We are surrounded by capitalism. Not only do we live under this system, each of us is another cog in this massive machine. We are instrumental in its proper function, and hence only we have the power to illicit change. We have been told that capitalism is great, by politicians, by economists, by teachers, even our own families. But that vision is far from reality. Capitalism is a contradictory and flawed system, even in its most successful manifestations. In the United States, arguably the wealthiest nation in the world, homelessness and unemployment are rampant. Schools are crumbling, and those lucky enough to get into universities are crushed by mountains of debt they will never escape from. People suffer in hospital waiting rooms, sometimes even die, simply because they can't afford treatment. It's not a problem of a lack of medicine, or equipment, or personnel, it's a problem of inhumanity. Someone is denied the right to live, the right to a healthy life, because they don't have enough money to pay for a horrifically overpriced treatment. Food insecurity is a problem, in this wealthiest nation on earth. People go hungry, while excess unsolved food is thrown into the trash. People are thrown in mass into prisons on drop-dubbed charges and minor offenses, because justice has become a private industry run in the interest of profit. Inequality is increasing across the globe. A handful of the richest few own more than the billions at the bottom. Not through hard work, or intelligence, or any sort of merit, but through swindling people, through cheating workers out of humane and fair wages, out of the exploitation of not only third world nations, but also domestic workers in wealthy countries as well. Wages are stagnant despite massive increases in productivity, yet we are told we live in a meritocracy. That if you work hard, you will righteously be compensated for your work. In reality, these are all lies. Work harder, longer, more efficiently, for less and less scraps. Your hard work isn't enriching you, it's enriching your boss. Corporations export jobs to the third world because there is more profit in it for them over there. They pay their workers slave wages and sell whatever is produced to markets with relatively wealthier consumers in the west. These incredibly patriotic corporations and their CEOs are choosing to betray their own countries, their own people, by shipping millions and millions of jobs abroad just so they can profit more. This is an inhumane and impersonal system. Capitalism needs unemployment to function. If governments wanted to end unemployment, they could. But why would they? They serve the interests of the rich, and it's within the interests of the rich to have a massive army of unemployed people outside their workplaces so that they can keep their workers' docile. Employees know better than to ask for higher pay, better conditions and benefits when there are 300 people ready to take their job in a heartbeat. A system that relies on constant unemployment is an inhumane and destructive system. It's a system that chooses to keep millions unproductive with their time for the sole purpose of profit. Not only this, capitalism needs war. War opens up new markets. It lets foreign corporations invest in countries that don't want the investment. It lets the natural resources of other nations be stolen from them all for the sole purpose of profit. I think we can all think of a war in recent memory where this was the main reason. Human beings are intensely cooperating species. In fact, capitalism can't exist without human cooperation. But capitalism rewards selfishness and greed and every man for himself mentality, which damages people's minds and their communities. We are told that capitalism praises freedom and individualism. But it destroys freedom and individualism for everyone but the capitalists themselves. The vast majority of us who work for a living are daily asked to uncritically follow orders to act as if we are machines and limit our creativity to what profits are bosses. We are told that capitalism is efficient and innovative. This remains to be seen. Parallel development of the same technology is a massive waste of resources. Billions of dollars are spent every year on advertisement, basically manufacturing demand for products no one needs, diverting resources away from actual social problems that plague society. Capitalism also destroys innovation and stifles creativity. And that can be seen in another video I've made. Link is in the description. Capitalists denigrate and spit on cooperation and collectivism. But they create mass production processes that rely on both from the workers. Their system requires us to be cogs in a giant profit making machine. But because they fear the power this gives us, we are told working together for our own interests is illegitimate and bad. This capitalists under mine unions and other organizations that encourage workers to cooperate with each other and act collectively again all for the purpose of profit. Capitalism is an inherently dictatorial system of minority privilege and class rule based on the private ownership of means of livelihood. This gives a few rich people the power to buy and sell jobs, which means they can build or destroy entire communities that depend on those jobs. They can ruin many lives all for the profit of a few. Capitalism is a system in which the principle of one dollar one vote dominates that of one person one vote. Those who own the most shares bought with their own money, with their own dollars, control giant corporations, many which are more powerful than all but a few governments. Rich people also use their money to dominate the elections that are supposed to give us all one equal vote. Under capitalism those with the most money are entitled to the most goods and services as well as the most say in directing our governments and our economy. After lobbying, capitalism stifles democracy and generally makes a dictatorship of the rich, a dictatorship that cannot be questioned. The perfect example of this is the United States itself, where a massive majority of the population want free education and universal healthcare, yet every attempt at doing so is just well stopped in its tracks. Capitalism is not a friend to democracy but ultimately its enemy. When pushed, capitalists choose capitalism over democracy. When people use democracy to weaken the power of the capitalists, the rich and powerful turn to various forms of fascism in order to keep their privileges. Rather than being a system based on human wants and needs, it's based on the interests of a wealthy minority. What they say goes, regardless of the democratic will of the majority. In practice, it is a dictatorship of the ruling class. Capitalism proclaims the virtue of make itself interest, but self-interest without regard for morality, ecology or common sense, which leads to environmental degradation, destruction of indigenous communities, colonialism more, and other forms of mass destruction. Make itself interest for the benefit of society is as ridiculous a notion as having everyone drive on the road without paying any attention to traffic lights and stop signs. There will be many accidents and problems, as there are with our economies and societies right now. Self-interest leads capitalists to seek profit absolutely everywhere, regardless of the damage done to other people and the health of the planet's ecosystem. Self-interest leads capitalists to destroy any rival economic system or way of thinking that can be a barrier to their endless quest for profit. Capitalism is a cancer taking over our planet. Capitalists make profits from global warming, from destroying our oceans, from pumping ever more chemicals into the atmosphere, and from patenting everything they can, including life itself. And by getting rid of capitalism, can we rescue our environment and humanity?