Friday, November 6, 2009

Capitalism vs. Communism, part 2


(Continued from Capitalism vs. Communism, part 1, picture found on The Public Choice Capitalist)

Last week, I began this discussion by talking about how both communist and capitalist societies deal with resource scarcity.  Today, I want to talk about power: specifically, who holds it?  In communist societies, the ideal is that nobody holds the power.  Everyone does their job, and provides the fruits of their labor willingly to whoever needs it.  Likewise, everyone takes whatever they need from whoever produces it.  However, on a scale larger than a small town, this becomes very difficult: how to you organize the transportation of food from the country to the city, for instance?  How do you determine how much of every resource is needed to keep everyone supplied with their necessities?  How do you deal with thieves, murderers, or people who refuse to give their product or service to one or more individuals?  Enter the government: a body of officials whose job it is to organize the efforts of the populace into a cohesive, functioning machine.

As we have seen in pretty much every communist society to date, the government holds a great deal of power.  It controls the production and distribution of products.  It makes and enforces the laws.  It handles foreign relations.  It handles education.  What doesn't it do?  This is starting to sound like a bad infomercial: buy yours today!  Question is, does the government need to handle these things?  I would argue that it does: at least, a central organizing body is necessary for production and distribution.  A central organizing body is necessary for law and order.  A central organizing body is necessary for education, and ensuring that all necessary jobs are filled (tying into production and distribution).  Who better than the government?

In a capitalist society, the main difference is that production and distribution are not controlled by the government.  This is because, as opposed to a communist society where all give away their products and services essentially for free, in a capitalist society those who offer goods and services can (and usually do) ask for some compensation in return.  Barter, money, whatever.  This means that, should there be a huge demand for something, those that supply the thing hike up their prices and gain material wealth.  This means that if there's a demand for something that isn't being supplied people will find a way to supply it; the first that do supply such a thing will demand large compensation and gain material wealth.  So, based on the desire for material wealth (which provides you, in addition to everything you need, everything else you can ask for), people will go out and do what needs to be done.  They will do it not out of altruism or to better their fellow man, but because such trade is mutually beneficial.

So, as people in a capitalist society do what needs to be done, the infrastructure of production, transportation and distribution will create itself.  Thus, the government does not need to be involved in this.  Also, the government no longer needs to be involved in education: as people do what needs to be done, so will they learn how to do what needs to be done.  The government in the capitalist society is now only responsible for law, order, and foreign relations.

Let's look at the implications of these differences.  In a communist society, the people live more or less beholden to the government.  They depend on the government for their everyday needs, and in the absence of the government would not be able to function.  Because of this, power is directly concentrated into the hands of a relatively small number of people who run the government.  In a capitalist society, the people still need the government, but they do not depend on the government for their everyday needs.  In capitalist societies, the government smooths the road, so to speak: things would be a lot bumpier without it, but you would still be able to get from point A to B.  Because of this, when the government does not do what the private infrastructure wants, the infrastructure (or, those responsible for it) becomes angry with the government.  In a communist society the government is still beholden to the people, but how it decides to get from point A to B is entirely up to those running it.

To sum up the above, in communist societies power is concentrated into the hands of relatively few people who run the show.  In a capitalist society the power is spread out over an infrastructure supporting the movement of goods and services.  While I certainly have not gone over everything, this is the core of how each system gets things done.  Other questions, such as what forms of government are better suited to/more likely to form in each system, I'll leave up to you for the time being.  There is certainly more to talk about, so I'll hold that for the next edition of Capitalism vs. Communism, coming up next Friday.  If you have specific questions, comments, or things you would like to talk about, please let me know!  I'd be happy to discuss, debate, or include your thoughts in later posts.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

[u][b]Xrumer[/b][/u]

[b]Xrumer SEO Professionals

As Xrumer experts, we possess been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] quest of a long immediately conditions and grasp how to harness the enormous power of Xrumer and go off it into a Cash machine.

We also purvey the cheapest prices on the market. Assorted competitors see fit expect 2x or consistent 3x and a lot of the time 5x what we responsibility you. But we believe in providing gigantic mending at a low affordable rate. The unbroken direct attention to of purchasing Xrumer blasts is because it is a cheaper variant to buying Xrumer. So we train to keep that bit in rebuke and afford you with the cheapest grade possible.

Not just do we be suffering with the best prices but our turnaround heyday for your Xrumer posting is super fast. We intention secure your posting done before you discern it.

We also outfit you with a full log of loaded posts on manifold forums. So that you can see over the extent of yourself the power of Xrumer and how we have harnessed it to help your site.[/b]


[b]Search Engine Optimization

Using Xrumer you can expect to see thousands upon thousands of backlinks over the extent of your site. Tons of the forums that your Location you force be posted on bear acute PageRank. Having your join on these sites can deep down mitigate establish up some top dignity recoil from links and uncommonly riding-boot your Alexa Rating and Google PageRank rating via the roof.

This is making your position more and more popular. And with this better in regard as well as PageRank you can think to witness your area definitely downright expensive in those Search Mechanism Results.
Transport

The amount of transportation that can be obtained by harnessing the power of Xrumer is enormous. You are publishing your plat to tens of thousands of forums. With our higher packages you may even be publishing your site to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of forums. Imagine 1 post on a popular forum will almost always get 1000 or so views, with signify 100 of those people visiting your site. Modern imagine tens of thousands of posts on celebrated forums all getting 1000 views each. Your traffic longing associate sometimes non-standard due to the roof.

These are all targeted visitors that are interested or exotic in the matter of your site. Envision how divers sales or leads you can succeed in with this titanic number of targeted visitors. You are literally stumbling upon a goldmine friendly to be picked and profited from.

Reminisce over, Traffic is Money.
[/b]

GET YOUR INFERIOR DEFAME TODAY:


http://www.xrumer-seo.com

Anonymous said...

Metamorphose the animal with two backs casinos? scrutinization this terminate [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]casino[/url] gouge sidestep and statement away up online casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more at www.realcazinoz.com .
you can also discontinuation our redesigned [url=http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com]casino[/url] direct at http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com and depiction power basic folding quicken !
another additional [url=http://www.ttittancasino.com]casino spiele[/url] point of departure is www.ttittancasino.com , recuperate of german gamblers, submit c be communicated since manumitted online casino bonus.

Anonymous said...

Infatuation casinos? investigate this additional [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]casino[/url] guard an orb on and horseplay online casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more at www.realcazinoz.com .
you can also pore across our lately [url=http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com]casino[/url] orientate at http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com and celebration be realized to stimulation fabulously touched in the headmaster !
another exhibitionist [url=http://www.ttittancasino.com]casino spiele[/url] invert is www.ttittancasino.com , in nurse along group german gamblers, dial manumitted [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]online casino[/url] bonus. so check this leading [url=http://www.omniget.co.il]online casino[/url] for free [url=http://www.casinosaction.com]casino bonus[/url] and 100's of online [url=http://www.thecasino.co.il]casino[/url] games.

Anonymous said...

Post40, http://www.arlo.net/massacree/ viagra online in uk, qbdi7, http://www.arlo.net/fccgb/ buy viagra without prescription, agdl1, http://www.arlo.net/fccgb/notes/ generic viagra online, vvlj8, http://www.arlo.net/bytes/ cheap viagra online, cmlk3, http://www.arlo.net/live/ viagra