Communism VS. Capitalism
There are a few aspects of capitalism that are positive. But, you first have to understand what capitalism is. Capitalism is “an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit” (“Capitalism”, Wikipedia). It allows for us to run our own production, which is a pro because if the government all means of production, we wouldn’t really have freedom of what we could do in the “Land of the Free”. Another positive is that it allows our economy to grow, which helps in competition between other countries and between ourselves. The last pro to capitalism, in my opinion, is the efficiency of it. “Firms in a capitalist based society face incentive to be efficient and produce goods which are in demand” (economicshelp.org). The ability to make what the people want, and not just what they need is a huge positive of capitalism.
The negatives of capitalism are pretty high. The first is social inequality, which is super high in today’s America. We see the divide between the high up wealthy and the very lower class who can’t even get by. The next negative comes from Wikipedia, “Environmentalists have argued that capitalism requires continual economic growth, and that it will inevitably deplete the finite natural resources” (“Capitalism, Wikipedia). This is huge because in capitalism all they want is to keep the money flowing, but they don’t really look at the downsides of this money flow.
“Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat” (Engels). The proletariat is the working class. The pros to communism are a good amount. First, the nation would work as a whole instead of individually owning companies. This would eliminate competition, and it would also create the another pro which is that there wouldn’t really be social inequality. We would all be equal because we are all doing the same thing for the nation. Finally, education would be available to all. This would mean that the poor would be able to go to college without the worry of their child getting a great education. (occupytheory.org)
The cons of communism are also quite big. First, there isn’t very may ways to achieve goals in business. You couldn’t go from employee to boss, you are all doing the same job. Also, you don’t have any personal freedoms in what goes on in the community. You have to do what the rest of the people say you have to do. (occupytheory.org) I feel that this con is huge because that is what the US is based on, freedom. These cons I believe heavily outweigh the pros of communism.
