Thursday, February 21, 2013
Capitalism: Good or Bad?
This is kind of a broad question, but overall, do you guys think that capitalism is good/beneficial for the world, or do you agree with Marx's view of capitalism (a system that is not necessarily good for the people, but great for the economy, and a system where the equality is replaced with a strict hierarchy of constant oppression between the classes)?
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Short answer: YES, the best way for the world to run unless someone thinks of another idea for how the world should work.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I agree with some Marx's views on Capitalism. Those are the facts he uses and the negatives of Capitalism that he points out. They are true. However, I disagree with him. It is good and beneficial for the world both for the economy and the sake of the people (quality of life, etc.) Capitalism always gets people inverting new things for profit and can also be self regulated. It can help us reach globalization and hopefully a global economy. With globalization, the standard of living will be better I think because everyone will have the same economy and wage rates. This question is very broad (but very good) so I will stop there
I agree with what Nick said. I think that everything has good parts and bad- but I think that Capitalism is the best form of economy available today. It is good for the people because they sympathize with the ideas of competition and profit associated with Capitalism. While I agree with Marx that the economy can not grow exponentially, I also do not think the solution lies in communism. I think that competition is a natural part of life, and it makes sense that it would be part of the economy too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paige - there are positive and negative aspects of capitalism. I think industrialization and the wealth that came with capitalism is good, but I don't think capitalist values or the way Europeans went about spreading capitalism is good. I agree with Marx that capitalism values have replaced traditional values but disagree with Marx's theory that communism is the solution to capitalism. I feel like nowadays, all people really care about is earning money and our whole life revolves around making profit. Capitalism can destroy the meaning of traditional values (religion, family, culture, etc.) For example, the Sepoy Mutiny - the British supplied and trained Indian troops (who are mostly Muslim and Hindus) with guns that were greased with cow and pig fat. I mean really..? Do British have no respect for other cultures or religions? It irritates me how the Europeans saw themselves as all high and mighty. They marched into other countries, they destroyed religion, culture, the traditional way of life and forced their capitalist values onto the natives and then bullied the natives into giving them whatever they wanted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what was stated above. In a broad sense capitalism was good for the world. It allowed Industrialization to happen. If that hadn't happened who knows where we would be today on technology. It connected the world, and improved economies. It also works with human nature. Humans are naturally competitive and want what they can get at the lowest price. That is why capitalism works in our societies, then and now. It's important to remember that we live in a capitalist nation so most of our opinions are going to be biast. Today our world is run by money. Lindsey brings up a good point. It is arguable that bringing capitalism to the rest of the world allowed people that would not have jobs a way to make an income but it was not necessary for the Europeans to destroy their cultures in the process.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a hard question to answer given we live in a capitalist world today. Its hard to really see how things could be any better when we haven't experienced anything else, so really are opinion is fairly biased. However, even though I myself think that capitalism is in fact a good thing, I also think that is was inevitable. It was only a matter of time that the scale of competition spread internationally leading to the rise of capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI agree mostly with what was said above, but I think in a sense it was necessary for the Europeans to destroy the native cultures. Not that I in anyway think it was a good thing, but some of the traditional cultures would not have been compatible with the Europeans' capitalist values. So for the Europeans, it was necessary to destroy their cultures to get them to see eye to eye. Other than that I agree with everything that was said above: that there are good and bad parts to capitalism and how the economy cannot continue to grow at this exponential rate.
ReplyDeleteCertainly from an economic view, capitalism is a great system. It leads to great profit and allows for countless innovations and development of products. Whether this is a good thing for the world or not depends on how you look at it. Capitalism has improved the quality of life in the western world, but it also makes people consumed with products and profit and the "next-best-thing". This is good for the economy, but maybe not good for traditional values or even the environment.
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