Economic competition results in numerous innovations that improve all of our lives

" These competing companies will use their powerful marketing and advertising teams to push their own products, pouring millions or even billions of dollars into their images. The more fashionable something is (ie. higher demand) the more reason your capitalist corporations have to put the price up. Take Apple for example. The Macbook is not spec wise, worth their price. A Macbook (1) of almost identical specs to a Toshiba (2) is triple the price. The difference? Nothing the average person will really even notice. I believe it is an issue of fashion." Yes, but if they pour millions of dollars into images that don't pay off with the product (i.e. if they advertise it as absolutely awesome but it turns out to be crap) then the news about this gets out, and people refrain from buying the products of that company in the future. Apple can put as many fancy adverts about apps for buying bananas as they like, but if the iPhone turns out to stop working after a day then who is going to believe the advert for the iPad? The company must provide a good product and the advertising will reflect this. "Let me ask you, if not for a Capitalist system, why would we have a shortage of things people NEED in the first place?" The only possible reason for a shortage of supply in a truly capitalist system would be if it was a finite resource - i.e. oil. "Why are essential items owned by private companies" - because private companies are based on competition and bettering their services. With private companies you have a choice. The only alternative is government control, from which there is no choice. You cannot go to another government company if you don't like the first one because there is no other one. So when there is only one provider to something that is in desperate need, there is no incentive to better the service, lower the price, discover new products, invest etc. etc. etc. " People NEED medicines for example, yet the companies who produce these life-saving items do not have the public best interests as a priority." The development of new medicines is why medicine companies need to make a profit. If they gave away free medicine to anyone and everyone they would have no money to develop new medicine and research for the cure to illnesses. "People NEED food, yet people are starving in every country in the world. People NEED a place to live, yet many people are homeless. How does Capitalism make these kinds of peoples lives better?" The only countries I can think of where there is ABSOLUTE poverty and ABSOLUTE starvation are countries which have refused to adopt capitalism as a system - namely African countries. If we want to help the people in poverty we should let them adopt capitalism, and we should make our governments adopt more capitalistic policies towards Africa - by helping to remove trade barriers both on imports from foreign countries, through stopping subsidising our own industries. Aid is best used in humanitarian crises and thus not provided from government to government. It tends to be that some of the biggest problems are caused of it not caused exacerbated by the terrible socialist governments that some of these countries have. Zimbabwe is one of the most disastrous countries in the world in terms of economic policy - inflation is in the billions, unemployment is at 99%, millions are in poverty and dying of starvation etc. And the cause - price controls and government regulation. Socialist policies like compulsory land acquisition. "... The CCP would certainly argue that China is NOT a capitalist country and being the largest political party on Earth, it would be a strong argument." Private property laws in China have completely changed. People are encouraged to become private businessmen. The one-child policy has led to a more individualistic outlook of children and therefore the future. China is by far no longer a communist country. A real communist country would be North Korea, who are now allowing some private enterprise due to the large scale starvation caused by centralised economic policy. "I doubt the 360 workers at Hobart and New Zealand Blundstone Footwear (6) who lost their jobs because their jobs were outsourced to Thailand and India would disagree. This is ridiculous. I am a qualified Cabinet Maker and I can tell you from personal experience that your system is broken. How can it be cheaper to buy imported furniture produced overseas by overseas workers than furniture produced here by Australian workers if Capitalism is a good system that makes every persons life better?" It means that your governemnt and the New Zealand government had price controls, regulations and minimum wage laws that have driven companies elsewhere. In a truly free market, if you could produce quality cabinets and compete with other people/companies to sell them at low prices, you could make a lot of money from it. Obviously this cannot happen at the moment with the amount of regulations that restrain you. "Capitalism gives certain individuals the opportunity to make a ridiculous amount of money." No, it gives EVERY individual the opportunity to make as much money as they want. Please remember that when people have a lot of money, there are two things they can do with it - 1) they can spend it. This gives other companies a profit, which goes to staff, developing new products that improve everyones' lives and starts a cycle that repeats itself. 2) They can invest the money. This will mean the creation of more jobs - which benefits everyone - and will again start a cycle of spending and employment. "In a Capitalist system, money is power." Not true. Wal Mart is the largest company in existence - it is powerless. The consumers have total power. If the consumers decided to wake up tomorrow and never buy anything from Wal Mart again, then Wal Mart would go bust. "For the entire history of mankind, the people who have gained power inevitably become corrupt." Again, money does not automatically equal power. Money can only buy power when the government abandons capitalism and starts interfering in the economy by imposing tariffs, high taxes, regulations and subsidies, which cause the problems you have described.