Capitalism in practice does more good than harm

Author qualifications or full text from the quotes available on request of my opponent. REFUTATIONS: /// It increases the overall wealth of a society /// O: "The top 25 in income are . .. " Growth and improvement within the capitalist system only leads to greater disparity and destruction. (Ellen Meiksins Wood, The Origin of Capitalism 1999 p.118): "Then there are the corollaries of "improvement" . .. There is, . .. a great disparity between the productive capacities of capitalism and the quality of life it delivers. The ethic of "improvement" . .. is also the ethic of exploitation, poverty, homelessness . .. irresponsible land use and environmental destruction" O: "India suffered for many years under democratic socialism . .. " Can you provide me with some evidence as to this link between capitalism and improvement of the populace's well-being? Otherwise, simply linking to a book does nobody any good. O: "The way to easily achieve equality of wealth is to reduce nearly everyone to an income near zero, as in North Korea and some African nations. " Just because there is no current good system to achieve equality doesn't mean none exists, again "No alternative for capitalism will come into play in this debate. .. ". O: "Equality should never be a goal. " Equality must be a goal to ensure that EVERYBODY gets their livelihood improved. Capitalistic growth FAILS to provide equality. Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd, Capitalism and its Economics: A Critical History, 2000 p202: "although the United States in the 1990s enjoyed its longest period ever of peacetime growth; at the most only the top 20 percent of its people benefited. " /// Capitalism does not have to be "pure" to work well /// 1) Capitalism will eventually collapse into a "pure" system. Capitalism is incapable of sharing power with alternative systems – it will simply assimilate the alternative. (DISAD 1) Istvan Meszaros, Beyond Capital: Toward a Theory of Transition, 1995 p716: "The fact that capital . .. is compatible with 'improvements and correctives' only at the level of effects and consequences, but not at that of the system's foundations . .. means that it cannot share power even in the short run with forces aiming to transcend it in the long run. . .. For as long as capital remains the effective regulator of the social metabolism, the idea of 'equal contest' between capital and labour . .. is bound to remain a mystification. " 2) Economic reform can only occur after rejecting the capitalistic system (DISAD 1) Chris Harman, Economics of the Madhouse, 1995, p99-101: "But this alternative cannot come from working within the system, from accepting the insane logic of the market . .. The [reform] can only come from fighting against the system and the disastrous effect its logic has on the lives of the mass of people. " O: "Capitalism tends to put the most qualified people in charge, and it gets rid of the ones that do not measure up. " 1) Capitalism is not the same as democracy. (DISAD 3) 2) Capitalism hurts true democracy (DISAD 3) A) See Smith 90 evidence: "Capitalism and democracy work in direct conflict" B) Capitalism allows corporation owners to rule a country, causing WAR (DISAD 2) Istvan Meszaros, Beyond Capital: Toward a Theory of Transition, 1995: "The rise of the self-appointed representatives of big business and high finance to the top of the political decision-making. For so much is at stake that the traditional forms of an indirect (economic) control of policy-making must be abandoned in favour of a direct control of the commanding heights of politics by the spokesmen of monopoly capital. . .. The main point is that the institutions of capitalism is inherently violent and aggressive: they are built on the fundamental premise of "war is the normal method of expansion". " C) Capitalism rigs democracy Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd, Capitalism and its Economics: A Critical History, 2000 p208: "Corruption now prevails in the United States and it has two dimensions. First, is the domination of election campaigns by raw money; second, is the less publicize important of lobbying . .. "money talks" . .. it now yells and stamps its feet – and allows business to get its way" O: "All other systems have" Again, just because there is no good alternative system, that isn't a good argument here: "No alternative for capitalism will come into play in this debate. .. " O: "Capitalism allows people to succeed according to their ability. " 1) Look to my Dowd 00 evidence: Capitalistic growth FAILS to provide equality. Equality must be a goal to ensure that EVERYBODY gets their livelihood improved. (DISAD 4) 2) Capitalism causes poverty (DISAD 4) A) Capitalism is dooming the world to poverty Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd, Capitalism and its Economics: A Critical History, 2000 p191-192: "An upward shift of interest rates is not a matter of whether but when, and that this along will push stock prices down. That decline is more likely to be drastic than moderate . .. Nor is it of minor concern that both directly and indirectly the percentage of the population both deeply in debt and vulnerable to a stock market decline is considerably higher than ever. " B) Capitalism increases the income gap Charles Handy, The Hungary Spirit; Beyond Capitalism: A Quest for Purpose in the Modern World, 1998 p12: "What seems to be happening is that the markets for some products are now so huge that "the winner takes all" Top professionals can earn many multiples of the pay of people from the same stable, who are just not quite as well marketed . .. but the material they deliver is no better in content or style than that which a host of less well-known experts could provide" /// Property Rights /// Capitalism is not the only system that allows property rights, and again "No alternative for capitalism will come into play in this debate. . .. ." /// Capitalism can provide relative economic prosperity even when implemented under authoritarian rule. /// 1) Do you have any evidence for this point? If not, it is simply a baseless claim that voters SHOULD NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT: "All claims without evidence from credible sources are assumed to be invalid. " 2) Capitalism leads to authoritarian regimes (DISAD 3) Chris Harman, Economics of the Madhouse, 1995, p99-101: ". .. world wars, the rise of Nazism, the collapse of democracy across most of Europe, and the victory of Stalinism, the death camps and the Gulag. . .. . All this horror has its origins in the failure of market capitalism to provide even minimally satisfactory lives for the mass of people. " /// capitalism conforms to the reality of inviolable economic laws /// This point is extremely vague and baseless, and thus invalid. 1. What are these 'economic laws'? 2. Is there any proof these 'economic laws' exist? 3. Is there any proof these 'economic laws' are 'inviolable'? 4. Why are they 'inviolable'? DISADVANTAGES: Disad 1: Capitalism is exclusive with all other economic systems Disad 2: Capitalism causes human extinction 1) Capitalism causes WAR -> Nuclear Proliferation -> Nuclear War -> Extinction A) Look at my Meszaris 95 card B) War will escalate until it is NUCLEAR WAR, which will cause NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, causing NUCLEAR WAR, causing EXTINCTION Larry Seaquist, a contributor to nuclear deterrence strategy in the Pentagon [1] 2) See my Handy 00 card: "Capitalism KILLS the least productive members of society" - this will escalate until only the most 'productive' members of society remain. 3) Even if you don't buy human extinction, WAR is bad in and of itself. Disad 3: Capitalism hurts democracy Diad 4: Capitalism causes poverty [1] . http://www.larryseaquist....