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

I continue my discussion of Capitalism and Libertarianism vs. Socialism.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Capitalism
• Socialism
• Libertarian
• Economics
• Government
• Policy
• Society

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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]

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!