Why Capitalism isn't Perfect and Socialism Isn't So Bad

Now, I'm not a Socialist or a Capitalist or any kind of "ist" really. But I was reading a post over at Perspectives.com/forum and felt like preaching the ways of moderation to a bunch of people who were saying that "you shouldn't get something for nothing."

It seems that extremist Islam is bad, but extremist Capitalism is just fine. Well, I disagree with that. Here's what I wrote:

I never know if I should bother trying to point out the obvious to people who think capitalism is the end all and be all of human society.

I'll give it a try and see what happens.

OK, if you're a hardcore capitalist and think that no one should get something for nothing, then let's take that to it's natural extreme. You get a job, you buy a house, fill it with cool stuff, all of which you pay for with money you earned at your job. Then a storm comes through and sends your house and your belongings half way across the state. It's cool, though, because you've got insurance. What isn't cool is that they don't cover the particular type of storm damage that your house suffered from.

See, it was cheaper to not offer coverage for that type of program because a lot of people claim that kind of thing on their insurance. So, as a true capitalist does, they made the choice based on what would make them the most money, so they can buy the nice house and fill it with things.

Here's another example, you're a hard working person who grew up in a poor neighborhood without a lot of opportunities. Luckily, your folks tought you right, you worked hard, got a scholarship into college and are now out in the real world. You can't find the job that fits your degree exactly, so you take a job that is tangentally related to your major. You work hard, but for whatever reason you get passed over for promotions. One day, you're laid off.

Turns out that you were working so hard and never asked for a promotion so they never bothered to give you one. But don't worry, if you had, they'd have given you a fraction of what you asked for and then keep promising more in another year. You demand they give you the raise you think you deserve or you'll quit. You finally end up quitting anyway because if you didn't your threat would be empty.


Either way, you're jobless now and need to find something else fast or else you will fall behind on your car payments and/or have to start cancelling things like your cable, Internet or cell phone. Or worse, you have kids to feed. You just can't find anything directly related to your degree, but you do manage to find something again tangentally related, but it pays you less than you made before you even got the fraction of the raise that you asked for (unless you never asked for a raise--in which case, you're still making less). You take the job because you need to pay your bills, right? Then you discover your boss is a jerk but it's really hard to find another job while already working one. You become miserable. Your marriage falls apart not because of the lack of money but because of your sould being crushed by your lousy, low paying job. Your marriage over, you have to find a new place to live--the real estate market sucks today and since you're barely making anything these days you can't finance a house, so you rent a small one bedroom.

Then, the city you're living in seizes the land your apartment building is on and uses it to build a park (or a Walmart) and now you're homeless since the government only compensates the owners of the land.

Now you're homeless. You may find a new place to live, but what's to stop this sort of thing from happening again? Sure, odds are it won't happen again--but what if?

Wouldn't it be nice to have some sort of safety net?

But NOPE it's CAPITALISM ALL THE WAY!!!

CAPITALISM IS PERFECT!

Screw Social Security! Our old, poor people don't need to eat after 65 years of age! They should work until they die! You can't get something for nothing, right?

I'm no commie, but I do see rational benefits to parts of both capitalism and socialism. The mistake is to assume goodness or evil to be inherent in either systems. It's what you do with them that is corrupt or not. Personally, I believe that the few people that the above scenarios happen to need to be looked after. The system doesn't work for everyone and ultimately it's just not fair for people who play by the rules and get screwed anyway to end up homeless.

We can't say it's all or nothing, love it or leave it, because that suggests we are perfect--we're not perfect, are we? Only God is perfect, right? Are we God?

Forgive any typos--I didn't proof it since I was just in a rush to write it all down. Anyway, just food for thought in our extremist society. :)