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Socialism Vs. Capitalism: The Most Ignorant Debate of Today's Culture
With the election of the primary democratic and republican candidates for the presidential running of 2016 coming to a close there has been some hot debate topics that have appeared to be more evident than in recent elections. The young people of America have been screaming "BERNIE SANDERS! BERNIE SANDERS!" I didn't know much about our good friend Senator Sanders other than he preached Socialism. And with some basic knowledge of our friendly neighboring country Canada I knew the basics of Socialism. But what I didn't hear a whole lot about was the opposing side to the new found favorite economic system, Capitalism. So, I went digging, and what I found wooed me in a way that, even with much more wisdom of both sides of the argument I still rely stuck in the middle. However, let me simply lay down the basics of both systems for you guys before I start hitting on my cold-blooded opinions.
Capitalism:
-Free Market Economy(people have the ability to choose where they wish to work and how to do it, employers choose their employees, and the government stays out of the economic aspects of the country.)
-Has a definition of social classes, however movement between the classes is encouraged and possible
-Business owners and CEOs have the ability to place their business wherever they like
-Supply and Demand curves choose how much product is made and the prices they're sold at
-The money you make is yours, after taxes.
-Wages vary on the job and they are separated by 4 categories
Unskilled- Stay at home parent, McDonald's Employee, etc.
Semi-skilled- Janitor, Cab driver, etc.
Skilled- Teacher, accountant, etc.
Professional- Doctor, Dentist,politician, etc.
The American Economic System is currently based off Capitalistic values, however, the government plays larger role in the economy than "Pure Laissez-faire capitalism" just to make sure those CEOs and Corporation officials don't get too power hungry.
Socialism:
-Wealth is evenly distributed to everyone no matter the job
-The more you make the more you contribute
-About 50% of your income goes to the government to fund programs like;
-Free Public Education
-National Wide health care
-Safety etc.
-Government controls the production and demand of the economic system
-A state of lesser abusive communism
My fellow young people of America, I fear, are looking at Socialism and only agreeing to it because of the now. Bernie Sanders has promised to raise minimum wage to $15! Well that'll be great for about 3 weeks before everything around us shoots up in price and everyone earning minimum was will be just as miserable. As well, as the people earning a salary because they're wages aren't going up but all the prices around them are, because of inflation. I was having this conversation the other day with my AP Us history class and I made this argument and this girl behind me says "Well inflation's going to happen no matter what!" And I said "Yes, that's probably true, the thing is, we should be trying to be delay it, not encouraging it!"
Back on target, the younger generation it seems to be, giving up almost. I hate to assume that my friends embrace the role of socialism so they don't have to try as hard or because they grew up in a non-wealthy home. That's the beautiful thing about the free-market economy! You can move up from where you used to be by working hard and getting out of the poverty zone. However with socialism, you can't, because the moment you start making more money, the government starts taking more away and you have no opportunity to advance or get the feeling of accomplishment when you do advance!
Real economists who study and support Socialism often talk about the criticisms of capitalism say it gives too much power to the business owners and leaders. They also blame the great depression on capitalism, and the separation of classes. Also the cost of education being so high. It's all just a lot blaming, and from what I've seen in my research it was never much of the actual cold hard facts. So, economists who support capitalism tend to swing the same way. Currently Venezuela has a socialist society, they are the poorest country in Latin America. In loose terms old Soviet Russia could be considered Socialist and we all know what happened to them. Canada has a socialist society, but only about 8% of the amount of people America has. Although, the capitalist view also has some other support, instead of simply throwing bad things against socialism, they also have the success stories of capitalism. America, is the financial capitol of the world and we're still based around capitalism, Japan is now a capitalist nation and in the past 30 years, they have also become one of the largest economic monsters of our modern time. Britain is a capitalist country and they've been a world superpower since the BCE times. Chile is the wealthiest nation in Latin america and they are now under the economic umbrella of capitalism.
Clearly, capitalism is known to be more successful and beneficial to not only nations themselves but to the individuals that live in it's boundaries. But, there is still a problem. Those socialists are right in a matter of speaking. They also make some really good points on ways that they're system helps nation economically. Such as free healthcare and free public education. Although, we can't bend to all the aspects of socialism, we also can't bend to all the aspects of capitalism. Somehow we need make an in between Utopia where the best attributes of Capitalism and Socialism are placed together. "Social-Capitalism". No, this is not just a meet and greet where capitalists meet and try to pick up a hot date with a girl that's 40 years their junior. This is a mix of the two systems that will supply the best things of each system.
Social-Capitalism:
-Free National Health Care
-Free public education
-Progressive Tax rates(The more you make the more you give)
-The money you earn is yours after taxes
-Wages vary of the 4 level job scale
-Ease of movement through the classes
-Government will have a hold on the economy but not so much that the supply and demand relationship is still between the customer and the producers to decide
-People still have the ownership to do what they would like with their business.
-Still considered a free-market economy just with additional benefits, gained from the socialist aspect.
All I'm really saying here is that we need to build on the system America already has. And stop labeling each other opposites for liking different aspects of each economic system. Just like orientations, economic systems are fluid things. Able to be mended in ways that can benefit, almost, anyone.
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This article has 1 comment.
On the topic of the minimum wage:
It has always been my belief that an employee should make for their company at least what they are are being paid. So, when an employee is paid more than what they make for a company, the company is in fact losing money. This will cause the companies to hire fewer employees, because they cannot afford what they must already pay.
On the topic of "progressive" tax rates:
According to Mark 12:41-44 "He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, 'Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."
Obviously, Jesus' idea of what is fair differs drastically from our own. The woman had paid the entirety of her wealth in the few cents that she had donated.
So, in a similar sense, what we pay in taxes should be based on the percentage of our own wealth. This is why the fairest systems of taxation are based solely on percentage, because the wealthy will already pay more than the poor. You see, a man that makes a hundred dollars a year and pays 7% in taxes pays in total $7.00.
However, the wealthier man, making $1,000.00 in a year will pay in total $70.00.
I wrote this article because it was apperant in my life that this was a big issue that not many people have all their facts straight.