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.
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