Capitalism Is a Just Economic System

This round will mainly be for rebuttals, but due to the nature of my opponent's argument, a short defense of my original arguments is necessary. I. Private PropertyMy opponent's sole argument against private property is that it is a positive right, meaning that it is held against another individual. I could argue the merits of individualism, but there's a different, much shorter track that I will take. I have already argued how private property encourages cooperation, and now, I will argue that private property is the starting point for other moral conduct and social service. "When effectively protected, it secures for human individuals a sphere of personal jurisdiction, the right to acquire and hold the props, as it where, with which to order one’s life. Moral virtues such as generosity, kindness, courage, moderation, prudence and the rest are all imperatives the practice of which engage one with the natural world. If one is not in charge of some of that world, at least oneself, one cannot conduct oneself virtuously. " Private property allows for moral conduct because it allows a base for such conduct to occur. Without private property, things like generosity would be nearly impossible because it would be collectivized, and therefore much harder to do. "In other words, private property rights are the social precondition of the possibility of a personally guided moral life. "[1][2]But private property is even more important than that. While private property disallows other people to own and produce on that property, individualistic production better benefits society because they are better able to serve the needs of the public. But also, private property forces people to better serve the needs of the public: "In the market society, the proprietors of capital and land can enjoy their property only by employing it for the satisfaction of other people's wants. They must serve the consumers in order to have any advantage from what is their own. The very fact that they own means of production forces them to submit to the wishes of the public. "[3]What all this means is that private property is the first step in establishing cooperation (mentioned in the last round), and thus good moral conduct and just, efficient social service. In such, it is better off that others are denied such. If my opponent has objections to private property and cooperation, I will defend that point in the next round. II. LaborCapitalism is very dependent on demand, but I have already argued that that was a good thing. There is always going to be demand for a variety of products, no matter the time, and this is what drives the capitalist system to result in individual and general prosperity. In a capitalist business, no one effectively owns, fully controls, or determines every part of the business. Each employee is important because whatever job he or she is doing is important. A rudimentary analogy would be a deck of cards - all of them contribute to the final structure, and if one is taken out, it all crumbles down. There is always enough demand (in the true Capitalistic society) to match the demands of others, and this is where businesses come in - profiting off demand to give to employees to satisfy their own demands, ad infinitum throughout the whole economy. I think this addresses my opponent's first concern. The wonderful thing about a capitalist society over, say, a socialist one is that there is a great ability for income mobility. ". ..60% of the bottom 20% still move up into higher income groups because of income mobility. Interestingly, 40% move down from the top 20%. " This importance on income mobility allows people to control their own destiny. [4]Further, "Being among the poorest 10% in the least-free countries means an average annual income of $910 per year, while being among the poorest 10% in the most-free market economies means an average annual income of $8,474. For those who are poor, it seems far better to be poor in Switzerland than in Syria. " Everybody, even the poor, benefit from capitalism. Capitalism also reduces the work loads off of people in time. Every new generation puts in a smaller amount of work for greater production. [5]This can be shown here. Economic growth correlates with general prosperity, and freer economies have greater economic growth rates: [10]Freedom accounts for prosperity. III. The EnvironmentThis point again misconstrues how capitalism works - because capitalism is the most cooperative of economic systems, it is capitalism that does its best to prevent environmental problems. When one looks around the world, the majority of environmental problems are in countries where socialism or big government rule. People have a bigger say in a capitalistic society, and the environment is no exception. "Like all consumption goods, you cannot purchase more environmental protection until you can afford it, and you cannot afford it without economic growth. Economic growth, not legislation, is the key driver to improvements in environmental quality. " Capitalism is the basis for a clean environment. [6]This can be shown here. Capitalistic countries naturally have a greater per capita income rate, and greater per capita income rates correlate with decreases in environmental pollutants: [9]Again, it is the poorer countries that generally emit the most per capita emissions and cause the greatest environmental disasters. Not only this, but Capitalism can also help reduce innovation through marketing. Dematerialization, or the agglomeration of different devices into one, helps reduce waste and increase efficiency, making for a better environment. [8]IV. AdvertisementsThis is not a very good argument to begin with - my opponent is confusing demand with capitalism. Such products only exist because there is a demand for them. My opponent may counter that such a mentality only exists in capitalism. However, customers buy things of higher quality, and this is the main point of advertising. In other words, advertising can never succeed in supplanting better or cheaper goods available and offered for sale. "In order to succeed, advertising must be adjusted to the mentality of the people courted. It must suit their tastes and speak their idiom. .. The restriction of the right of businessmen to advertise their products would restrict the freedom of the consumers to spend their income according to their own wants and desires. "[7]V. Quality of LifeAs I mentioned in my refutation in argument two, the poor in freer economies are significantly better off than the poor in more nationalized economies. That is the disparity that one should be most concerned with; not the disparity between the rich and poor in the same economy. Milton Friedman once said that one that an economy that places freedom above equality has a high degree of both, and I contend that capitalistic countries are more equal (in wealth and power) than their counterparts in nationalized economies. Real hourly wages track with productivity increases: [11]Overall, greater productivity allows for greater earning potential, which increases prosperity. ConclusionOverall, capitalism encourages a clean environment and promotes prosperity. Sources[1]: . http://www.iep.utm.edu...[2]: . http://www.hoover.org...[3]: . http://mises.org...[4]: . http://www.policymic.com...[5]: Llosa, Mario Vargas et al. The Morality of Capitalism: What Your Professors Won't Tell You. [6]: . http://mises.org...[7]: . http://mises.org...[8]: . http://www.cato.org...[9]: . http://www.ncpa.org...[10]: . http://www.youngresearch.com...[11]: . http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov...