I truly hope not, hopefully, Marx's economic determinism for our society is wrong. Capitalism is what shapes our nation, and the numerous advantages we have are because of our economic system. As I sat in discussion section for Poli-Sci, the GSI asked us a question that I or my peers had no GREAT answer for. He asked us to defend capitalism, stating that this is a system that we were raised in. Why do we thinks it's better than communism?
Competition:
Capitalism allows individuals to make their own decisions about their personal well being. If I feel that taking a risk and investing my money where most others don't will help me gain financially, who's to tell me that I can't? Capitalism provides a motivation for the owners of businesses to want to do better by being more efficient. Therefore, it motivates them to differentiate themselves from other businesses to have an advantage in production. The competition that comes along with capitalism promotes decreased consumer prices and increased quality. It helps to reward the owner that can provide the best quality item for the lowest price. If Marx was correct, and the working class starts to rise and form our nation into a communist place, the competition that capitalism brings along wouldn't be the same. Everything would be divided equally, requiring less competition and motivation for owners to provide consumers with the best products for the cheapest price.
Decreased Government Interference:
Capitalism entails that government have a decreased interference on the regulation of business. Companies have a major advantage in being able to plan their next move vs companies who are tied down by government and can't plan on their own time.
Financial Incentive:
It's noted that capitalism helps people work harder to become successful become of the financial incentive. Owners and entrepreneurs take risks to run businesses because of the potential financial gain that's associated with success. If capitalism wasn't in place today, there would be no incentive for new firms to be set up. If we were a communist nation, I don't think that an entrepreneur would have the same incentive to start a business because the possibility of financial gain wouldn't be the same.
All three of these features are some of the main reasons why I believe that capitalism should remain in our nation. Communism will promote the exact opposite of each of these views. Hopefully, Marx was wrong in his economic determinism. If he wasn't, I'll be the first to move to Hong Kong.
If my argument for why capitalism should remain in our nation...maybe captain capitalism should be brought to life!!!!
I agree with you that it is unlikely that the proletariat will rise up and take control of bourgeoisie. However, I think that it could be possible in dire economic times. The Occupy Movement could be seen as an example of this. Unemployed, young middle class Americans (roughly equivalent to the proletariat) protested Banks and the 1% (bourgeoisie, owners of capital). Though they were not able to achieve their goals. I believe that if they had been more clear about their goals and on a greater scale, societal change could have happened. I agree with you that competition does motivate individuals to work harder. Because there is competition, there will be some losers and winners among. The losers will gain very little while winners will gain a significant amount. This gap could create a lot of resentment and greed within society. As for you second reason, if the government regulated businesses - it would be unlikely that financial catastrophes such as in 2008 would happen. I think that some degree of government interference could be helpful.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this blog was extremely well-written. Not only do I agree with pretty much everything that you said, but I think that you did a fantastic job of showing how capitalism is not only a good thing, but it necessary to a create and maintain a healthy economy and economic system. I honestly cannot understand why some people hate the fact that capitalism allows an individual to succeed and prosper, it motivates individuals to work harder, and creates a demand for competition. The incentive of possible success and wealth is what drives individuals to be successful. And I agree completely that individuals should have the ability to invest or gamble with their own money, and that nobody (especially the federal government) should be able to tell them otherwise. I'm not necessarily going to take the Gordon Gekko approach that "greed is good" but I think there is some validity to that statement. Greed, to an extent, is what drives us to work harder, to invent and innovate. And it is difficult to accomplish these things through extra government regulation. Say, you want to make a sandwich with peanut butter, avocado, and cheese (gross, I know) but say that it ends up being the greatest sandwich combination ever, and you want to mass produce it, but you are hit be regulations by the federal government or some other overseeing power. It destroys any incentive or ambition an individual might have to innovate or attempt to become more successful. I think that competition is what drives us as individuals and as mankind as a whole, and if that drive or competitive spirit is taken away, then we are left with a very sad and boring world in my opinion. Again, I thought you wrote an excellent blog and did an amazing job at both defining and defending capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this was a well-organized and thought provoking blog post. I really liked how you organized your argument and discussed the need for competition, the importance of decreased government interference, and financial incentives. I also believe that it is highly unlikely that the proletariat will "rise up" and take control, because the government will never allow that to happen. Sure, there is freedom of speech, but if it threatens our capitalist society, I am positive that the government will intervene immediately.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything in this post and admire your writing here. I would just like to reiterate your point about how important capitalism is to the survival of our society. It is extremely essential that we have competition in markets and pressure to always be the best because without that, there would be no progress in society or with technology. It is the nature of capitalism that forces people to search for the most efficient ways to make a profit and that is in making things better. We would not have the luxuries that we have today without the ingenuity of companies trying to sell their products and make money in a very competitive market. There needs to be some type of motivation for people to work hard, or else people will get comfortable with doing less work, which is never good for society. It also is important that the government does not get too involved with business because that makes it a lot more complicated and the least amount of government control, the better (just think of how the DMV is run).
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