the wonderful world of economy

Well some friends and I have been having a discussion via email about socialism, etc... so I wrote this and I thought I might as well post it.

Perhaps it would be wise to consider the roots of socialism and where it has led other countries in this world.

Socialist ideals stem from Marxism; the same fundamental thought that has brought us Communism. These philosophies were derived to be the great equalizer for the people. The thought being that everyone works hard and shares what they have with one another leaving no one left to fend for themselves. The thought is that we work harmoniously and band together in order to create a society on which the playing field is equal and there is no one person that is valued above another… the great equalizer. With this in mind, it would take a large agency that had enough power to control the flow of resources and disperse resources to everyone equally; lets call this agency, government. This government would have to provide strict regulations to ensure that people are producing the right kinds of products that others need and in the quantities needed, while at the same time setting the price for the consumer, and giving the consumer a wage for their work that is equal to the others around them.

On the other hand we have a free market economy stemming from Capitalism. Within this philosophy, the economy is not controlled by one agency in order to disperse resources equally to everyone. Within the free market resources are dispersed based on consumer demand, businesses are started because of a need in the marketplace by consumers, and the incentive for business to thrive is profit. Within the market there are checks and balances, all provided by consumers. If a company makes a bad product, customer service is poor, or the prices is too high, then the company will eventually go out of business. In this sense the market cleans up its own messes and business is left to achieve profit through providing superior services, products, and prices to the consumer. This is what drives efficiency, making things happen faster, cheaper, and better.

Now as time goes on we are constantly being bombarded with the message of evil big business, corporate greed, greedy corporate executives and so forth. Now as much as I would like to think that this doesn’t exist, it does. It comes from the very nature of man…selfishness. However, what we don’t hear is that the market already has a way to clean this out. A way to ensure that business isn’t taking advantage of consumers. The power to stop this is you, the consumer. Within the market the consumer is the end all. If the consumer stops buying a product, the company will not survive. However we are not told this, we are told that selfish companies are taking advantage of us, and we need the government to intervene for the people, to make sure things are fair, to weed out selfishness. They point to socialism and some even further to communism. However what they leave out is that socialism in and of itself is based solely in selfish envy. People who see others that have more than they do, or more than others, and don’t think it is fair. Instead of focusing on what they can do to enhance their own situation, they focus on tearing down what someone else has built. The philosophy is if I can’t have it then no one should be able to. And this is the thought that our “leaders” play in to.

We must realize that man is fallen, that man is selfish, and that man is constantly seeking power. Within both of these systems we can see selfishness at work, however how they account for sin is what makes all the difference. In a free market all consumers everywhere become the control for greed, in essence creating a force that no business can stand up to. In socialism/communism the government controls greed. Power is given to a few rather than many. Power is given to one, or a few people just like you and me, no better than you and me, and with the same selfish, greedy, power hungry motivations as you and me.

The difference is in one of these systems you have a say, you have control, and in the other one of these systems you have forfeited that right to someone who doesn’t know you, but makes decisions for you anyway. One of these systems breeds efficiency because it is imperative to stay in business and there is always competition fighting for what you have, the other system breeds inefficiency because blanket decisions are made in one central area for a mass of people. If you are in need of more evidence look to history. Look to Russia, china, look at what socialized medicine has done in other countries, even look at how slow it takes county road department to pave a road.

Capitalism is a beautiful form of democracy in which you vote everyday with your dollars. Unfortunately we are giving away these rights as we trade our freedoms for a false sense of temporary security. What makes you think you can trust your government no matter who is there? People are sinful, we don’t always do what is right and we are giving away power that we have to our leaders with the thought that they know better. Germany let their leaders take their freedoms for security, Russia did as well, how did that work for them?

Perhaps we can bring this a little closer to home. As the government assumes more control over our economy through bailouts, loans to inefficient companies, more and more public/private partnerships, and paying for others mistakes (buying houses they can’t afford) Americas debt is increasing. This debt must be paid for and will be in the form of higher taxes. What must be realized is that whether or not taxes are raised on you, businesses, the rich, or a combination of the three. It will affect YOU. Businesses will see decreased profits causing them to have fewer employees, pay their employees less, and raise their prices affecting every consumer. Those donations that you solicit from rich people or business will cease to be, because the money they may have had for you now belongs to the government.

FACT: Socialism/Communism does not make poor people rich it makes rich people poor and destroys the opportunity for poor people to make a better situation for themselves

FACT: Wealth envy is not a pillar of capitalism. It is a founding point of socialism, Marxism, and communism.

Perhaps it would be wise to think about all of this as we spend the rest of our lives paying for the choices our government has made in the first 6 weeks that Obama has been in office and the last 3 months Bush was in office.