Capitalism is an effective meme.
Capitalism is an effective meme.
Capitalism has been proven to work. Some don't like it for various reasons, but it works.
Socialism has never proven it can work. It only gives consistently to the governments who insist that it works "for the people" Obamacare is one of the greatest examples of failed socialism in my life. There are many others.
I used to think the USA was the freest country, in terms of individual freedom, and in economics overall...and then I went to Hong Kong. That was 1991 pre-Chicom take over. But, HK is still ranked #1 in the world in economic freedom, followed closely by Singapore. The US is #12 in the world.
"Raw Capitalism" is how I described it. It was surprising, at first. But I came to understand "the rules." There were none! Loved it. While I was there, one of the big news stories was how two banks had teamed up to drive a competitor out of business. Well, at that time, they were trying but the third bank was taking steps to fight 'em off and hold on. Eventually, a large international bank bought out the besieged bank.
Speaking of large international banks, we have a friend who lives and works in Hong Kong. Some fellow from big ole Pelican, Louisiana, was a business major at NSU (one of wife's students). Had the opportunity to spend the summer between his junior-senior year to serve an internship at a company in HK. After he graduated he went back. Now, all these 30 years later, he's a VP at a big international investment bank. He was also bartender at my wedding reception while a student at NSU.
I agree with whoever it was who said capitalism is amoral. It is just an economic system. By definition it is the management of "capital" which includes money, resources, materials, and labor. By contrast socialism and communism, both economic systems, are immoral.
The free-for-all, no-holes-barred system in Hong Kong pre-1997 (and largely still that way today) is the purest form and the fairest and freest for the human experience. But it is amoral because just because you could, doesn't mean you should, and just because you can, doesn't mean you will. But if someone decides to use that economic freedom to do something unfair, unethical, well, isn't that just being "human?" It's part of who we are as a species.
Of course, there is a TON of good...no, great things that result from such a free economic system. When we were there, in 1991, we were traveling back into Hong Kong from Communist China and at the border was a fricking battalion of soldiers, armed with sub-machine guns, and a wall....yes, a wall! It was topped by barbed wire and machine guns...all pointing INWARD. That's right, the Chinese border guards were not concerned about defending against a foreign attack, but rather in keeping Chinese citizens from ESCAPING into Hong Kong. Despite this effort, many Chinese did escape into HK. That territory, at that time, was geographically about the same size as Natchitoches Parish in terms of square miles, but had 6 million people living in it.
The obvious question, with the obvious answer, is if communism is so great, and capitalism so evil, why do so many people travel FROM commie countries TO capitalist ones?
Because it is an effective meme.
????? Do you really think that?
The obvious reason is because under socialism and communism the individual is rather powerless to improve his circumstances and receives from a central authority, or is allowed to keep by that central authority, whatever they deem he/she should have. This central authority is normally the government, which derives immeasurable power by controlling the entirety of the economy and how that economy is divvied up.