Capitalism

Attack Point 1: Capitalism allows for the efficent exchange of goods and resources. In socialism, the Government decides what and how much of a product is produced, and who should get that product. This is obviously inefficent because the Government can not satisify the needs and wants of all of it's population (which is why Socialism works better in small countries). In Capitalism, the consumer gets to decide these things, so the consumer gets what he wants. This efficient system eliminates long-term shortages and surpluses. "The single greatest benefit that capitalism provides is that it enables human choice.": http://www.hillsdale.edu....... Attack Point 2: Competition is the best thing for consumer-seller relationships. Competition is excellent because it not only reduces the price of goods, but it increases the quality of goods. "Competition in the marketplace is good for consumers"and good for business, too. It benefits consumers by keeping prices low and the quality and choice of products and services high.": http://www.ftc.gov....... "Without competition Apple would have never created their Ipod, Microsoft would have never created Windows, and Google would probably be non-existent. Competition is essential because it leads to one very important thing, innovation.": http://www.jmorganmarketing.com....... Now relating to specific company-on-company competition: "It's clear that if one company's technology held an overwhelming advantage over the mobile OS market, innovation would suffer to the detriment of all mobile phone buyers.": http://www.eweek.com....... Read that last article since you mentioned that Apple puts bugs in their products (which you still have not proven). Attack Point 3: "Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven't had capitalism."" A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It's not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!": http://en.wikiquote.org....... This is not really back-up to my arguments, but I am trying to say that all the mistakes in the American economy in the last 90 years can not be blamed on Capitalism since our economy has not been purely Capitalist in over 90 years. Your poverty rate statistics can not be back up to your argument because America is not Capitalist, and Norway is (economically, not socially). Attack Point 4: The poor benefit from Capitalism a lot more than from Socialism. This may seem weird, right? "No matter where you start in life, everyone has an opportunity to make it big.": http://listverse.com....... "Those who always take and never give back, those who steal, those who live off others; they seem to be the ones we want to feel bad for... certainly not the wealthy. "Evil capitalist pigs", they cry. "You take advantage of the poor and less fortunate." Logically this is impossible since people who have nothing cannot be taken advantage of. They have nothing to take. Only those who have something can have it taken from them.: http://www.christian-business-opportunities.org....... The poor can become better off through asparation and hard work. Attack Point 5: Businesses need profit to survive. It is illogical to say that a business can survive without profit because with no profit, no money can be invested back into the business, thus increaseing quality and safety to both the product and the factory. With profit, broken machines can be fixed up, employee's salaries can be raised, businesses can expand, thus driving the cost of a product down, or they can create a new product for the good of the consumer. No profit, no expansion. "Businesses rely on profits to buy new inventory, expand operations and finance product development. Without profit, a business would stagnate and risk losing its market share to other competitors.": http://www.ehow.com....... Attack Point 6: Socialism produces terrible economic conditions overtime. Spain has a 25% unemployment rate. They are socialist. Venezuela has a 30% inflation rate. They are socialist. China has a 8-10% GDP Growth rate. They are Capitalist (economically, not politically). Norway is in a great position economically. They are Capitalist (again, economically). The US has a 8.6% unemployment rate, 5% inflation rate (which is actually pretty bad), 2% GDP Growth (again, this is actually pretty bad), and has had a sluggish economy for the last three years. America is mostly Socialist. Sources for economic data: Various economic websites. Data can be easily found through Google. Attack Point 7: There are no "evil" corporations, and they do not and can not run the economy. In America, one corporation or even an oligopoly can not rule the economy. There will always be competition for that spot on the market. There are tens of thousands of corporations all with an equal chance at that spot. It's like saying that there are 50,000 people eligible of the American Presidency. Do you think that one will be put in office and survive for at least a month? Attack Point 8: Capitalism is not meant to be compassionate, and neither is socialism; It is not an economy's duty, obligation, or job of any kind to be compassionate, or having compassion will ruin the economy. When most people say that Capitalism is not compassionate, they mean that the greedy rich take advantage of the poor, and that the rich should give their money away to the poor. This re-distribution of income will crush the economy, because the 99% obviously outnumber the 1%. The individual person's money received through that re-distribution would be so small, that it would not matter a lot in an individual's or families's financial situation. The rich start businesses. When the rich have all of their income redistributed, no one is rich enough to create a business, for large businesses have a great amount of risk. This would kill the economy quickly. Attack Point 9: The Scandinavian countries can espouse the good in Socialism, and the European countries in the debt crisis can espouse the bad in Capitalism. "None of those Scandinavian countries are considered socialist by real socialist who believe in real socialism where all economic activity is controlled by the gov't or where all means of production are publicly owned.": http://www.hipforums.com....... And most of the European countries are mixed economies (socialism and capitalism). Capitalism can not be directly attributed to the Europe Debt Crisis. It is partially too much Government control in the economy (due to the increasing Socialism in these Countries) and partially bad leaders and presidents. Attack Point 10: Capitalism does not abuse human rights and Socialism does not protect them, but in fact endangers them. "Massive human rights abuses are a norm in these socialist and communist countries. And those who try to defend human rights are severely treated by the government machinery. For instance, human rights defenders in Cuba have been subjected to acts of harassment, surveillance, arbitrary detention, restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly, association and movement, beatings, judicial harassment, periods of detention under house arrest, long prison sentences, violent attacks, ill-treatment, torture and killings." "The preservation of freedom requires the elimination of such concentration of power to the fullest possible extent and the dispersal and distribution of whatever power cannot be eliminated… By removing the organization of economic activity from the control of political authority, the market eliminates this source of coercive power. It enables economic strength to be a check to political power rather than a reinforcement.": http://www.indianliberals.org.......