Capitalism vs Socialism (pt2): Government is a Good Thing!

[TheMitchNickels]

Society ignores the poor because the poor ignore society. If the poor participate in wealth creation then their wealth would increase even if their wages remained the same, as productivity will increase and their money will be worth more. The other problem is risk, it is better to divide risk amongst individuals than to have teh central planning of a government risk everything.

[tyler1994sydney]

If you knew anything about economics or had common sense you'd realize that the rich people already contribute almost half of their income to society through income taxes. Try taxing them more and they'll all leave or move their assets out of the country and you take away the incentive to do good. Also, the majority of rich people deserve every cent they have. There are social security systems in place that without the wealth generated by capitalism wouldn't exist. Please take your stupidity so

[AndrewRaimonSavage]

Why is it so bad to believe that humans can evolve and grow as a collective family and work not to gain capital over one another, but rather a sense of bettering the standard of living for all men and women?

Great post Stephen.

Namaste comrade

[blackcokc]

In theory socialism is better. In practice is gives the government way too much power and all governments are good at taxing people and taking their money away. Therefore the worse thing you can do is let someone administer your money.

In capitalism you administer your own money.

If i was going to tax you and take 50% of your salary to give to the poor, how would you feel? if you answer "good", the you really like socialism, if you answer "ouch" then you are a capitalist like me.

[johammbass]

You are an idiot and you have no clue what it is that you are talking about

[poopster102]

YEAH! FUCK FREEDOM!

[ls353759]

You need to educate yourself... this video is very ignorant and you sound quite stupid. Do some research on Milton Friedman and listen to some intelligent people on matters of government because you clearly have not had any historical teachings in your life.

[TheProudteabagger]

Socialism is "Communism Lite". It is the step that follows over-regulated free market capitalism on the path from freedom to oppression. When an overreaching gov't can create dissatisfaction by tying the hands of the private sector and then say, "See? Capitalism is bad" then people feel the need for the gov't to step in to help. Once the people see things go from bad to worse, then the gov't REALLY steps in and we move to Communism. Followed by bloody revolution. Let's go back to freedom instead

[Christophermdh]

dude you need to learn how to do a speech too... U stupid!

[BBCater]

It's really simple, folks....

Capitalism says "go do for yourself".

Socialism says "we'll determine who-and-when".

Only weak-kneed, cowardly idiots trust a CENTRAL authority to determine their outcome. Most people learn this when they are CHILDREN.

And therein lies the problem. Most of the socialist proponents are simply CHILDREN who haven't yet learned anything - period.

"Profit", to them, is a worse word then "control". "Government is there to serve society?" Really? In what world?

[BBCater]

The biggest "straw-man" enemy that proponents of socialism promote is "corporations". Well, capitalism isn't just about CORPORATIONS. It's about INDIVIDUALS. If you've never become an "individual" (see: self-supporting, self-responsible), then you will, no-doubt, be offended by the notion of controlling your own destiny.

"They" is "you" - unless you never leave the comfort of the "nest". Socialism is the "security blanket" of the perennially scared, underachiever.

Bottom line - grow up!

[nero8289]

why should they care about anyone,but themselfs?

[alistairproductions]

Stephen5000 do you seriously think the government cares about people!?! You seriously better realize that there's no socialism or capitalism going on, that's why you're getting a 1 1/2 star rating. what we see now is corporatism and special interest. it's not capitalism and competition that has caused this mess. is called CORPORATISM.

[mayoustard]

very funny vid, you can stop trying to paraphrase carl marx now. Read a book lol "Liberty and Tyranny" Levin

[gsrxx420xx]

lol, you my friend is a complete arse who does not understand what capitalism or libertarianism is.....clearly.....stop making uneducated videos....

[jtitdawg]

Salutations! lol

That was perhaps the worst discussion I have ever heard. We are all now dumber for having heard it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

[bjulrich]

What rock did you come out of. Go check out these socialistic countries they suck as bad as you do.

[Pymeohmy]

hmmm...business is interested in profit. Interesting idea.

[XionXXXX]

If you think about it, Capitalism is based upon individualism and competition, eventually leading towards fascism, anarchy, and a corrupt society driven by greed.

Socialism should work the opposite, based upon the collectiveness of society and cooperation, but socialism has one flaw that it doesn't offer an incentive for society as a whole to progress and innovate, to put it in simple terms a Gift Economy and Altruistic Society sounds like a good idea, but in reality it fails to succeed.

[Armyof9000]

@XionXXXX

I didn't even see an explaination on why individualism and competition eventually lead to fascism.

