It seems that in the United States of America Capitalism streams with grace. For
me capitalism seems to be the best way for an economy to grow. Some may say,
capitalism is unfair in terms of competition and giving the best possible price
to the consumer. Or that capitalism creates classes where “the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer”. I’m no doctor of the economy, or a spokesperson
for all of America, but I feel that company’s can be more profitable both in
an economic and a personal standpoint by running a business based on capitalism.
Looking at the predicament with competition, from most of my experiences at this
stage of life for me, competition has done great things in terms of making
products cheaper for me. For example, the computer hardware business, I built a
computer one year ago using an Intel Pentium II 300mhz processor. I paid $520
for the motherboard and processor. Since AMD (a competitor of Intel) came out
with the AMD K-6-2 processor, Intel’s prices have dropped considerably. As a
matter of fact, I was on the Internet just yesterday and saw that I could by an
Intel Pentium II 333mhz processor and a motherboard for just $335. It’s just
too bad that I couldn’t say the same for Microsoft’s prices. But that topic
alone could spawn a novel. I think that of late, many Americans have less faith
in their government than they did 50 years ago. And having the government
control the country’s industry would create all kinds of dilemmas. I was
thinking about the statement “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”
and also about capitalism creating economic classes among society. Again, I’m
not a economics major, so the next few statements are going to be based on my
assumption that - the difference between say, a doctors salary and a janitors
salary in a capitalist economy would be much more significant than in a
socialist economy. With that being said, I think that a capitalist economy can
promote much more motivation for self improvement and fulfillment than a
socialist economy can provide. Lets say you went to college for four, six, or
even eight years to be a business executive. And the guy pushing the mail cart
who, perhaps, dropped out of school in the 11th grade, was pulling in about the
same amount as you are, now what’s that going to do for your motivation or
dignity for that matter? Why bother going through all that work and mental
stress when we can be lackadaisical and unproductive but still receive the same
opportunities and benefits as the executives (kind of like Union workers –
Just Kidding)? The point I’m trying to make is, most people like rewards, and
most people like accomplishment. It just seems that capitalism can offer more to
the society and its individuals by allowing them to set and work towards goals.
Plus by providing a good standard of living for workers I think capitalism helps
to allow people to gain confidence in their government. Getting away form
capitalism, there are a lot of stupid and foolish laws that exist today but most
are ethical. It appears that what is an ethical guideline for most of us today,
often will be translated to law or regulation some time in the future. I find it
strange how ethics and morals are learned. I mean, I feel that I am a fairly
ethical person, especially in public places like, work or school. A little
common sense can get you the basics of morals and ethics. In the work place,
attention to the ethics beyond the basics looks to be deteriorated for many
companies and employees for that matter. Consequently, it looks like there is no
clear moral conductor to guide upper management about what is right or wrong.
But, for me its confusing to learn because there are so many different ways to
look at ethics, similar to religion, how do you know really what style is best
for you and your surroundings, or maybe, the best is a little of each?