Friday, March 27, 2009

Capitalism’s Fault?

When people encounter problems, the first thing they do is find some one or something to blame. In a recent article by M. Shahid Alam, he voices the reason many people think is the reason for the lower class or the "under privileged" which is the oppression of capitalism. In his article by victimizing people who struggle economially he makes the institution of capitalism and free trade look like the bad guy. It may seem this way but there are a few problems and issues he did not address in his proposals.

Alam claims that capitalism it self, is the sole problem. However, this is not entirely accurate, it would be better stated that capitalism causes, and gives the liberty for the power hungry rich to take advantage of the little guy. Most people will do what ever it takes to get ahead even at the expense of other people. So instead of pointing to one of the affects of capitalism, the root of the problem should be considered which is the corruption of human nature.

Something else that was not considered is the number of people who run these corrupt institutions actually have the power to keep people from advancing. I would venture to say that there are only a hand full of people that Alam describes as the "private capital" sector of the human population. People who make more money than the average American, are almost always considered to have obtained their wealth by running over people and contrivers. Could it be possible that these people actually earned what they have? That they actually worked hard to be in their position? Yes, there is plenty of corruption in these billion dollar institutions but I think its possible that they are out numbered by the people that make above average income and actually earned it.