Capitalism Works In Theory

Capitalism Works In Theory

I am a critic of capitalism.

You hear it said over and over again "socialism doesn't work." This idea has been drilled into us for as long as there has been socialism, certainly most intensely during the cold war. And if you repeat something often enough, people will just assume it is true. While the USSR could be brutal at times, remember that it was as much a dictatorship before the revolution as it was afterwards. They were continuously besieged by enemies from its founding. Berlin was not taken by the British, or the Americans, but rather it was the Russians that cornered and finished off Hitler. Another example is Venezuela under Hugo Chavez that has a far higher standard of living now for all Venezulans, and not just the rich and Chavez has been re-elected by large majorities despite subversion and coup attempts by the United States.

While I do not know what the best system is and know socialism is not without problems, I can say that capitalism has a lot of serious inherent flaws. Poverty is a fundamental aspect of a capitalist society. It is the punishment for being unwilling, or unable to sell one's labor on the so called free market. Another is the drive to constantly consume and make more money which has implications for environmental sustainability.

Also given that huge numbers of people in Israel can't vote, they are hardly a beacon of democracy. They are also not the only democracy in the region. Turkey is a democracy. Jordan is becoming increasingly democratic. The Arab Spring countries recently had elections. In Egypt's case it was after overthrowing a US backed dictator. You also seem to not understand that democracy and socialism are not mutually exclusive as one is a government style and the other is an economic system.