The Introduction:
Being in a country like France,
I don’t know what’s more shocking, the great differences between the political
and social structure of France and the United States, or the faces of French
people when I tell them that our healthcare isn’t free, or that going to a
University for under 1,000 $ a year is a fantasy. Simply, it comes down to
this: France is socialist, and the United States is capitalist. France believes
that people should be more equal, or at least have some programs provided
through taxation. The United States believes that the ultimate freedom comes
from choice, and there comes no better choice, than choosing what you consume,
when you consume it, and how you consume. In turn, competition fueled by the
choice of the consumer fuels the economy, and the static entity of government
just stands and watches. Competition is the main, and arguably the most
essential feature of capitalism. Nonetheless, the effects of capitalism spread
to both negative and positive avenues. Karl Marx responded to the most ill
effects of capitalism during the industrial revolution, and after some child
labor laws, some union movements, and some anti-trust legislation, capitalism
was on the right track again. It seemed that the government was only supposed
to keep the ill- effects of capitalism from plaguing the nation in order to
keep fair the competition that was to keep the economy alive. The invisible
hand was venerated until it somehow went missing when the stock market crashed
in 1929, and the government had to go find it during and after World War II.
Then the financial crisis of 2008 came along and changed the way Americans saw
economics. Some reacted by going against capitalism while others fought harder
for it. In the end, both sides based their arguments on an assumption that
capitalism still exists in America. However, it seems that competition in the
United States seems to have suffered due to an unfair accumulation of capital,
and thus the viability of companies to compete in markets. The lack of
competition within markets would then seem to diminish the presence of
capitalism in the United States. If capitalism seems to be fading, then when
did it go away, and what are we now? In the following essay, I will invoke Karl
Marx’s argument against capitalism to focus on its ill effects during the
industrial revolution. Then, I will argue the importance of competition to the
whole thought of capitalism. Finally, I will argue that the lack of competition
for resources and the high barrier of entry into markets have ended capitalism
in the United States.
...more to come - WSQ
No comments:
Post a Comment