The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
Capitalism is the only working system – no alternative
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- Growth remains the best known remedy for poverty.
Capitalism is the only working system – no alternativeLucy Turnbull 10 [Lucy Turnbull, 8-9-2010, "Capitalism is still the only system that works," Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/capitalism-is-still-the-only-system-that-works-20100808-11q55.html, smarx, HHW] The past three years have seen the most concerted questioning of the merits of capitalism since the Great Depression. The global financial crisis destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth and left taxpayers on the hook for vast losses accumulated by banks. In many countries, that debt will not be repaid for generations. The economic downturn left millions without work in North America and western Europe. Unemployment rates on both sides of the Atlantic remain near double digits. Little wonder there has been a deluge of criticism of what came to be seen as the best way to organise an economy: the deregulated, open, privatised and market-focused approach that spread from English-speaking countries to much of the world after 1980. The global financial crisis revealed deep flaws in our contemporary version of capitalism - in particular the instability and excesses it can generate. But nobody has proposed any credible alternative model of economic organisation. The huge public debt created by the global financial crisis will only be paid off when there has been enough private sector wealth created to pay the taxes to repay it. While many called for changes to regulation, nobody argues the fundamentals of liberal capitalism - price signals, free exchange, open markets - be replaced with central planning or centralised resource allocation. While some question the relative weight societies place on economic and non-economic objectives, nobody (other than the deepest-green greens) argues material prosperity doesn't matter. Growth remains the best known remedy for poverty. And while many argued for governments to temporarily step in when private confidence and activity were weak, nobody can deny one lesson from the downturn is there are limits to what governments (and government borrowing) can achieve. In the end, capitalism is the only viable system we have for organising our economy. It alone harnesses the reality of human nature - our continual striving for progress and our competitive instincts to do our best. It alone is compatible with political and democratic freedoms. And it alone has proven results - advances in material wellbeing over sustained periods, lifting hundreds of millions of our fellow humans out of grinding poverty. Humans are curious, competitive and infinitely varied. The genius of capitalism is it disaggregates power and decision-making, allowing people to choose their own road. These different priorities, choices, ideas and values allow humanity as a whole to progress. Adam Smith famously observed that unfettered individual self-interest was collectively beneficial: "By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he intends to promote it." We need only think about how difficult it was for centrally planned economies such as the former Soviet Union before 1991 or China before 1978 (or Cuba to this day), to foster innovation and growth to understand the role of economic incentives and freedoms in progress. Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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