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Forums - General - Why Capitalists feel Capitalism is best for all.

Username2324 said:
Socialism - Good on Paper, Not in Reality...
An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had failed very few students but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "Ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism."
"All grades will be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade meaning, obviously, no one will receive an A." They all agreed to this. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a C. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great dismay the professor failed them all. Then he sent all of them this note: "A socialistic government will also ultimately fail - because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed."

sigh, Socialism is not the same as Communism, im not advocating making it so everyone is paid the same, i have never said that in any post ever, nor would i



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SciFiBoy said:
MontanaHatchet said:
SciFiBoy, I could understand you disagreeing a lot with Mafoo, but you're flamebaiting. Have you ever lived in a largely socialist country for an extended amount of time and felt life in one for yourself? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with either system, but since you live in the United Kingdom (a capitalist country), I'm going to assume that you don't know what you're talking about.

Flamebiat? you mean unlike all the times he and others have posted flamebait towards me and you didnt care...

in the UK we have socialised Healthcare and Education, the taxation and regulation systems are capitalist, so we have elements of both, so its natural that people here either advocate going all the way to one or the other system or staying as we are.

And this, my friends, proves that people will accuse you of bias just because they're pouting. If you're suggesting that I'm conservative biased, allow me to laugh hysterically.

The problem with idealogies in general is that they swing too wildly towards one direction or the other. Many people believe in their preferences so strongly that they're easily willing to ignore the faults. This is true for both sides of politics, and true in many aspects of life. Even though not everyone is a fan of Obama, in the Audacity of Hope, he speaks of the need for balance in politics and how one-sided it has become. Ancient religions have been preaching balance for thousands of years.

I'm not sure where I'm even going with this, but you're wrong and so is everyone else. Yay for me.

 



 

 

MontanaHatchet said:

And this, my friends, proves that people will accuse you of bias just because they're pouting. If you're suggesting that I'm conservative biased, allow me to laugh hysterically.

The problem with idealogies in general is that they swing too wildly towards one direction or the other. Many people believe in their preferences so strongly that they're easily willing to ignore the faults. This is true for both sides of politics, and true in many aspects of life. Even though not everyone is a fan of Obama, in the Audacity of Hope, he speaks of the need for balance in politics and how one-sided it has become. Ancient religions have been preaching balance for thousands of years.

I'm not sure where I'm even going with this, but you're wrong and so is everyone else. Yay for me.

 

i didnt suggest you were biased, you said the UK was a capitalist country, i pointed out that we have some socialised sectors to, i then explained how that leads to people having views on which they prefer, i never said you were biased, if you read my actual policy ideas, you would know that i am not advocating "Extreme Socialism" (communism) at all

 



TheRealMafoo said:

I get the feeling people think Capitalists are cold heartless bastards. We are not. We care about all people as much as Socialists do, we just find our approach better for all involved.


By definition no. The theoretical definition of a single individual in capitalism is get as much money as you can. In socialism it's the individual has do as much as possible the make society prosper.

 

Here is an example of something smaller, that should illustrate my point.

I used to work an a restaurant when I was going through school. This was a large place, with good high quality food. In the state it was in when I worked there, they probably brought in 3 million a year gross. This restaurant was also part of a big chain. I am not sure the exact amount, but let's say the owner wanted to spend a total of 10% gross for his managers. In my restaurant, we had 5. One general, and 4 assistants.

The way the system was setup, is the general made a lot more then the rest. He made 140k, while the other for made 40k (for a total of 300k, or 10%). Also, General managers in this chain were only recruited from within. The deal was, everyone had to take the 40k a year job, and work harder then the rest to get the 140k a year job. It was setup that way on purpose, so the managers would work harder so they could get the really high paying job.

 

You are without a question right on this one, but what about the second best manager? All the effort lost, because winner takes it all. So actually the restaurant is doing well, because of all the managers, but just one gets the money. And then again, who says, that the manager who finally gets gm really worked the hardest and isn't just the owners favourite???

 

Now, a socialist would think, “if all 5 people were doing the same basic job, pay them all the same”. Why pay the GM so much more then the rest. The reason is output. If there was no reward for busting your ass, people would not do it. If they all made 60K, why work hard enough to become GM's.

 

That's exactly why socialism doesn't work, as long as there is acquisitive frenzy (which is totally human). While in theory I still think it would be by far the best for every society.

