bounty44
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a pertinent quote from ayn rand: “The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve ‘the common good.’ It is true that capitalism does—if that catch-phrase has any meaning—but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man’s rational nature, that it protects man’s survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice.”
and some other thoughts concerning capitalism:
1.Happiness
If you look at this happiness map published by scholars from the University of Leicester, you can clearly see that the foremost democratic, capitalist countries like the USA, Canada, New Zealand and the whole of Europe are the happiest in the world. This is because in these countries, thanks to the free-market, whatever products people want, they can get. Where do all these thousands of products come from? Well, the less happy countries like the Asian Tiger economies tend to be the main exporters of consumer goods. In conclusion, all these unhappy countries need to do is start consuming more than they produce, like Europe, and the wealth and happiness will start flowing in.
2. Viable Alternatives
Perhaps the strongest argument working in favor of democratic capitalism is that there is no alternative politico-economic system which has proved itself to work in our modern age. Almost every attempted implementation of communism has failed (for example, look at China – they abandoned total communism long ago and are slowly creeping towards capitalism) and any central government risks large amounts of corruption. What’s more is that if, for example, America became socialist and imposed many strong measures on corporations to regulate their behavior, the largest companies (Trans-National Corporations) would most likely move their industry elsewhere, and potential entrepreneurs would be scared to invest in capital, irreparably damaging America’s economy. So as you can see, changing the economic system isn’t even an option.
3. Growth
Capitalism allows the economy to grow exponentially. It is a basic fact of economics that the more money a firm makes, the more it can invest in production, and the more it invests in production, the more money it makes. So long as no unfortunate events befall the firm, this growth can, obviously, continue indefinitely. Many see a problem arising with this: there are only a finite, or ‘scarce’ amount of resources on Earth, so this huge growth of production will one day run to a halt.
However, as argued by Julian Simon, the rarer a resource, the greater its monetary value, which leads to innovation. For example as oil begins to run out we are seeing significant increase in prices, which has increased the reward and made it economically viable to search for new oil fields. Sites which were previously too expensive to profitably drill have now become available; and we are also developing new methods of harnessing alternative energy such as wind, solar and nuclear power. The oil scarcity isn’t particularly our problem, anyway, since by the time it is depleted, our generation will be long gone.
you can read the rest here if you want: http://listverse.com/2010/12/24/top-10-greatest-benefits-of-capitalism/
in short, most of the blessings/comforts/lifestyles we enjoy today have been the result of capitalism.
to the extent that capitalism might/does not "work", the blame can often be laid at the feet of the government, who interferes in what would be the natural order of things. the housing bubble/crash from a handful of years ago is a great example of that. the essence was that government intrusion more or less caused, or even forced banks to give loans for houses to people that could not afford them. in a market with less, or no government intrusion, those people would not have gotten loans, and the crash would not have occurred.
government intrusion into the higher education system causes prices to go up without a commensurate rise in the quality, and in many cases, a watering down of it.
one of you mentioned the "affordable care act"---that's a great example. most peoples premiums are going way up, their access to care is lessened, and they are not seeing better care---why? government intrusion into the market.
I agree the state has to involve itself in a variety of ways---the recognition and enforcement of contracts for instance---but they have far overstepped their bounds....and this is all not to mention the crony capitalism that occurs when politicians are in bed with industry. you might think that's a pock mark against capitalism--I rather see it again as a problem with government getting involved where it shouldn't.
one last thing---find a better system then.
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capitalism in America is deeply flawed - 
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