Capitalism vs. Socialism...This Will Astound You...

I found an amazing website, Ashbrook.org

I find this site amazing because it defines in outstanding clarity the foundations of Capitalism and Socialism. I will take a few snippets from the site for you to enjoy. And please form your own opinion and comment on which theory you find to be more 'attractive' or which system would develop a better society. Both arguments are very strong.

SOCIALISM:
In theory socialism is the morally superior social system despite its dismal record of failure in the real world. Capitalism, by contrast, is a morally bankrupt system despite the extraordinary prosperity it has created. In other words, capitalism at best, can only be defended on pragmatic grounds. We tolerate it because it works.

Under socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.

The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice. Envy is the desire to not only possess another’s wealth but also the desire to see another’s wealth lowered to the level of one’s own. Socialism’s teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini. The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: "Common good comes before private good." Fascism, said Mussolini, is " a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interests…realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."

Socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its redistribution to the parasitical class.

Despite the intellectuals’ psychotic hatred of capitalism, it is the only moral and just social system.

The above was all taken from the website that I first mentioned in this post.

CAPITALISM:

Capitalism is the only moral system because it requires human beings to deal with one another as traders--that is, as free moral agents trading and selling goods and services on the basis of mutual consent.

Capitalism is the only just system because the sole criterion that determines the value of thing exchanged is the free, voluntary, universal judgement of the consumer. Coercion and fraud are anathema to the free-market system.

It is both moral and just because the degree to which man rises or falls in society is determined by the degree to which he uses his mind. Capitalism is the only social system that rewards merit, ability and achievement, regardless of one’s birth or station in life.

Yes, there are winners and losers in capitalism. The winners are those who are honest, industrious, thoughtful, prudent, frugal, responsible, disciplined, and efficient. The losers are those who are shiftless, lazy, imprudent, extravagant, negligent, impractical, and inefficient.

Capitalism is the only social system that rewards virtue and punishes vice. This applies to both the business executive and the carpenter, the lawyer and the factory worker.

The above was all taken from the website that I first mentioned in this post.
I highly recommend you visit this website, it goes on in great detail about many other ideas, theories and assumptions that are worth reading, but I stop for brevity, for 'brevity is the soul of wit'- a line from Shakespear.

Both views contain strong arguments. We here at T.A.S. believe in Capitalism, as does the argument made above, but as the post below asks, where do we draw the line? When does a company's bottom line make that company treat its workers so terribly that someone must stand up to it, such as the case with Walmart? And I'll be the first to admit, my Wife and I shop at Walmart occasionally.

Please share your opinions!