Capitalism

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Capitalism refers to several schools of thought and models in regard to Economics. First emerging in the 18th century with roots stemming to John Lock and Adam Smith, capitalism is based around private ownership of industry, said privately owned industries are organized towards making as much money as possible. Economic development in a capitalist society is governed by market forces such as those of Supply and Demand.

Flaws of Capitalism

While capitalism was sucessful as a driving force behind the industrial revolution, their are numerous shortcommings of the system.

  • Wealthy Corperations can become powerful forces in their own right.
  • Private Industries are driven to obtain as much profit as possible. If obtaining a greater profit margin can be done by paying its employees bare subsistance rates, producing unsafe products or disposing of toxic wastes by simply dumping it into the ecosystem, many of them will do it.
  • These problems are magnified if a Corperation becomes a monopoly in a specific field and when they acheive said status, they can hold on by crushing any upstart that might arise through market saturation.

For these reasons, coperate affairs are generally regulated to prevent abuses of power.

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