Is Capitalism Moral? | 5 Minute Video
Is capitalism moral or greedy? If it’s based on greed and selfishness, what’s the best alternative economic system? Perhaps socialism? And if capitalism is moral, what makes it so? Walter Williams, a renowned economist at George Mason University, answers these questions and more.
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Script:
Many people believe that free market capitalism is selfish, even immoral. They say it’s about greed, about a hunger for money and power; that it helps the rich and hurts the poor. They’re wrong. The free market is not only economically superior, it is morally superior to any other way of organizing economic behavior. Here’s why.
The free market calls for voluntary actions between individuals. There’s no coercion.
In a free market, if I want something from you, I have to do something for you.
Let’s say I mow your lawn and you pay me twenty dollars. What does that twenty dollars really mean? When I go to the grocer and say, “I would like to have four pounds of steak” He, in effect, says to me, “You want a lot of people to serve you — ranchers, truckers, butchers, and packagers. All these people have to be paid. What did you do to serve your fellow man?”
“Well,” I say, “I mowed my fellow man’s lawn.” And the grocer says, “Prove it.” Then I offer him the twenty dollars. Think of the money that you’ve earned as a certificate of performance. It’s proof that you’ve served your fellow man.
People accuse the free market of not being moral because they say it’s a zero-sum game, like poker, where if you win, it means that I have to lose. But the free market is not a zero-sum game. It’s a positive sum game. You do something good for me, such as give me that steak and I’ll do something good for you — give you twenty dollars. I’m better off because I valued the steak more than I valued the $20 and the grocer is better off because he valued the $20 more than he valued the steak. We both win.
Ironically, it’s the government, not the free market, that creates zero-sum games in our economy. If you use the government to get a food stamp, a farm subsidy or a business bail out, you will benefit — but at the expense of your fellow citizens. Isn’t it more moral to require that people serve their fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces rather than not serve others and still have a claim?
But, a lot of people ask, what about giant corporations? Don’t they have too much power over our lives? Not in a free market. Because in a free market We, the People, decide the fate of companies who want our business.
Free market capitalism will punish a corporation that does not satisfy customers or fails to use resources efficiently. Businesses, big and small, that wish to prosper are held accountable by the people who vote with their dollars. And, again, it’s the government that can undo this.
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Its an American Propaganda. It doesn't work this way.
TLDW: no
We need more guys like him!
Amen
Si lees este comentario, tus padres morirán dentro de los próximos 5 años. Para deshacerse de esta bronca, tienes que copiarlo y pegarlo en otros cinco videos
Soy una víctima, lo siento 💀
Voluntary…. yes.! .. You are free to work for me for 1 $ per hour or ….starve ……..Great….. freedom …..
Anyone knows where and when capitalism survived without gov intervention and public generous aid ?
why did government spending go up under reagan?
I believe Capitalism is sound system to create wealth nevertheless the problem I see with capitalism is that it wants to commodify everything an that I believe is wrong. Nature and biodiversity is vital to the wellbeing of life on the planet 🌎 including us humans they are not only natural resources to be extracted. We ate not only economic beings we have other needs and wants! We are social beings. We also need air to breathe clean air to breathe. Wealth on not the only driving force for humans. And yes greed which is a human emotion has to do with wanting wealth. But capitalism is a sound economic system. We also must take care of the natural environment we rely to survive we need balance and harmony in life!
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great video!
Cronyism, that's what causes the zero sum results these people complain about.
2:31 about the giant corporations is, that the us government favorize and subsidize some companies, and with legislation and can wipe out other competitors, and thats not free market capitalism, that’s government sponsored corporatism.
Capitalism is when companies can compete under an equal playing field, with the same rules and regulations, without government intervention in the half of another company.
Just like in my country of Germany, an economic powerhouse. Without rampant corporate and government corruption, and state sponsorship corporatism. 🏛️💶🇩🇪
What if a rich man buys all the steak so no one else can get any? And then turns around and sells it for higher? And then keeps buying up other steaks because he can and because the sellers aren’t going to turn down the money the buyer is offering?
The question here, and I truly want to know because I'm contemplating it, is what happens to those fellow men who can't serve other people. What if that fellow man's skillset only earns him low wages in an economy where low wages gets you nothing. A fellow man who's sick with something and can't work. A fellow man who got struck by a calamity who can't get back up. Should the other men just look around and not help because they didn't get a service back. It's morally correct to demand compensation for your work, but if you gatekeep your work from those who really need it more but can't afford it, like hospitals, food, etc., and they die because of it, is it still moral? In short, taxes are good, but it's the government that mishandles them that's wrong. Taxes gives you a chance to help others, prevent people hoarding too much money for lavish expenses (e.i. celebrities, athletes, people who ball out and buy Gucci), but still require those who can work to pay for their stuff.
But what do y'all think?
Bang on 💯
Capitalism is about greed, capitalists don’t build society unless their pockets are filled by it. Capitalists thrive on addictions from drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, cars, clothes and technology, capitalism doesn’t give you what you need it gives you what you want unless of course they can slap a extremely high price tag on what you need, everyone needs housing and housing is a necessity to survive if they can’t survive you can’t get money off there Labour so the jack the price of housing as high as possible despite it being a complete ripoff since most houses I’d imagine aren’t worth 80k to have built. However I wouldn’t call capitalism a moral or immoral thing, I wouldn’t consider any economic system to be immoral or moral. It has both immoral things about it and moral let’s start with capitalism it’s immoral because it forces you to think of profits cause if you don’t you could lose your home, business or anything else which are important for you to live a good life however it’s moral because it can improve society (not always cause capitalists want to but because it’s financially profitable.) socialism is immoral because government can quickly become obsessed with power and lose sight of who is really in charge so democracy in a socialist country is essential and votes should be held yearly however it’s good because the need of the people always comes first and government incentives big companies to benefit society on a daily basis without considering there selfish interests. No system is perfectly moral.
Capitalism and communism are two sides of the same coin. Both ideologies stem from the cancer that was the enlightenment
I can't tell whether this is sarcasm or not
Under capitalism, it's acceptable to let children go hungry, let banks force people out of their homes, let the sick die from lack of healthcare.. But the idea that rich people should pay more taxes is somehow considered immoral. Clearly those who support capitalism, have their priorities and morals all backwards.
This example is not about capitalism but about trading as such, trading between individuals which existed long before capitalism was invented by adam smith and john locke.Capitalism is a system were greed is a normative behaviour.Traders allways have been around the society since ancient times, but their ethics never influenced the political and economical life.The greeks believed that people who seek profit are doomed by the gods.The country was ruled by warrriors and philosophers, not brokers and bankers.