Which is better? Communism or Capitalism?

Answer 1

In a perfect utopia communism, would be better.

Unfortunately, because of mans' utter stupidity and greed for wealth and power. It will never be possible to set up a flawless communist system, therefore for this reason Capitalism is better.

SO, GO CAPITALISM!!!!

Answer 2

"is better" is pretty ambiguous. How about asking "Which leads to a more comfortable and stable life for its citizens, a communist system or a capitalist system?"

History over the last couple centuries has shown that communism, at least in the form it always seems to appear (Marxism-Leninism) is a disaster. Capitalism, like democracy, seems to be "the worst system except for all the others". China, East Germany, Albania, Russia... the only remaining communist systems are Cuba and North Korea, and both are basket cases.

If you read the theory of communism it describes a beautiful and ideal life. Human nature being what it is, reality has never come close to that. My own thought is that the scale is one problem: like the saying, "one rotten apple spoils the basket", the larger a system is the more likely it will have some rotten apples, and when others see a minority cheating the system they will tend to do so too, in an accelerating process.

Even small scales do not work so well. I had thought Israeli kibbutzes were an example of successful small-scale capitalism, but over the last few years it turns out they have not worked all that well either.

On the other hand, what we call communism is not just an economic entity but also a political one. It could still be argued that the economics could work with better political support. I have never heard a serious proposal for how this could be done though.

(US citizen, 20-year resident of Mainland China)

Answer 3

Ideally, communism is better, but we don't live in an ideal world. When you read about communism you must keep in mind that it was created for a world with a huge rich/poor gap. those were good ideas at the time, but people are greedy and some will always come out on top. Capitalism is built on the basis of greed and people get left behind. In this world, capitalism is better, but in the ideal world, communism is better because everyone is equal and no person is better than anyone else.

Answer 4

Capitalism is the economic system based off economic and personal freedom. However, there is no true capitalist system in the world, for a number of reasons: there are too many unethical people for the government to take a completely lasez-fais (sp?) approach to business. In exemplis: abolishing the minimum wage would actually be a good thing, in theory. Yes, the amount of money you earn per year will go down, but your real wages will increase whilst your nominal decrease. However, some corporate executives, such as those of Wal-Mart, would pay their workers just enough for them to go to work and buy the absolute necessities for life: and that would be a miserable existence.

Communism, however, is the worst form of government ever to grace the face of the earth. The communists have killed around 100 million people during their 80 years in various countries. If you compare any communist or statist (i.e. fascist, dictatorship, and communist) country with a 'capitalist' country, you will note that the standard of living in the former is much lower, as are the GDP and per capita income.

Also, look at inventions: what invention that improved the life of mankind has ever come from a communist or a statist nation? Whatever those communist countries produced was through espionage and theft of ideas from the capitalist nations. As for those inventions produced by statist nations (e.g. Nazi Germany) that are of benefit to mankind, those devices were not originally intended as such.

I suggest you read "The Capitalist Manifesto" by Andrew Bernstein. It will enlighten you as to what capitalism truly is. Anyone who claims that communism is superior to capitalism has no idea of what he is saying. Communism is the system of oppression and elimination of independent thought. If communism is superior, then why do you find people so desparate to flee Cuba, that they will take anything that floats, and even use doors as rafts? Why was it that you saw very few people trying to get into East Berlin, whilst the exodus from there was so high that they had to build a wall?

Communism is a system that ignores man's capacity for rational thought, and his ability to use his mind to advance himself.

Answer 5

Neither is better - they both stink! Communism takes away the "right to be wrong" and controls people totally; whereas, Capitalism is based upon greed. All in all, Capitalism lasts longer because of the availability of material goods and the availability of the substances to produce those same goods. Greed is paramount in humans; therefore, as shortages prevail, people turn on one another ( remember the fights at the gas pumps when shortages were around?) !!! As the late Sir Winston Churchill former Prime Minister of England once stated; "Capitalism is the best of the worst" . I guess, to the homeless in either system, it doesn't really matter !!!

Answer 6

It depends on who you ask.

For the average person who'd rather be left alone by the government, Capitalism works, Communism doesn't.

For the person who doesn't contribute anything to the economy but still wants a piece of it, like food or housing, Communism works, Capitalism doesn't.

For the politician that wants to be able to eliminate anyone that disagrees with him/her, Communism works, Capitalism doesn't.

Answer 7

Would rather live in old USSR days waiting 8 hours to buy a loaf of bread, or be a working class chump can buy a loaf of bread in 2 mintues. Its common sense when the goverment controls every aspect of the economy it creates a lot of deadweight in the economy because the goverment is not sensitive to supply and demand, comsumer tastes. Better Question is Swedish Model better or American Model? Not communism or captialism is better?

Answer 8

Communism is way better than capitalism. I am so sick of people getting unfair wages. I mean a construction worker that worked allot, get lease amount of wages compared to people that work lazy *** jobs. This is a big thing I dislike about the United States government. :\

Answer 9

Communism breeds failure. You will get the same amount of money no matter if you do a good job or a bad job. Produce a million bushels of corn or 1/2 million bushels of corn. It's the same. There is no incentive to excel and make things better for yourself or those around you.
Capitalism if the opposite. You are given incentive to succeed and your and your family reaps the benefits of this success, not the government. Even China has seen the the benefits of a capitalistic economy.

Answer 10

of course everyone is going to say capitalism
but all liberals love communism