preserving freedom and creating wealth than any controlled economy. Just compare North Korea and South Korea, China and Hong Kong, East Germany and West Germany. You cannot give both political power and economic power to the same people. However, unchecked capitalism is has its flaws, as we have experienced recently. Teddy Roosevelt had the right idea. Break up the monopolies. There needs to be a balance. We as a country are not good at balance. We prefer to talk extremes as if there is no such thing as balance.
No, that's a great point. It is all about balance. And really, that's what our country is supposed to have, some sort of balance between capitalism and socialism. That's why we have public schools, libraries, fire departments -- social programs. This is why I have a problem with the Tea Party - because what they want is pure capitalism. I think there are many dangers to pure capitalism that a lot of Americans don't want to think about.
The main point I'm trying to make is that there is room for improvement. A lot of people believe that we have democracy and capitalism, and we've got it right, and we're the best country in the world. I just want people to think about ways in which our country isn't perfect, because maybe someday we'll develop a system that's better than anything we've come up with so far.
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