The communal rumblings on the pitfalls of capitalism have been stirring up again. It comes and goes, through each generation, like a set of waves at the beach. It is often swished up by the younger generation. They are more rebellious, they don't yet know how much they actually don't know, and let's face it, their pre frontal cortex's are still developing. It might be best to introduce these people to my friends Dunning and Kruger (Google Dunning-Kruger effect).
Do not get me wrong, the idea of socialism or communism sound absolutely fantastic on paper. The theory of everyone working together for the betterment of the collective society. Yes, that all sounds like a happy and selfless utopia doesn't it. However it is when these theories are put to the test, where the true impact of these ostensibly benevolent ideas are really felt. This is an experiment that was replicated many times in the 20th century, and it resulted in the death of over 100 million people. Yes, you did read that number correctly.
Now before I go any further, I want to make something crystal clear. Do I agree with socialist policies operating inside in a free market economy? Absolutely! Public schools, public healthcare, emergency services, economic safety nets for the most unlucky and vulnerable members of our society etc. These are all good things, and I am so grateful to be able to live in a country that offers these services.
Now do I agree with a socialist economy? Absolutely not! What is the difference? A socialist economy is where the government owns and controls the means of production and distribution. They also believe that the exchange of good and services should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. People will take a myopic view of this and think that it make our societies more fair, because it evens out the collective wealth of a given society. However all you are actually doing when you implement a socialist economy is taking the power away from the individual, and placing that power solely into the hands of the government. Which if you haven't realised by now, is just another group of people.
I am sure we have all heard of the great quote from Lord Acton — "All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". No where else is this quote more relevant than in the great socialist states of the 20th century. Whether it be Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Castro, Minh, Il-sung. All of these great champions of "equality" succumbed to the power that their positions held. However it must be said with the leaders that I have listed above, the only real reason for their supposed "fight for equality", was so that they could become one of the very few who stood at the top of the utopian paradise that Karl Marx described in his communist manifesto with Friedrich Engels. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" — George Orwell.
Is capitalism a perfect economic system? Definitely not. Does capitalism have its flaws? You bet it does. Sir Winston Churchill famously declared that "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other that have been tried". Well in a similar fashion, capitalism is the worst economic system that has ever been tried, except for all the others.
What is capitalism? Capitalism is an economic system where the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services are controlled by private owners for profit. Capitalism harnesses human selfishness to produce a net positive for the world and for the people who inhabit it. Free markets allow for maximum competition. Competition increases quality and decreases prices. When people have the chance to make more money to improve the lives of themselves and their families, they offer the highest quality goods and services that they believe the most amount of people will want. You don't choose to buy something or hire someone based on quality alone. Nor do you buy something or hire someone based on price alone. You buy things and hire them based on a combination of those two values. There are more, but they are the primary ones for sure.
Also if you haven't noticed, these people do not "exploit you for financial gain". People cannot and do not force you to buy their products. You willingly decide to do so because you believe that their goods and services are worth the price of your hard earned labour. Can some people be exploited? Of course, but as we touched on earlier, capitalism is not a perfect system. It's just the best one we have got. Thanks to capitalism, the greatest issue the developed world now grapples with is coming up with goods and services to tackle the steep incline in obesity that is traversing through our society — rather than that of starvation — which by the way was the default setting of humans civilisation until the industrial revolution in the late 18th century (thanks to capitalism).
Of course there is still poverty around the world, and there will be for a long period of time, but each and everyday there are thousands of people being pulled out of poverty — thanks to capitalism. Did you know that the current child mortality rate in Africa is the same as it was in Europe in 1952? This is due to the economics of capitalism and to the generosity of people with large amounts of capital. I know what you are thinking, but no, all rich people aren't just clones of the monopoly man. They don't just sit down all day and bark orders at their "modern day slaves". Nor do they just simply count their fortunes in one hand whilst they twirl their moustache's with the other.
The way to move up in a capitalist system is to trade your labour for skills. Then with each new found skill, the value of your labour will increase. Do this diligently and conscientiously over a prolonged period of time and you will begin to rise up the economic hierarchy. The way to move up in a socialist system? Up you ask? You are already in paradise aren't you? You don't move up, nor do you move down. You are simply stuck where you are. Yes you might be equal, but not of the kind you may have read about. Instead you are equally poor, destitute, and free of ambition. "A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings" — Sam Harris.
There are of course people in every society that have been dealt such a rough hand that simply "acquiring skills" is a task too tall to handle. These people, either due to their genetics (IQ), or their environment (parents and community), are destined to work in either mundane low skill jobs or live off the state (welfare). Is this fair? Not in the slightest. So what do we do? Do we just make everyone as equally poor and unfortunate as them? So that way they won't feel as bad because everyone else is just like them right? Does this sound pragmatic to you? It sure as hell doesn't sound like it to me.
This is where socialist policies encapsulated inside a free market system come in handy. These people should be given a helping hand from the state. They should get extra benefits and they should be given basic housing. How is that possible? That is possible because the most skilled and most intelligent (some might say fortunate) members of our societies are producing goods and services that lots of people want. They are pulling resources from the ether of human flourishing and then giving a piece of that back to the state who then implement policies to create a tide that rises all boats. There will still be inequality. Inequality will always exist, but the people at the bottom of the economic hierarchy will continue to rise higher and higher up the scale of human well-being. This is progress.
We should be empowering the most talented people among us to continue their great work. They are providing millions of jobs for many families around the world. They are producing the most amazing technological and scientific products year after year. This Mac Book that I am typing on would not exist if it were not for capitalism. Neither would the phone you are reading this on, or the lounge that you are sitting on. This is all due to human innovation. Innovation that would not exist if it were not for capitalism.
I know the people that espouse socialism think that they are being kind and good, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I stated earlier that these ideas sound great in theory, but also that in practise they caused more misery and death than anyone or anything else in the 20th century. Mind you this was a century that was inhabited by the likes of Adolf Hitler. Read the book: The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, if you would like a true and harrowing understanding of what these socialist economies do to the human experience.
Capitalism is not the enemy. Capitalism is the way towards a better society. Yes it needs to be repaired from time to time, and yes it does need some modifications — but as the old saying goes "don't throw the baby out with the bath water".