 

Here's the real problem... if they were not working so hard to get that job, the quality of the work they did do would be less. If those 5 did not work hard at hiring the right people, buying the best food, building the right marketing campaigns, filling in for cooks or wait staff because they were short, making sure the bathrooms were clean, greeting customers to make sure there experience was tip notch, and so on, the business would have suffered. If they were not working so hard, the restaurant might have only brought in 1.5 million a year.

If the owner is only paying 10% of gross for there salaries, and now business has dropped to half because the restaurant is not what it used to be, he can only afford to pay each manager 30K a year.

 

So while they are now all “fair” by a socialists standards, every one of them loses income. Not only do they make less, any chance of becoming the guy who makes a lot is gone. There future is set.

 

Here starts the problem: You assume, that they'll all be happy about a wage reduce and are not interested to make more money. So then you assume, they'll stick to that, because it's allright. What if they put in the same attitude as in your capitalist model just, that all of them make MORE money??? Sounds stupid, that like four don't put more effort in, because the fifth is lazy.

 

These are the reasons Capitalists feel the poor are much better off in a capitalistic society, then a socialistic one. It has nothing to do with not liking the poor, and everything to do with wanting more for them.

 

So that's where I didn't understand you. So you basically posted, that the "best" gets way more money, that he actually should (you can't tell, that he worked 3,5 times harder than the second best co-manager). Keeping four out of five managers poorer is good for them? So capitalists just hope, they'll be better off, and basically betray the rest for their fair share. And then tell them: Hey in socialism you would just get 30k and maybe one day you're going to make it as well. Maybe hope helps, but well a lottery runs by hope as well.

 

 

After that some basic thoughts:

-  The best way for a society is a healthy mix between capitalism and social (NOT Socialist! Big difference there) elements.

One example: Poor people tend to start riots and produce all sort of common crimes. So the rich try to protect themselves, so they need more money.

 

As we all should know since the crisis the world is facing now, money is not coming from nowhere. At one point grwoth stops: Let's assume there's 1000 $ in a model-world for 1000 people. 10 percent owe 600 $, while another 20 percent owe 300 dollars and the rest (70 percent) owe 100 $. The poorest are not really happy with having 1/7 $ while some others have 6 $. But the richest are quite happy with it.

 

And naturally they don't want to loose it and wouldn't 7 $ not even be better? So they start to build hurdles: Education, social circles etc. You doubt that? Strange, because it's exactly the same thought that brought them here and drives capitalism: MORE MONEY FOR ME! So the poorest start revolting, because they're hopeless. Well they don't revolt to hard, because the richest aren't too stupid, so they give them some sugars. Like low basic health care and just enough food and TV to keep them busy. But still they need protection from being robbed etc. So again they need more money to do this "favours". So The richest now 5% have 600, while the next 15 have 300 and the rest (80%) have 100.

 

Off course, some of the poorest class got up from the lowest to the middle class and so on, but still less people will have more money.

 

So how can you prevent that? Taxes. The more you earn, the more you pay. Because without the lowest class, struggling with every day live, working there butts off and still struggle, the richest class wouldn't be where they're now. Same goes for reliable infrastructure, laws you can rely on etc. Most important: what did an heir do except for being a heir? We are living in world, where you have to be a fool, when you lose 4m$ made by your daddy. Just the interests bring you a fairly good living standard, so why not tax it higher. Again, if society wouldn't provide you all the basics, your money wouldn't be save.

 

So it's not bad, if 10% own 200$ , 40% have 400$ and the rest 50% share 400$. Isn't it better, if generation after generation get a more balanced starting level (off course people should still be able to give a upper living standard to their children. So they don't get frustrated and want to work hard).

 

Just as a closement argument before, as I hope, we start a great debate:

Capitalism doesn't care about poor people, because it's founded upon people being poor to do cheap work and make other people rich!

 

Fire free!

 

 



"Flamebiat? you mean unlike all the times he and others have posted flamebait towards me and you didnt care..."

Next time just don't talk if you're going to say things like that. And I don't feel like fighting battles for people I disagree with anyways. Fight your real enemies.



 

 

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fmc83 said:

 

After that some basic thoughts:

-  The best way for a society is a healthy mix between capitalism and social (NOT Socialist! Big difference there) elements.

One example: Poor people tend to start riots and produce all sort of common crimes. So the rich try to protect themselves, so they need more money.

 

As we all should know since the crisis the world is facing now, money is not coming from nowhere. At one point grwoth stops: Let's assume there's 1000 $ in a model-world for 1000 people. 10 percent owe 600 $, while another 20 percent owe 300 dollars and the rest (70 percent) owe 100 $. The poorest are not really happy with having 1/7 $ while some others have 6 $. But the richest are quite happy with it.

