The central "problem" of Capitalism was discovered long ago by Marx: The difference between value and price in open unregulated markets, and the process of discovering how one goes towards the other. Think about it and you see there is nothing more central in all Economic Philosophy. READ THE MASTERS! nitro
For example, Marx would argue that the disparity in salaries and the value each contributes in society is exactly why Capitalism is ultimately flawed: http://newyorkmetro.com/guides/salary/14497/index.html What is the value of a US senator? And yet look at her price. What is the value of Chelsea Clinton, and yet compare it to the salary of her mother? Read throught the salaries. It is very interesting... nitro
In fact, Marx kind of "invented" capitalism as some kind of a devilish hate fetish - typical 19-th century obscurantism, forerunner of the "bloody" 20-th century. Lenin loved his "useful idiots" (sic), spoon fed with Marx gospel. Prior to Marx, one could say that nobody ever bothered about capitalism. Who in fact is Marx? His idolaters describe him as a "scientist", "economist", "philosopher". He even might have qualified as a "trader-charletan". He couldn't even feed his own family. For a definite quackery-free theory of value read Richard von Mises. USSR "economists" said about him that if the USSR should ever erect a statue to a Western economist, it should be von Mises. Also Hayek's trilogy: "Law, Legislation and Liberty". [IF YOU ASPIRE TO KNOWLEDGE, IT SUFFICES TO] READ THE MASTERS! nononsense
Capitalism is good for hard-working people and bad for lazy people. Lazy people always do better in a socialist environment, where they can't get fired and they can force hard-working people to pay for their health insurance. The main problem with America are the minimum wage laws. It prevents people who are hard-working but don't have skills from earning an honest living.
Capitalism isn't really a "good system" but its the way things need to be. You know... price controls cause shortages, subsidies cause surpluses. And most socialist schemes, although often elaborately disguised, effectively amount to price controls or subsidies. It's sort of like trying to build a perpetual motion machine. You can try to "hide" the energy losses with all kinds of weird gizmos, but in the end the laws of physics (economics) will defeat you.
OMG WTF is wrong with you guys. You guys are traders, how can you say capitalism is bad. Thats like a pro golfer saying golf is the worst sport LOL. Unregulated capitalism is the best most natural system out there period. The only problem that can arise in this situation is that irresponsible people can benefit at the expense of others (see externality below). Solved the problem of externalities (with a good judicial system) and capitalism is perfect.
I like HL Menckens' take on it: "Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government? Has it as many as marriage? Has it as many as religion? I doubt it. It is the only basic institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor. ...the only serious criticism of capitalism comes from ladies and gentlemen who are palpably somewhat balmy. The trouble with all of them is that they are constructive critics: not content to tear down, they try to build up. It is a fatal error... "
read this book: Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality by german Olaf Gersemann,Editor of the Financial Times international. You'll find out with Facts why capitalism is the most eficient and natural system of mankind... in this book you'll find facts like this. Myths vs. the Reality Myth: Many people in the United States need two or three jobs to make ends meet. Reality: As of May 2001, only 1.5 percent of all working Americans held multiple jobs to stay afloat. (page 126) Myth: The American middle class is shrinking. Reality: The share of households with annual incomes of more than $75,000, calculated in 2002 dollars, grew from 12.7 percent to 25.1 percent between 1972 and 2002. (page 118) Myth: The poor in America are growing more numerous. Reality: Between 1972 and 2002, the share of households with annual incomes of less than $35,000 declined from 44.9 percent to 40.6 percent. (page 118) Myth: American wealth is debt financed. Reality: Growth of wealth has outpaced debt, as the average American family increased its net worth by 50 percent between 1989 and 2001. (page 92) Myth: Unemployment is low in the United States because so many people are behind bars. Reality: The prison population makes only a minor contribution to the reduction in unemployment. In 1998, unemployment was only 0.1 to 0.2 percent lower than it would have been if the prison population had remained the same since 1985. (page 131) Myth: In the United States the rich don't pay their fair share. Reality: In 2001 almost 65 percent of U.S. federal income tax came from the 10 percent of households with the highest gross income. In Germany the top 10 percent contributed less than half the total intake. (page 151) Myth: In the United States the poor are burdened by an unfair tax system. Reality: In Germany 50 percent of households with lower-than-average incomes contribute almost 9 percent of German income tax revenues, whereas they contribute only 4 percent in the United States. (page 151) Myth: European welfare provides better for the most needy than does the United States. Reality: In the mid-1990s the poorest 30 percent received over 40 percent of welfare benefits in the United States. In Italy that figure was just 20 percent, and in France and Germany the numbers were just over 30 percent. (page 152) Myth: The U.S. economy does not create enough jobs. Reality: Between 1970 and 2003 the number of people employed in the United States rose by 58.9 million - a 75 percent increase. In France, Germany, and Italy combined, the figures were 17.6 million and 26 percent. Almost half the increase in Europe was due to the population bounce caused by German reunification. (page 21) Myth: Government debt in the United States has rocketed ahead of European levels. Reality: True, in the United States government debt as a percentage of GDP (63.4 percent) is slightly higher than it was in the late 1980s, but it has increased by more than half in France and Germany (65.3 and 69.5 percent, respectively). (page 71) Myth: The cost of day-to-day living has gone up. Reality: An American who earned the average hourly wage of a production worker needed to work 8.7 minutes to be able to afford one pound of whole frozen turkey in 1980. In 2004 just 4.2 minutes sufficed. The prices of many other products that virtually every household buys to meet its basic needs (such as bread, sugar, coffee, electricity, and gasoline) have also lagged behind overall inflation. (page 88) Myth: Living standards are higher in Europe than in the United States. Reality: The United States has the highest living standard of any major industrialized nation. Adjusted for price-level differences, per capita income in the United States exceeded the French level by 36 percent in 2003. At 42 and 44 percent, respectively, Germany and Italy lagged even further behind. (pages 78 and 87) Myth: Long-term unemployment is a chronic problem in the United States; European job creation schemes work better. Reality: In the United States 65 percent of unemployed people found new work in less than three months in 2002. In France, Germany, and Italy, that figure is only 26 percent, 17 percent, and 12 percent, respectively. (page 178) Myth: Europe is moving faster than the United States toward a knowledge-based economy. Reality: In knowledge-intensive services (e.g., business services, health services), real output in the United States grew by no less than 195 percent between 1980 and 2003. In Germany and France the figures were only 118 and 103 percent, respectively. (page 54) and much more without those political agenda, just Facts and Numbers, Less goverment,less taxes, and a real eficient spending policy and even more economic freedom is what we need.. just look what happen in the last 25 years or look the huge diference between Carter oil crisis and bush oil crisis.. Big goverment = big problems,less growth