What does it mean to live in a Capitalistic\Consumer system? and who supports our lifestyle e.g...............

Question

exploitation of 3rd world country labour, exploitation of other countries natural resources ?
What else, loans given by the world bank to under-developed countries, in exchange for power over their countries, put simply?

Sorry, english is not my mother tounge.

what about the use of cheap labour in e.g. China?
I have seen factorys when I travelled to China producing goods for American companys or partly owned by americans, treating the workers terrible, like slaves. My girl-friend is chinese, she tells me alot about it.

does that give justifacation for what we do, exploit people who are deperate, we give them jobs you say!
easy for who sit comfortably at home.

and I am not communist, I am just trying to understand whats going on.

maybe we dont keep others down, not all anyway, but can you say that we dont profit on their misery. could we not treat others as we treat ourselves?

and still keep the system running?

Bill: and so please tell me why the world bank supports dictators? dont you think their is political motivation behind it?

Answer 1

Far from exploitation of 3rd world countries, what allows us to live our lifestyle is freedom. Freedom to innovate. Freedom from excessive taxation. Freedom from excessive government regulation. Freedom to keep the fruits of our labor. Freedom to take risks.

The Capitalistic societies are not keeping the 3rd world countries down. Their own governments and cultures are doing that. In every underdeveloped nation, you will find lack of freedoms and government obstacles for success. You will find a culture of corruption keeping them down.

Let me give you one concrete example. Here in America, our legal system has very clearly defined property rights. I own my own home. Well, me and the bank. Anyway, this asset has value, and if I want to, I can borrow money using this asset as a guarantee of my repayment. I can then use this money to start a business, invest, lend, or improve the home. This is how many American entrepeneurs get their start.

Many underdeveloped countries do not have clear property rights. There is no legally defined title. No bank will lend money against that property as they cannot be guaranteed seizing the asset if the loan is defaulted on. Thus, the new business or investment never is started.

Now add in factors like high taxation, government red tape, corruption, crime etc. Starting and running a business becomes almost impossible, without participating in the corruption yourself. It's very hard to become a first world nation like this.

Ultimately, like I said, it all goes back to freedom.

As for cheap labor, even as bad as those conditions are in those factories, they are better than what those people knew before, being dirt poor in some farm barely earning enough to exist. America too went through this period as we moved from farm to factory in the late 1800s. It's impossible to make the jump from poor dirt farmer barely making a living, to prosperous first world nation, without some middle steps. What you describe is a middle step. As bad as it is, it's better than what they had before.

We are not exploiting them, we are employing them. The other alternative is for them to be unemployed and even poorer.

Answer 2

Who's exploting third world countries? What would Chinese laborers do and what would they eat if they didn't have jobs making products for the U.S. and other Western, Free-Market countries? They would probably be eating their shoes like they did when Mao was in charge. The World Bank is a corrupt orgainzation that has doled out billions in tax-payer cash to help corrupt dictators stay in power third-world countries. The money rarely reaches the folks who need it, and usually ends up in a Swiss bank account for a local corrupt goverment official. Give it up commrade, Socialism and it's evil twin, Communism are dead. Both have brought more misery and death to the world than any other government system. (The Nazis were Socialists.)

Answer 3

Capitalism does not exploit the 3rd world.

We provide medicines, money, and ready to use avenues of selling to third world countries.