The Moral Case for Capitalism
Free market capitalism is the most efficient and effective system in bringing forth prosperity and happiness to human beings. It has a basis in nature, and its efficiency is displayed through its ability to distribute goods and services based on how valuable they are to people in relation to their availability. Free market capitalism is also the most moral economic system, as it is characterised by voluntary exchanges and provides economic freedom to all humans through upholding opportunity and fairness. However, in recent times, this branch of capitalism has come under siege from left-wing academics, corrupt politicians, biased media, and misunderstood revolutionaries. Socialism, a system that has ruined everything in its path, is creeping back into the social sciences in universities, thus polluting the minds of people lured into its enticing trap.
The world continues to advance today because of free market capitalism. The capitalist system’s use of financial incentives to encourage innovation has resulted in valuable, and often life-saving, products and services. Advances in science have resulted in innumerable innovations that have increased life expectancy of human beings. Capitalism has provided the right institutions and conditions for innovations to be born, which is mainly due to the incentive factor. It is also linked to the fact that Capitalism provides economic freedom, which facilitates free enterprise and thus allowing advancement. In Socialism, there is no incentive, and thus it won’t drive innovation. When the government owns means of production, most humans will become freeloaders and expect others to innovate, people are not free to start an enterprise or take a job of their choice, which results in not many innovations taking place.
Under free market Capitalism, taxation is either minimised or abolished altogether. This allows individuals to keep more of the money they earn, and advance themselves to a higher state of happiness by having greater financial security. It means families can send children to better schools, purchase more quality products for themselves, and increase their standards of living. Businesses, by enjoying lower taxes, can invest more in expanding their size and products in order to provide consumers with the best goods and services for the lowest possible price. Competition dictates that prices have to be low, or higher prices to be compensated for by higher quality, in order to remain competitive and profitable. Lower taxes also results in higher, more secure, employment as businesses have more money to hire more workers more affordably. Free market capitalism allows businesses greater financial freedom, and thus allow them to spend more money on the actual business instead of on taxes and complying with government regulations.
The left does not want to see this. They want to increase taxes and take more money from people in order to continue funding wasteful forms of government expenditure, such as welfare programs and public works. It is important to help the poor. However, is it right to take money away from other people by force to do so? Is it right to decrease the wealth held by one cohort of society in order to help another cohort? The answer is a simple no. Usually driven by deep jealousy and ignorance, Socialists do not want individuals to set up their own businesses. Many are in favour of seeing all humans equally poor rather than accepting the presence of inequalities. Many ignore the fact that being rich is something aspire to and requires hard work, they would rather bring down all humans with them in order to impose a poverty-stricken Socialist utopia. Not only does this show that free market capitalism is moral, it also makes it clear that socialism is immoral and regressive.
Ultimately, some form of taxation may be inevitable. However, tax rates would be considerably lower if the government reduced the scope of its public sector and decreased expenditure. The Productivity Commission has already recommended the government to privatise, or remove barriers for private entities to many of its services in order to allow greater efficiency to provide the best services to the population. Approximately $158.6 billion is spent on welfare by the Australian government, which must be drastically reduced. Welfare programs in Australia are simply too much, and prevents many Australian from being personally responsible and perseverant, and only the very needy must be given financial help. A Singaporean model could be followed where welfare can be handed out by voluntary welfare organisations, instead of the government. Furthermore, government expenditure on particular things can be criticised by both the left and the right, such as the total of $460 million donated to the Clinton Foundation by the Australian government. By cutting back on expenditure, tax rates can be drastically reduced, which will result in greater prosperity and happiness for the Australian people.
Capitalism, specifically it’s free market version, is the best system that can help the poor. We have already established the fact that privatisation of government services will allow the people to have better access to human services at a lower cost. Another, more prominent method is through the provision of employment. However, capitalism is attacked for allegedly making life worse for the poor. This is a lie. The facts tell a different story. Having embraced free market policies, various countries have halved the amount of people earning less than a dollar a day. Nowhere is this more prominent than in China and India, where the governments have embraced the free market system and encouraged private enterprise not only because of its benefits, but also because they have existed in those cultures for millennia, albeit forgotten for a while. Capitalism’s success in enriching the lives of humans is evident when considering the fact that even the poorest of individuals in capitalist countries own household appliances and have access to communications devices.
It is also important to note the Capitalism advocates equality of opportunity. For example, when looking at employment, it is imperative for employers living in a Capitalist society to choose employees based on skill and work ethic. In Socialism, the absence of economic incentives and the presence of freeloading results in equality of opportunity being ignored. Socialists cry out for equality, but it is ironic that their system rejects equality in reality. Similarly, people are rewarded according to the value of their actions in Capitalism, while government intervention usually prioritises political connections, leading to unfair lobbying and corporate welfare.
Capitalism has allowed countries without resources, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, to become some of the most prosperous countries in the world. On the other hand, resource-rich countries like Venezuela, have collapsed due to Socialism. Many Socialists use the fluctuations in oil prices as an excuse to defend Venezuela’s system. Well, the fact that resource-poor Capitalist countries are some of the richest in the world, along with the fact that other oil-producing countries like Norway are still doing fine, negates their desperate argument. Using a lower oil price as an excuse actually negates their own argument, as a Capitalist country would still thrive despite fluctuations in oil prices. There’s a reason why resource-poor Capitalist Chile is the richest country in South America, while resource-rich Socialist Venezuela is one of the poorest.
Free market Capitalism is the best economic system to advance human progress. It complements the human condition where incentives and rewards drive actions, leading to the betterment of the world. Advocates of left-wing economic theories are advocating systems that will ruin the world and has led to the deaths of millions of people. Socialism, for example, results in numerous inefficiencies and poverty due to its rejection of incentives and competition. It results in freeloading due to the fact that people choose the “free stuff” option instead of choosing the “work hard keep half” option, it limits the choices of individuals in their work and what they are allowed to consume. Free market capitalism brings prosperity and happiness to human beings, it eradicates poverty and encourages cooperation in order to maximise prosperity and happiness, and gives meaning to life by epitomising the value of success.
Ideas for this article were drawn from:
http://contractingbusiness.com/residential-hvac/ten-reasons-why-capitalism-morally-superior
https://fee.org/articles/capitalism-is-good-for-the-poor/