A FEW QUESTIONS ON CAPITALISM
Is capitalism the ultimate hope for universal peace ,progress and prosperity? Or is capitalism by essence exploitative and dehumanizing, for future generations?
This is a line of reasoning that has kindled the hearts and minds of people for ages. Indeed, it is said that a youngster who is not a democrat has no heart, and an oldster who is not a conservative has no mind. But is it possible to unite heart with mind within a single economic system.
The word “capitalism” is used in two distinct senses. Is capitalism an economy which preserves power and reduces workers to mere automatons ignoring the value and the dignity of their work, and which seeks merely profits and profits above everything else?
Or is it an economy which respects the rights of workers and uses the benefits of the free market to allocate goods and services in the most efficient way?
True advocates of either the right or the left may not think so, but the difference between those two statements is that they reveal different interpretations of what capital is. If capital is the property of the person who produces it, then the returns of production belong to the producer. How then can capital be an instrument of exploitation?
Markets spring up spontaneously wherever people congregate. Irreversible tendencies toward specialization and trade, fueled by universal impulses to satisfy unlimited desires with the least exertion, lead to a market in which workers sell their labor power.
Capitalists (entrepreneurs) may not long for competition. The more competition they face, the lower their profit will be. Competition always tends to bring prices down .While they are strong advocators of the free market, in their own businesses they do everything to limit competition as much as possible.
People seek to satisfy their desires. Entrepreneurs seek to gain the most profit from the least labour and risk.
On this rationale it may be inferred that a dynamic process is present at all times. More often than not ,big business gets bigger and secures control over resources and workers. What possible force can there be to stop the juggernaut of capitalism and to seize the means of production? Workers are those who are partners of wealth creation. Producers must respect their rights.
