Capitalism is inherently flawed and overall detrimental

There are many reasons as to why capitalism is flawed and not something to be praised: 1. Alienation of the means of production and the commodity from the worker Capitalism cannot exist without the means of production (i.e. the factories where one works, the tools and machines used) being alienated by someone else, the capitalist, owning them, instead of the workers using them. No longer is production something personal to the worker, but instead it is merely wage-labor. In addition, the worker often can hold no claim to the product produced because of the division of labor and the fact that all work is done in order to sell a commodity. Few people produce their own means of subsistence, instead selling their labor-power in order to produce a commodity that the capitalists sells and uses parts of the proceeds of in order to pay the worker. 2. Capitalism's basis being exploitation of the workers It is an undeniable fact that a capitalist makes money from the profit when selling a commodity produced by his/her workers. Where does this profit come from? Quite simply, it comes from labor performed by workers that they are not paid for. In order for the purchase price of a commodity to be significantly higher than the cost price of the elements entering into it (raw materials, machinery, labor-power), there must be a part of the value entering that somehow produces extra value above what the capitalist pays for it. This seemingly magical transformation occurs through exploitation of workers by them performing labor worth in total more than the wages they receive. Thus, capitalism can only occur through exploitation of this surplus, unpaid labor. 3. Susceptibility to crises A capitalist society is highly susceptible to crises if anything changes significantly. If prices of various commodities that either serve as raw materials or consumer goods have significant changes in price, it can result that production cannot continue on the same scale as before, for the capitalists have to either pay significantly more for the raw materials in order to produce their commodity, requiring money they don't have, meaning a fall in production, or a change in price may reduce demand and leave many products unsold. Even leaving aside inevitable crises inherent to capitalism, it is clear that the supposed balancing of the market that occurs when external phenomena occur to the economy will only occur with substantial crises in changing of production that may either exceed or fall beneath demand. 4. Necessary crises As capitalism progresses, capital and production accumulate and expand naturally, and the amount of labor put into producing machinery and other means of production increases relatively to the economy as a whole. As a result, there may often be an over-accumulation to the point where profits fall due to an excessive supply, and in addition the fall of the consumer goods industry relatively means that the composition of social capital does not correspond to its needed demand. These necessarily occur in capitalism, especially when circulation through sale and the credit system allow the members of the economy to ignore crises in the making and pass them down the line until finally the excess in supply or lack of profits or excess of investment finds an end somewhere and the crisis triggers, successively dragging in the entire economy with it. This is essentially what is seen in the "bursting" of various "bubbles" of industry that have famously caused such crises as the Great Depression and the 2008 recession. In addition, it should be noted that the globalization of the economy drags in every nation to a crisis in one many times, meaning that the effects of over-accumulation and under-consumption spread far and wide. 5. Exploitation of less-developed nations Capitalism, in order to produce the seemingly incredible and satisfactory results of wealth we see in Western nations, requires the antagonisms between workers and capitalists (in which wages tend to fall and exploitation finds all-new highs) is pushed from the thriving countries into other countries subsumed under capitalism as dependents. These are the countries with low-wage laborers that get highly employed when "our jobs get shipped overseas." The truth is, in order for our wealth to be so high and profits still to be satisfactory (though I will say that inequality is still through the roof in economically central countries), it is necessary for the extreme exploitation that gives us all of this wealth to occur somewhere, and with countries that refuse to protect their worker's rights this is an effortless endeavor. 6. Violation of liberalism and voluntaryism As much as the proponents of liberalism (in the sense of individualist praise of rights and freedom) and voluntaryism praise capitalism for being supposedly the epitome of their philosophies, in truth capitalism is neither liberating nor voluntary for the majority of those involved. As said earlier, capitalism requires for workers to NOT be the owners of the means of production. It must be so expensive to operate business that someone with greater wealth, a capitalist, must be the advancer of the money in order to employ workers. The only free ones, then, are the capitalists, and not in fact the masses, who only have the choices between one exploitative workplace and the next, abject poverty, or maybe (though likely not) a rising up to the role of exploitative capitalist. In addition, capitalism is by no means voluntarily entered into by the wage-laborers, for capitalism proceeds from the point where it is impossible for the workers to work independently of wage-employment (and because some industries are not at this point some do work on their own, escaping capitalism, I acknowledge this). It is impossible for the masses to do anything but offer their labor up for exploitation by some business-owner, and thus the seeming choice disappears, for most would never choose poverty and unemployment over employment. The coercive effects of capitalist economic conditions makes the voluntaryist illusion of capitalist superiority superficial at best. 7. Racist elements Though racism may not be an inherent element of a supposed pure capitalism, in reality the racist structure of society is emboldened and enforced through the continuation of capitalism. Through reliance on socioeconomic conditions that are stacked against minorities in order to make oneself qualified for a job, the racist economic status is perpetuated generation after generation, with limited social mobility for those whose history includes extreme discrimination and economic disadvantage. In addition, by the control of an incredibly partial class of people over the means of production and therefore employment as a whole, minorities and other victims of discrimination (e.g. women) are at the mercy of bigots, and they have the power (and often use it) to create the wage gap. It is not necessary for an economic system to so embolden racial divides. 8. Necessary corruption of politics In any society where economic inequalities such as result from capitalism are reality, and money is capable of wresting political power, it becomes clear that quite soon the government and thus political power will soon fall under control of the wealthy and capitalist minority in order to hold even greater sway over the majority. In fact, this isn't me just rambling about possibilities, as it is proven in America as a shining example that the only people whose opinions matter are the ultra-rich. Source: http://www.usnews.com... None of the above elements can really be separated from capitalism as we know it, and thus I cannot condone and must unilaterally condemn any notion of a capitalist society. I despise state capitalisms even more, such as the Soviet Union, and I highly advocate for a democratic socialism where the workers democratically control production. This would resolve many of the contradictions above. However, my position as to the attractive alternative is irrelevant to this debate, as all that is important is that the flaws outlined with capitalism must be sourcing from capitalism and not just the natural state of any possible economy. However, all the flaws above need not be an element of an economic system, and thus I strongly support the idea that capitalism is inherently flawed and detrimental to society.