Capitalism is hated throughout the world (and increasingly in the United States too) because of the greed that fuels the system. And it's true, capitalism is based on the truth that people are greedy and that they will work hard to get stuff for themselves, to improve their position, and to profit.
What we don't seem to realize is that socialism too is based on greed. The greed of socialism is that I want stuff, and I want somebody else to provide it for me.
Thing is, capitalist greed provides motivation for people to work and invent and invest. Socialist greed provides no motivation for ME to do anything; all advancement, all dollars, all business comes from "somebody else." And when everybody thinks somebody else should be providing for the neighbor, pretty soon nobody is doing business.
We can't deny the greed.
But we can harness it so that it moves us to provide for ourselves, and in doing so, contribute to the overall well-being of the nation and providing jobs for others.
But we as a society decided we really don't want to do that anymore.
Hat tip to Cheryl for the link to the article.
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Susan, I read another article on the American Thinker site today called "Orwell's Children." Here's a link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanthinker.com/2008/11/orwells_children.html
(Sorry, I haven't learned to make a hyperlink in a comment yet and I don't feel like learning right now.)
Anyway, what I found fascinating was this quote from the author:
"Marxism foisted upon us words like 'capitalism,' which means nothing at all but which has so infected our minds that we reflexively use this silly nonsense word instead of freedom."
I had never thought of the very word itself--capitalism--being a tool of the left to denigrate the concept it names. To me it has a positive connotation, not a negative one. But I guess I'm in the minority!