1. Capitalism vs Socialism
Now that you put it that way,
-- Capitalism sounds so greedy and crass
-- Socialism sounds so good and noble
In practice, Capitalism leads to the greatest good for the largest number of people, Socialism leads to tyranny and untold misery for most.
Now that you put it that way,
-- Capitalism sounds so greedy and crass
-- Socialism sounds so good and noble
In practice, Capitalism leads to the greatest good for the largest number of people, Socialism leads to tyranny and untold misery for most.
2. On first blush it appears counter-intuitive. Upon reflection, it is perfectly foreseeable as to why. We are hostage to emotive words. Profit motive is perhaps the most maligned and misunderstood phrase in the English language, whereas fairness is perhaps the most exalted.
3. But it is the profit motive, not fairness, that makes people get out of bed early, kiss goodbye to their loved ones, and go out there and bust their behinds to produce something that others will find valuable enough to pay more for than it costs the business owners to produce.
4. Repeat the same thing millions of times and soon you have a bustling economy, in which people are voluntarily buying and selling products and services. You have toys and bread and smartphones and computers and cars and airplanes and houses and beer and wine. You get the idea.
5. And all of that happens without anyone holding a gun to anyone's head to get them out of bed, or cracking a whip to make them plow the field. It just happens entirely voluntarily because everyone is driven by that invisible but self-motivating profit motive.
6. Now let us turn to fairness. Nobody thinks of themselves as unfair. It is always other directed, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly. But as a singular organizing principle, it carries within it the demon seed of ever present resentment toward the other.
7. Fairness is nothing but redistributionist at its fundamental core, as it involves taking something from someone and giving it to someone else, always making judgments and assumptions about someone having done something wrong and someone else having been wronged.
8. That is not to say wrongdoers and wronged don't exist. They do. But a perpetual search for them creates an ever increasing number of real and imagined aggressors and aggrieved, ...
9. ... ultimately consuming all of society as more and more effort and passion is expended on meting out the ever elusive "ultimate justice" and less and less effort is expended on producing and distributing essential and useful things that sustain and nurture society.
10. Admittedly, what has been painted here is a bit of a stark view on both sides, but the purpose is to illustrate, in broad strokes, how and why things work out the way they do, across time and geography, whenever and wherever Capitalism and Socialism have been tried.
11. To translate theory into reality it is necessary to augment it with a dose of experiential wisdom. Despite everything that has been said, laissez-faire capitalism does not work well either, as that can spin out of control in the other direction of cruel unfairness.
12. Centuries of human experience has demonstrated that what works best is "well regulated free market capitalism, with safety-nets." But mind you, safety-nets are insurance policies that ameliorate the burden of misfortunes not of one's own making. They are not socialism lite.
13. Let me close with two very instructional videos. Watch this short video to learn why $2 a day wage in some places can be a godsend, not heartless exploitation. Context is everything.
14. And this two and a half minute video should be a required viewing in every school and college everywhere in the world (appropriately translated to local languages).
The End.
The End.
