Is it Socialism or Capitalism that sucks?

[Matrosov]

32. An important difference in how they appeal to self-interest

Humans are inherently driven by self-interest. That doesn't make us inherently good or bad, it just makes us like every other living create on this planet. Good and bad doesn't come into play until our interests are at odds with the interests of someone else. Some people are bad in the sense that they're willing to completely disregard others in their pursuit of self-interest, even if it is detrimental to another person. Many are tempered by empathy and morality. We're willing to donate, to volunteer, perhaps even to risk our lives for the well-being of others. Nevertheless, we make the majority of our daily decisions based on what is best for Number One.

The big difference between capitalism and socialism is in how they try to harness that pursuit of self-interest.

Capitalism argues that when people are free to pursue their self-interests, without interference from any regulations and such, it leads to universal prosperity. After all, nobody knows better what is best for us than we do, right? The problem is that capitalism completely ignores several important realities. One is that we don't all operate from the same equal footing. As the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. This means the richest are in the best position to make money, and the poor are in the worst position. This is precisely the reason why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Another reality ignored by capitalism is not everything which appears to be in our best interest actually is in our best interest. Pollution is probably a very good example. It might seem that a little bit extra pollution from one factory is worth the price of being able to manufacture something more cheaply, but when everybody thinks like that, the resulting pollution adds up to put the health and future of all humankind in jeopardy. Sometimes that blindness isn't a result of shortsightedness but of coercion, which brings me to another shortfall of capitalism.

While capitalism argues people prosper most when they are free of regulatory interference, it doesn't address the fact that people are subject to corporate coercion. Capitalism works great in that fictional universe where corporations are completely transparent and consumers have complete access to all information. In reality, corporations go out of their way to hide information and deceive consumers, for the sake of being able to squeeze more money out of us, and thus what we perceive to be in our best interest and what is actually in our best interest can be very different at times.

I'd go so far as to argue that socialism is actually what most people would support if people really had complete access to all information. Let's not forget that we are more powerful together than we are alone. This is the reason why we don't live in complete anarchy in the first place. Unfortunately, it seems when it comes to supporting ourselves financially, we've allowed the richest to convince the rest of society that survival of the fittest is somehow a better choice. Capitalism translates into freedom, they say, because capitalism leads to money, which translates into power, which translates into freedom.

Considering the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, this actually means that the people at the very top of the wealth pyramid are enjoying more and more freedom. Yet everyone below them, especially the poorest at the bottom of the pyramid, is becoming increasingly less free. Capitalism is essentially a system of corporate feudalism.

Of course, there are the 'socialist examples' like East Germany or the Soviet Union. As I mentioned before, political Communism and Socialism are not the same as economic socialism. The latter says nothing about how to treat political dissidents, for example. The labor and reeducation camps had nothing to do with the economic system. I'll be the first to admit that even though we look to government to protect us from corporate crimes, having too much power concentrated in the hands of too few is never a good thing.

At least workers in the Soviet Union could argue there was no question as to which group of elites was in charge. Soviet society was ruled by the top of the Communist party. Here we have a greater sense of freedom, but I'd argue the reality is more worrying. There's a reason why businessmen like to get into politics and why politicians land cushy consulting jobs in the private sector once they leave office. Under capitalism, the line between corporate power and political power is being erased. Companies are gaining the power to purchase legislation, and it's only going to get worse.