 

And naturally they don't want to loose it and wouldn't 7 $ not even be better? So they start to build hurdles: Education, social circles etc. You doubt that? Strange, because it's exactly the same thought that brought them here and drives capitalism: MORE MONEY FOR ME! So the poorest start revolting, because they're hopeless. Well they don't revolt to hard, because the richest aren't too stupid, so they give them some sugars. Like low basic health care and just enough food and TV to keep them busy. But still they need protection from being robbed etc. So again they need more money to do this "favours". So The richest now 5% have 600, while the next 15 have 300 and the rest (80%) have 100.

 

Off course, some of the poorest class got up from the lowest to the middle class and so on, but still less people will have more money.

 

So how can you prevent that? Taxes. The more you earn, the more you pay. Because without the lowest class, struggling with every day live, working there butts off and still struggle, the richest class wouldn't be where they're now. Same goes for reliable infrastructure, laws you can rely on etc. Most important: what did an heir do except for being a heir? We are living in world, where you have to be a fool, when you lose 4m$ made by your daddy. Just the interests bring you a fairly good living standard, so why not tax it higher. Again, if society wouldn't provide you all the basics, your money wouldn't be save.

 

So it's not bad, if 10% own 200$ , 40% have 400$ and the rest 50% share 400$. Isn't it better, if generation after generation get a more balanced starting level (off course people should still be able to give a upper living standard to their children. So they don't get frustrated and want to work hard).

 

Just as a closement argument before, as I hope, we start a great debate:

Capitalism doesn't care about poor people, because it's founded upon people being poor to do cheap work and make other people rich!

 

Fire free!

 

 

thank you, if people actually read my posts, they would know that the above is essentially my position as well

 



some of the elements of socialism or social policy that i faovour:

State Healthcare (i wouldnt ban private healthcare though, if people want it, they can have it, but it would be subject to the same rules and regulations, kind of like what we have in the UK at the moment)
State Education (again, i wouldnt ban private schools, just make sure they follow the same rules as state schools)
Bank Regulations (again, i like the idea of having a series of "safe" nationalised banks that are well regulated for the use of mortgage holders and what not, but i would allow a private sector of banks (they can take risks if they want, but within reason) if people want high intrest savings and what not)
Social Housing (i think the government should make state housing available to anyone who wants it at a fair rent, but i would allow private homes for rent or purchase as well (what we used to have in the uk))



@fmc83

You said:
"Here starts the problem: You assume, that they'll all be happy about a wage reduce and are not interested to make more money."

I didn't completely follow you there. that's the opposite of my point. Can you explain in a different way?


You said"
"So how can you prevent that? Taxes. The more you earn, the more you pay."

I agree, but I think if you want to do that and protect your liberties, you make a flat tax. If I make 10 times more then you, I pay 10 times more in taxes. Most tax dollars when spent on salaries, go to lower income workers. If that income is being collected more from the rich with a flat tax, your doing what you want to do, just at a lower rate then you might like. What you gain for the lower rate, is equality, which I think is worth the loss.

A better way to state it however, is I don't think government has the right to increase it, even if they thought it was better. That's what our constitution was there to protect. It's not now being followed (it hasn't for some time).

You said:
"And naturally they don't want to loose it and wouldn't 7 $ not even be better? So they start to build hurdles: Education, social circles etc. You doubt that?"

I do not doubt that the natural order of man is to take everything he can get away with. That's why our liberties are so important. laws in this country should protect all people from those that wish to harm them. That can be done though regulation of companies to keep the rich from taking advantage of the poor. In the beginning, we took great advantage of minorities, and women. Today, from a legal standpoint, it's over. You can not legally deny a black, or woman a job, a vote, a place to live, or access to education. These are laws he had to put into place to better protect people from greed.

The problem is, no one is protecting the rich from the poor today. Today, every program that is passed to support the poor that is completely expected to be paid for by the rich is an example of the problem that you point out. Greed has made the rich an easy target. Government is suposed to protect people from that type of behavior, not perpectuate it.



Ban Public Schools
Ban Public Housing
Ban Public Health Care

Let the private sector handle it, and pay for it with tax credits.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

SciFiBoy said:

sigh, Socialism is not the same as Communism, im not advocating making it so everyone is paid the same, i have never said that in any post ever, nor would i

 

SciFiBoy:

"oh i think you misunderstand, im thinking of a Utopia were money doesent exist (as we have technology that provides everything we need) im not an authoritarian either btw (as ive said like a million times, but you never listen)"

 

Getting paid zero, is getting paid the same.

 

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