The working class has the basic knowledge and principles they need
to run the economy. Training is given where it is needed, and educational
institutions have been refined so we have professionals in the fields where it
is more important that the person has extensive knowledge in the subject. For
example, doctors go to school for many years to learn all they can about the
human body so that they will know what they are doing when it comes to the time
they have to perform a surgery and make judgements on a real human being. For
those who are working in a socialist economy the government has made laws all
companies must follow that are also working class principles. All workers should
be treated fairly and equally and this is what these laws were made to do,
protect the working class. Minimum wage is set so all workers receive atleast
this amount of pay, and then wages must go up according to their type of job.
Also, good working conditions must be provided for safety reasons, no child
labor, and no discrimination at the work place are a few laws that have been
made. Capitalists and socialist disagree about certain ideas each group has and
criticizes each other’s ideas. First we will start with what capitalists think
socialism is. They feel that man must sacrifice his own notions for the sake of
the greater good in their economy. They feel that they must also sacrifice their
individual mind, which denies them the sole means of survival for man and his
nature as a rational being. Capitalists do not regard this system as an ideal. A
capitalist’ ideal accommodates one standard of life, man’s life. The measure of
a socialist system consists of the appraisal of, the relationships between men,
and institutions that govern the forms of association. In defense to this,
socialists say that the workers in a capitalist economy struggle against
corporate greed. Working people should work together socially to produce all
things together. Capitalists are different and take the wealth that they create
to build more capital for himself. They feel as if there is a contradiction
between social production and individual capitalist ownership. One capitalist
deprives another capitalist of property and more wealth is concentrated towards
a smaller and smaller number of people. In order to compete in this type of
market things must be cut; jobs, wages, and benefits.
Although, capitalists say
that contrary to this highly held belief it is not a system that exploits a
large portion of society for the sake of a small number of wealth businessmen.
They say that socialism causes the exploitation of labor. They do this by
placing monopolies on labor and production and exist merely to follow what a
“spokesman” of socialism has in mind. There are good points and bad points
concerning both types of systems, although I feel that socialism has more good
points than a capitalist economy, which makes it more successful. First of all I
will start with all of the bad points I feel are in a capitalist society.
Unregulated capitalism leads to worker exploitation because there is no
government intervention to protect workers. Racism in the workplace takes place
because there is not a minimum wage set and impedes poorer minorities from
reaching economic advancement. They will not have enough money to pay for the
high priced items the companies they work for produce. If a minority worker were
able to do the same work for a lower wage then it would be in the economic
self-interest of the employer to hire that person. The driving force under
capitalism is driven by a profit motive because firms want to maximize their
profits at all times. The protection against discrimination is not there, but it
is provided by a socialist economy. A capitalist’s argument against this would
be that workers are free to choose who they work for and if they decide that
they are going to work for someone who pays less than minimum wage, that is
their own fault and should seek work elsewhere. Poor working conditions are also
a problem that comes up. With an unregulated economy, immoral businessmen will
try to increase their own profits by selling cheap, unhealthy, and unsafe
products to an ignorant community. The workers who make the products have unsafe
machinery, an unsanitary workplace, and no insurance so if they were to get hurt
they would not be safeguarded. In a free market there are no government agencies
that say what goods, foods, and services can be sold. Since 1938 the U.S food
and drug administration has decided what medical goods and food can be sold in
the United States.
