Why is Capitalism a dirty word?

Question

Socialism and Communism do not allow greatness. The first commandment of Socialism is "Tho shalt not do better than thy neighbor" I don't see the appeal.

Answer 1

I bet you are one of those that believe that the more intelligent ppl are rewarded more in capitalism, right. FYI, 80% of the wealth in this capitalist society is inherited and 5% of the wealthiest Americans own 90% of this country's wealth.

Competitiveness is a basic human characteristic. Humans, by nature, will compete to be the first, the best... no matter what the reward is. All capitalism does is give the false impression that the best will be rewarded with more money.

For me, the appeal of socialism is to turn that reward away from greed and away from self-reward by transforming it into reward of community betterment and reward of inner personal achievement.

PS. I don't see how anyone could see any benefit of a soceity that makes the lower wage employees work 10 times harder than others then accuses those low wage workers of being jealous, etc...

Answer 2

Capitalism is often seen in a negative light because, at its heart, it focuses on what an individual wants. It is based on each person's enlightened self-interest and on competition to accrue the most money, toys, power, etc. The basic description doesn't really mention anything about sharing resources or working toward the greater good; it assumes that, if everybody is trying to get rich and a most make a decent living doing so while a few get way ahead, the average citizen ends up pretty well off. It's kind of a fallacious argument, but it's worked, so we've stuck with it. Socialism and communism focus more on the society as a whole, and each person contributing to the community rather than vying for position or getting more resources for themselves. They don't seem to work as well, because honestly, humans are pretty greedy by nature, and capitalism fits us better -- but socialism and communism are ethically what we want to be and are psychologically unable to do for long periods of time.

Answer 3

Capitalism per se, is not. But the CRONY oligopolistic capitalism as put forward by the Dumbya Coup is ALSO destructive of fairness, decency and earth sustainability. For example, as the movie points out, who indeed "killed the electric car" (EV1) when it is manifestly needed for sustainability. There are numerous other examples of how the "free market" REALLY isn't free, especially in the Dumbya USA. The Dumbya Coup is NOT satisfied with letting Smith's "invisible hand" work, but intervened AGAINST unions freely chosen by workers, the minimum wage, and environmental regulations. You have the freedom to pollute all you want to except when you want to socialize the consequences of the pollution and make it other people's problem... therefore you should RETAIN ALL your pollution unless you are willing to PAY for those consequences. So it REALLY matters how you define "capitalism".

Answer 4

Capitalism is not a dirty word... any of these systems can be good or bad depending on how they are implemented. Capitalism carried to it's extreme would have us killing each other for money. NOT such a great way to build a civilization. Everything needs to be moderated. Both socialism AND capitalism. Either without brakes is bad. Why does everything have to be either/or?

Answer 5

Who told you that that was the first commandment of Socialism?
Perhaps a Capitalist who was scared of socialism?

Pure socialism doesn't work because of the lack of incentives.

Pure capitalism is essentially economic Darwinism - and nobody
wants to see people get needlessly reamed that way.

We care about what happens to those who are less fortunate
than ourselves. I maintain that that violates the "Greed is good"
paradigm that gets associated with pure capitalism.

There is no doctrine of capitalism (at least, nothing equivalent
to Marx's writings), so it is perhaps unfair to label it with
"Greed is good", but clearly the robber barons of the previous
century are evidence that pure capitalism needs to be
controlled.

Answer 6

Capitalism is a "dirty" word, because people get jealous. If you are willing to work, then you too can become rich. Unfortunately not everyone wishes to work. People are lazy and wish to do nothing, and still be paid. This is where the true power of communism is, if you do nothing you still get the same benefit as those who do everything.

Answer 7

All those system model are wrong, because they are all by definition made to exploit the Littles, and make Bigs richers...

Especially Capitalism...It can't help on any way some one poor.

The increases on PIB,
Or decrease on loan %, can't help the poors that have a low income, and can't buy real estate, or others like gold or jewelry..

Investments that can benificy of fluctuations of markets or lowering of interests rates.....

On 1 000 000$ if you paid 3 % of interrest : 30 000$ of interrest.

If you beneficy of a 1% lower in interrest rate : +10 000$ on your pockets

100 $ = 3$
lower rate (1%) + 1 $ on the Poor pockets...

It is made to make Rich richer and Poor, poorer..

Answer 8

The appeal is in the second commandment of Socialism-- "Thou shalt not do worse than they neighbor."

Answer 9

our society is powered by the middle class, of which I belong to (and I'm sure you do too.) Capitalism allows for an upper class, and a lower class (the two classes right now that we give tax exemptions to.) Which means that our middle class is paying for most taxes. Socialized programs created a middle class. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, but a middle class is ideal...

Answer 10

because losers do not like to be reminded that they are not able to compete with others with that they preffer to blame those willing to put themselves out to take the risks and meet the challenges inherent in starting an enterprise.
There are those out there who will claim that those who do not benifit from Capitalism are exploited i dont see how that augument holds since they gain some benifit if not as much as the leaders as long as there postion is consentual.