'Free-market capitalism' is one of the social conditions that is being implemented in the U.S. The general idea about the capitalism itself is an economic system where profit-making is more important than anything else, or to be exact, profit-making is the priority in one's company. "Capitalism, so it is said, is optimally efficient, innovative, and free" (Schweickart 87). Is his statement really true? I doubt it completely.
The meaning of capitalism can be seen vividly through Parenti's perspective that there are two different ways of living among society: those who own the wealth of society and those who work for a living (Parenti 6). Some of the latter need to open a small business for living and some of them contribute their energy to help finding fortune for their employers, not themselves. Parenti wrote, [y]ou are the member of the owning class when your income is very large and comes mostly from the labor of other people, that is, when others work for you, either in a company you own, or by creating the wealth that allows your investments to give you a handsome return. The secret to wealth is not to work hard but to have others work hard for you (Parenti 7). The points that Parenti tried to convey to his reader are very clear that not those who own the wealth that have to work hard, but people who work for them that must work hard and help them to get the fortune that they desired. From my point of view, this is very unethical as the employer is being selfish by not really doing his job but depending on his/her workers to get the benefit, as in the profit.
Capitalism has its own pros and cons. As we have discussed in class in the past two weeks, profit-making is indeed a good thing but it goes hand by hand to the destruction in the environment and the labor workers. One of the instances, capitalism leads to inequality. The workers of those who owns the wealth work harder than the owner, but actually they are being exploit in order to make money for their employer. The wages that they received are inappropriate to their contributions to the company. Pollan wrote that huge demand for corn has affected the environment. Some people might ask what is the significant of corn to capitalism. I did too. Indeed, they are related to each other. Almost 99.9% of our food contains corn as it is one of the things that contribute fortune for profit-making. However, too much corn can give detrimental effects to our body and environment. Is that what we want from capitalism?
I remember that Professor Perry once said that capitalism is a freedom in the U.S. However, if it is really a freedom, the definition of freedom according to Hospers,"[n]o one is anyone else's master, and no one is anyone else's slave" is completely deniable because the workers work too hard as if they are slaves of their employer but it do not worth them any cents at all.
1 comment:
I agree that the capitalist system can be unethical and lead to inequality. It may seem bizarre that those who work the hardest are not rewarded the most. This is because they are working with someone else's capital, not their own. Someone who flips burgers at McDonalds does not own the restaurant, the tools used to make the food, the raw ingredients, or much of anything other than perhaps the clothes he wears to the store. As a result, his income is very low. This leads him to not have much capital to invest. As a result, those without a large deal of capital are almost always doomed to stay poor. In rare cases, people are able to make a great deal of money through business. However, this does not often happen and cannot be relied upon as a reliable source of income. Capitalism therefore does not always lead to equality and is not always fair to the working class.
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