We always hear how capitalism works, but where are the examples? Capitalism has failed in Africa and Central America, and now it has clearly failed in the Western world too with this financial crisis.
Therefore, where are all these examples of capitalism actually working? Merely saying, for example, that capitalism has lifted millions of people out of poverty or increased living standards is rather tenuous and vague. Are there any clear and quantifiable examples of where, and how, capitalism has worked?
Markus:Capitalism has failed in Africa and Central America
No it hasn't you ignore the extent to which there is socialistic and collectivistic regimes in these places. Compare communist Somalia with free Somalia.
Markus: failed in the Western world too with this financial crisis.
failed in the Western world too with this financial crisis.
LMFAO. No it has not. We do not have capitalism. Repeat, we do not have capitalism. We have a fascistic collectivism. It was the progressive institution of the Federal Reserve that failed, not the market
Markus:Therefore, where are all these examples of capitalism actually working?
Taiwan? Singapore? England in the Industrial revolution? Modern Somalia to an extent?
Markus:We always hear how capitalism works, but where are the examples? Capitalism has failed in Africa and Central America, and now it has clearly failed in the Western world too with this financial crisis.
Knight_of_BAAWA:Only if you dishonestly equate quasi-fascist welfare/warefare cronyist states with capitalism.
Is it fascism or mercantilism?
'It is difficult to imagine any normal person wishing to meet Marx for a third time.' - Alexander Gray, The Socialist Tradition
Both. Plus syndicalism. It's a morass of every garbage idea, ever.
Markus:We always hear how capitalism works, but where are the examples?
You may be asking the wrong question. If you want a true answer the question is "what have people acting voluntarily accomplished?"
The answers are near infinate. Examples:
You don't have to produce with your own sweat every item that you need to survive. Thank the division of labor for that gem.
Humans have developed language to communicate with each other. Amazing to say the least.
The luxury items you enjoy today were never even imaginable a century ago. Some even a decade ago. Thank you innovation, production, and the profit motive.
A better question would be what has Government (read: coersion) EVER accomplished?
I would like to know what do you understand by "Central America", if by it you mean Venezuela or Ecuador, capitalism didnt fail there, the republican institutions in those countries failed to the people by allowing the rise of mentaly unstable totalitarian socialist leaders like Chavez and Ortega.
My cell, plasma, laptop, air conditioner work just fine.
Nerditarian: Markus:Capitalism has failed in Africa and Central America No it hasn't you ignore the extent to which there is socialistic and collectivistic regimes in these places. Compare communist Somalia with free Somalia. Markus: failed in the Western world too with this financial crisis. LMFAO. No it has not. We do not have capitalism. Repeat, we do not have capitalism. We have a fascistic collectivism. It was the progressive institution of the Federal Reserve that failed, not the market Markus:Therefore, where are all these examples of capitalism actually working? Taiwan? Singapore? England in the Industrial revolution? Modern Somalia to an extent?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0
The statist answer to Somalia.
<></>
http://www.myspace.com/telpeurion
Private ownership of the means of production has little to do with the current financial crisis. It has been caused by the policies of the United States Federal Reserve and similar central banking institutions in other countries. There are also many varieties of capitalism, so you'll have to be specific about which you are criticizing, considering the fairly vast differences between European capitalism, American capitalism, Chinese capitalism, laissez-faire capitalism, Monetarism, Keynesianism and the like.
On your specific areas: It's debatable whether the USA is capitalist or not; I'd argue there's a third category between government and private that suits quasi-private entities like Nazi-era Volkswagen, modern General Motors, the British East India Company and the like, entities which are heavily controlled and/or in bed with the government, though I'm not precisely sure what % of the means of the production are owned by those pseudo-private entities. No idea what you are on about with Africa, since last time I checked, Zimbabwe, one of the worst off nations in Africa (with utterly absurd inflation and a 94% unemployment rate), was run by a Marxist. No idea what you are referring to in Central America, either, considering it seems to be communist and fascist terrorists who are causing a lot of internal problems for these countries at the moment, as well as the American "War on Drugs".
scineram: My cell, plasma, laptop, air conditioner work just fine.
same
the private gym I go to is nice too, but the government road i take there is always pretty shitty
You might as well ask for tangible and quantifiable research which proves that freedom "works." Capitalism cannot fail; it's the only natural economic system, which emerges through willful human interaction, through the use of markets. Whenever people are coerced, whenever the markets are meddled with, it ceases to truly be considered capitalism. What you call the "failure of capitalism" is really just the failure of socialistic institutions which have infiltrated our economic system. Socialism is not an economic theory; it's a non-theory, for people who don't understand the natural market process of real economics. The economy consists of 6 billion+ individuals who make thousands of choices everyday; trying to influence their choices, through coercion, has countless unseen negative ramifications. This is what you're observing.
Just look at yourself. You were able to afford a little machine that is able to do billions of calculations per second whose components are fabricated in a nano scale and that lets you come here to complain about capitalism instead of having to hunt for food. So yeah, I guess capitalism works.
Markus, do you understand the difference between socialism and capitalism?
That said I'm mostly posting so I can check out some good historical examples later.
Markus:Are there any clear and quantifiable examples of where, and how, capitalism has worked?
Has there once been a famine in a capitalistic society?
I am becoming a Burkean Whig.
- F.A. Hayek
Markus:Therefore, where are all these examples of capitalism actually working? Merely saying, for example, that capitalism has lifted millions of people out of poverty or increased living standards is rather tenuous and vague. Are there any clear and quantifiable examples of where, and how, capitalism has worked?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRhtmcxDSIs#t=14m55s (Tom Woods on robber barons, big business, capitalism, and exploitation in American history)
And an easy example in most of the 1800s in the US. Living standards skyrocketed, as I'm sure you know. I've already told you, you need to watch your definitions. When we talk of capitalism, we are simply talking of "a system with no restrictions on the voluntary exchange of goods and services." There has been no capitalism by this definition in Africa and Central America, and the financial crisis was caused, and is being perpetuated, by government intervention. Once you have government intervention, you no longer have pure capitalism, hence businesses are no longer pure businesses. You're arguing as if Goldman Sachs being a culprit in the financial crisis is grounds for denouncing capitalism, but Goldman Sachs is so in bed with the government it's not even funny.
Think outside the monopoly paradigm. Net-based microsecession | Why anarchy hasn't worked
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_Chile
For quantitative and tangible, you'll have the problem than every economy these days is a mixed economy, so we cannot fully separate out the effects of capitalism and socialism. However, the effects of capitalism are easy to see in the simple economic scenario, like on a desert island. Take a look at his comic book presentation:
http://www.restoretherepublic.org/documents/how-an-economy-grows.pdf
When you say "capitalism", do you mean free-market capitalism, or do you mean mercantilism?
My favorite online shop: www.cafepress.com/libertyphile
I bought a pizza yesterday. Me and the guy who sold the pizza were happy with the transaction. I don`t know what you mean with quantifiable example, maybe 1 happy costumer, 1 happy businessman, 1 pizza and R$30,00?
I saw another post of yours saying that capitalism failed in South America. I'm from South America and i'm curious why you think that.
And about you saying that the financial crisis is a failure of capitalism, is your argument just based on this reasoning? "Everyone knows the United States is a totally capitalist country and there was a financial crisis in the United States, so capitalism has failed".
Ludwig von Mises Institute | 518 West Magnolia Avenue | Auburn, Alabama 36832-4528
Phone: 334.321.2100 · Fax: 334.321.2119
contact@Mises.org | webmaster | AOL-IM MainMises
Mises.org sitemap