[deadmen117]

I only walched about 10 sec

AND I FUCKIN HATE YOU

MOVE TO GERMINY

NAZI

[alistairproductions]

@deadmen117 i dont like the way you chose to say it, but i practically agree with you. this dude actually thinks the government cares about the poor, it's amazing its one of the most retarded videos that i have ever seen

[mrcoolr429]

duh can you put together a coherent thought! hahaha ignorance it amazes me! lol

[hr1dave]

Read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Our government is based on the capitalist society since 1776. It is to bad that you are easily brain washed. maybe you obama, castro, and chavez can have a beer together and set up your socialist government. You have to make a profit to stay in business and losing employees due to being overtaked by your socialist government.

[eurohim]

The government does force things on society. You have to pay for a government program, like education. If you want an actual good education for your kids, you can send them to private school, yet you must also pay for public school. Another version of which is healthcare. Canada (and the UK, France, etc) make it illegal to compete with their social healthcare. It also, if it didn't make this illegal, would force you to pay for one and the other. That's force.

[pholmes23]

Mate I do find a lot of your videos interesting but this one sucks IMHO. Saying that the only people who dislike a government's law are 'the rich' etc is absurd. I live in the UK and have all kinds of laws imposed on me that I don't like (ID Cards, Draconian Anti-Terror laws etc) I am not rich! libertarians can be a tad idealistic but so are you 'robin hood' social policies! Sorry dude!

[return135]

lol one star. He deserves it. This guy is pretty stupid. He uses the typical socialist feel good rhetoric rather than logic and economic realities.

[kraven0000]

but you're right, under communism there are no poor people...everyone's bad off so no one knows their life sucks

[kraven0000]

what a fucking retard...I grew up in a family, neither parents went to college, i worked through college, went to business school and have a job that pays 85K a year....guess what retard...capitalism works

[alisher1984]

Yes, the government is to serve people by protecting the right of every individual to be free from coercion. Taking money away from one individual to benefit another one is not freedom, it's slavery disguised under the slogans of public good. Screw socialism!

[EmptyBottleTherapies]

"That's just it; I think both employers and workers have plenty of reasons to want to work without a large monetary incentive. Personally, I prefer there to be more positive reasons to work (e.g. satisfaction of a job well done) rather than negative ones (e.g. I have to work or I'll starve). "

Your college professor tell you that one? Your living in a dream world, those at the bottom will put no more effort, probaly even less than they are currently.

Collectivism promotes racism!

[jayordie]

communism is for pussies

thats why china has the largest military.

I am not a defender of communism or capitalism. I am more a socialist which brings both ideas together.

[ebita26]

prior to having organized government it used to be...only the strongest and most fit survive....now that we have organized government and your body's abilities are no longer the most important thing it should really be...the most ambitious, driven, and hard-working survive...we should not baby the rest of soceity and let them get away with not doing as much as others yet be equal to them...communism is for pussies

[fps0chris]

"Government is there to serve society"

If we had angels who could run our country I would be a socialist maybe, but even assuming they are not corrupt, even thought they ineviatably are, you are still taking money from people at gunpoint. I bet your the kind of guy who hates Bush, but wants him to have more power, does not make sence to me.

[ourearthhome]

Land and natural resources are more monopolized in ownership on this planet than productive capital and because the value of land is created by everyone else other than its "owners" the income they derive from it is unearned and huge. Failure to make the distinction between real capital and land has made understanding the real injustice in the system impossible. Land value should be socialized via heavy taxation while the earned incomes from labor and real capital investment should not.

[willmickel71]

Under a socialist government everyone will be poor. Only top government leaders will have power and wealth.

[dj1067]

They are not pure socialist, they are still primarily market based economies. They also are fairly neutral foreign policy wise which keeps them out of trouble. Most successful people are not in it just for the money, most love what they do and spend a lot of time in their businesses on various things and usually are always looking to improve the products and services they offer.

[Stephen5000]

I'm not opposed to markets, I just suggest that the government provide regulations to prevent things from getting out of hand, which they seem to have in many western countries.

[jblive1985]

and u belive gov cares more when they are in with big biz

[fps0chris]

So you are a keynesian?

[Stephen5000]

That's just it; I think both employers and workers have plenty of reasons to want to work without a large monetary incentive. Personally, I prefer there to be more positive reasons to work (e.g. satisfaction of a job well done) rather than negative ones (e.g. I have to work or I'll starve).

[dj1067]

Name one flourishing socialist country then, if you think capitalism is so bad? What if the rich decide to move out, who is going to make the money to take to go give it to the poor? With no incentive, everyone will just go on welfare, won't they?

[Stephen5000]

The usual examples are the Scandinavian countries.

It seems very pessimistic to me to think that people only work to get rich.

[ComputerWhizIA]

Why is getting rich a bad thing? Profit drives people to improve the lives of other people. If people do not improve the lives of others, no one would buy their product. For example, engineers love designing the next generation of products and they are well off since the help society. The only organization that takes money by force is the government and then the government uses the money to stifle free enterprise and competitions, which widens the gap between the rich and the poor.

[fps0chris]

Right is economic success worse than political success?