TakeOnIt
Compare opinions of world leading experts and influencers.
  Communism    Tax    Democracy    Macroeconomics    Economics    Philosophy    Politics    Topic Index  Add Expert Opinion    Edit Question    Edit Implications    History   

Is capitalism good?

Capitalism is an economic system where wealth is privatized, that is, controlled by individuals. It stands in contrast to socialism, where wealth is controlled by the government. Western economies are said to be capitalist systems, though in reality they are a blend of capitalist and socialist systems, where the left and right wing advocate socialist vs. capitalistic leaning economic policies respectively.

Implications to Other Questions


Experts and Influencers

Suggest Expert Quote (click to expand, no login required)
Agree
Experts In Economics


Adam Smith    Founder of Modern Economics
Agree
Every system which [rewards an] industry a greater share of the capital of the society than what would naturally go to it, or [forces an] industry some share of the capital which would otherwise be employed in it, is in reality subversive of the great purpose which it means to promote. It retards, instead of accelerating, the progress of the society towards real wealth and greatness; and diminishes, instead of increasing, the real value of the annual produce of its land and labour.
01 Jan 1776    Source

Sub-Arguments Of This Expert:
Is free trade generally beneficial for a country?
   Agree

Milton Friedman    Iconic Economist of 20th Century
Agree
...is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on greed?. ... What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy; it's only the other fellow who's greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. ...the only cases in which the masses have escaped from ... grinding poverty ... are the cases where they have had capitalism and free trade. ...If you want to know where they're worst off it's the kind of societies that depart from that.
01 Jan 1979    Source

Sub-Arguments Of This Expert:
Is free trade generally beneficial for a country?
   Agree

Experts In Psychology


Sigmund Freud    Famous Psychologist
Mostly Agree
I have no concern with any economic criticisms of the communist system [but] I am able to recognize that the psychological premises on which the systems based are an untenable illusion. In abolishing private property we deprive the human love of aggression of one of its instruments, certainly a strong one, though certainly not the strongest; but we have in no way altered the differences in power and influence which are misused by aggressiveness, nor have we altered anything in its nature.
01 Jan 1930    Source


Disagree
Experts In Communism


Karl Marx    Father of Communism
Disagree
In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.
21 Feb 1848    Source

Sub-Arguments Of This Expert:
Is free trade generally beneficial for a country?
   Disagree

Experts In War


Osama Bin Laden    Leader of Al Qaeda
Disagree
As you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings, and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves from the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system. If you were to ponder it well, you would find that in the end, it is a system harsher and fiercer than your systems in the Middle Ages. The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations under the label of "globalization" in order to protect democracy.
07 Sep 2007    Source


Experts In Entertainment


Peter Joseph    Movie Producer
Disagree
...what isn’t talked about, is how a competition based economy invariably leads to strategic corruption, power and wealth consolidation, social stratification, technological paralysis, labor abuse and ultimately a covert form of government dictatorship by the rich elite.
02 Oct 2008    Source

Sub-Arguments Of This Expert:
Is free trade generally beneficial for a country?
   Disagree

Experts In Media


Michael Moore    Documentarian
Disagree
[Our] economic system [is] unfair and unjust, in which a few people with a lot of money are making decisions that cause a lot misery and heartache for millions of people. ... Ever since slavery was eliminated, [the wealthy] have been trying to keep it as close to slavery as they can without violating the slave laws. ... What will historians and anthropologists call it? They are not going to call us employees or associates. They are going to call us wage slaves.
26 Sep 2009    Source



Comments

Add Your TakeOnIt (click to expand, no login required)
1 Point      Loftus      28 Jul 2010      Stance on Question: Disagree
I view with suspicion the fact that Osama Bin Laden is the second person listed under disagree.

Capitalism is evil. Ask your priest.


1 Point      Adam Atlas      26 Apr 2010      Stance on Question: Mostly Agree
It has been much more successful at creating wealth, promoting innovation, and raising the world's standard of living than any of its predecessors and the non-market-based alternatives that have been tried. However, as I don't believe in natural rights or hold any deontological values that inherently require unrestrained free markets, my preferences regarding economic policy are based on outcomes (measured by utility to humans; metrics like GDP might correlate somewhat to that, but they are not the same measure, and the end goal (very roughly speaking) is maximizing how happy people are with their lives and with the world); therefore, I support commercial regulation and social programs exactly insofar as they result in greater happiness than a pure market economy would.

Not that I would make a blanket statement that "x amount of regulation and wealth redistribution is good", even if I don't claim to know the value of x; it's not a matter of finding some specific "balance", but of trying individual programs and seeing what helps. In general, mixed economies seem to be viable and effective, e.g. in European social democracies.


0 Points      Benja      26 Apr 2010      Stance on Question: Mostly Agree
A core reason capitalism works is that it's based on a predominantly selfish view of human nature that meshes nicely with evolutionary psychology, while its alternatives are based on romantic notions of human nature that people like to signal but do not live up to (ironically also for evo-psych reasons).

If we accept people act primarily out of self interest, and we want to maximize everyone's self interest, then the best system will empower each person. The alternatives require that the individuals whom comprise the bureaucratic power structure tasked with wealth allocation will resist the temptation to act in accordance with their nature.



0 Points      OmnipotentRabbit      10 Apr 2010      Stance on Question: Neutral
Capitalism is about as good as any other system, whether it be Socialism, Communism, or anything of the sort. All of them usually result in an oligarchy gaining all the power or all the money and imposing their power on everyone else to, in turn, increase their power/money.

Sure, capitalism as modernly employed in the countries that define it is a terrible system. But so is Socialism. And so is Juche. The only countries that experience some success are those who try to achieve a balance between the two supposed "extremes" of economy. There is no right system. It's the balancing of tendencies according to the times what creates working politics.