Capitalism Or Socialism

Capitalism without a conscience is as damaging as socialism without pragmatism. As separate ideologies they are both illogical and deeply flawed and doomed to failure.

The trappings of socialism are expensive and require a dynamic wealth building economy in order to build the schools, universities, hospitals, roads and so on. Socialism is therefore unobtainable as an ideology without the engine of capitalism. That is why so many "socialist" regimes fail. Another problem is that socialists tend to think that individuals are stupid and need nannying and this eventually leads to totalitarianism. Instead of nurturing and nourishing individuality, they squeeze the life out of them, losing massive potential benefits for society as a whole. This does not mean socialists ideals are wrong. They are not but it's the way one attains them that is most important.

So called free market capitalism is doomed to failure because it thrives on principles of exploitation that inevitably benefits the rich and powerful who have the means to exploit markets, labour and so on to a far greater extent than the poor and powerless. This inevitably breeds inequality, injustice and discontent which is a recipe for revolt and even revolution. Therefore unregulated free market capitalism sows the seeds of it's own destruction.

No society can function successfully in the long term without a balance between wealth creation and social consciousness. The key is getting the balance right. The problem with systems is that they depend on the integrity and abilities of those that manage them. In other words they are only as good or bad as the people that run them and far too often these people lack objectivity. They are driven by ideologies rather than logic, objectivity and common sense.

It is clear therefore that capitalism needs a social conscience and socialism needs a capitalist economy. One needs the other to succeed and ultimately they have the same objective which is to enrich and nourish individuals as well as societies and nations. They are in fact different degrees of the same thing and are inter-dependant and indispensable, the one to the other.