Just a few weeks ago, my little world was rudely awakened by Capitalism. I was living in the world with the idea that the way I am living is great, the work I do, the country I live in and the certain lifestyle I live is all by choice, right?! No I was very wrong, I was knocked down by this thing called Capitalism that I pretty much didn’t pay any attention to how it affected not only me but everyone around me. Slowly but surely this topic crept up and stucked in my mind and suddenly I wanted to know more, so I am sharing my understanding with you hoping you find it as thought provoking as I do.
Some of you might have an idea or heard about the term Capitalism, but like me, never really tapped into it. So what exactly is Capitalism? It is also known as the free market system, Capitalism requires unregulated supply and demand and little or no government interference in matters of trade. This means that each individual is free to produce what he or she wants and to sell it at whatever price the market will support. The producing and distributing of goods are owned by a small minority of people, these people are referred to the capitalist class. The majority of people must sell their ability to work in return for a wage or salary (we refer to these people as the working class you and me.)
The working class is paid to produce goods and services which are then sold for a profit. The profit is gained by the capitalist class because they can make more money selling what we have produced. In this sense, the working class is exploited by the capitalist class. The capitalists live off the profits they obtain from exploiting the working class whilst reinvesting some of their profits for the further accumulation of wealth. This is still happening today, we are still working for the big boss and if we had to start a business we will be gaining all the profits and save it as an investment.
The question that came to mind was how one get out of Capitalism? As no longer has it only become the capital class that exploits people but it seems as if ordinary people are doing it aswell. Not by choice but because it has become a way of life, it is embedded into our nature. By understanding what Capitalism is you have to understand that the profit motive is not just the result of greed on behalf of individual capitalists. They do not have a choice about it.The need to make a profit is imposed on capitalists as a condition for not losing their investments and their position as capitalists.
In conclusion Capitalism puts tremendous pressure on all of us to make money in order to survive. Hospitals, schools, prisons, “non-profit organizations, and every other institution must conform to the profit motive, or be swallowed up. It makes me think that the future may be better than capitalism, or worse, but it will most certainly be different. I hope for a world where people and ecosystems matter more than profit. However, in order to get to that world, we first need to understand how capitalism structures our world currently, and how we can overcome it.Capitalism like Michael Moore said is it really a Love Story? You decide!“Our economy is based on spending billions to persuade people that happiness is buying things, and then insisting that the only way to have a viable economy is to make things for people to buy so they’ll have jobs and get enough money to buy things.”― Philip Elliot Slater
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