Rethinking Capitalism in Young Economist Students´ Meet ( YESM!)

The soundbite criticisms of capitalism are legion, yet it’s harder to offer alternatives, aside from the vague notion of 'something else'. Despite the carnage of trying to socially engineer equality in the 20th century, nevertheless the myth persists that capitalist wealth creation is superfluous and money is readily available to a small number of elitists called a government under common ownership, who distribute, or simply print more paper. Ironically, the ones shouting the loudest against capitalism are often those dependent on the profits of capitalism to provide the welfare payments needed to keep them alive.

According to the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Rollo May’s quote “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity” is inaccurate because for what these people in the society conformed to, is a coward act on it’s own. To go ahead and follow something you don’t have knowledge on with the stakes so high and then not give others a voice when they bring viewpoints that differ to what you originally conformed to, is known as a cowardly act. Conforming is just a cover up stuck in ignorance and stubbornness, an excuse for cowardice.

The act of people conforming is seen every where. Any activity performed by someone that is “in the ordinary” is them conforming to the norm. In the crucible, all the girls conform to the norm, set by Abigail Williams. When Abigail faints, the girls faint, when Abigail screams, the girls scream. They mirror her in her every action due to their fear of what would occur if they did not. Same concept is seen today, for example, when you shower regularly you are conforming to the norm. You shower in fear of judgement if you were not to shower, and you shower in following the actions of others. This common action of following in others footsteps affects us by causing people to become identical and influencing people to ignore their personal morals and follow the mob of society blindly. People force physical change upon themselves due to fear of being that one

In recent years, an increasing number of professors, commentators, journalists, and teens on social media have claimed that capitalism has failed. What usually follows are suggestions to usher in a new wave of socialism, as if the chaos in Venezuela is somehow non-existent or something truly desirable.

Second, society teaches us to conform by not thinking for ourselves. We are simply told how to solve a problem or accomplish a task. We are never taught why

“Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than… these false notions and live in this miserable manner” (“The Allegory of the Cave”, The Republic). This famous quote by Homer proclaims that it is far better to face the truth and harsh reality than to entertain false notions that simply appeal to one’s own desires. In The Republic, by Plato, Socrates stresses the necessity of questioning and thus, pressuring oneself and society as a whole in order to obtain truth wisdom, and success. This method of asking and analyzing questions to discover the objective truth, or the truth that pertains to all people, was created by Socrates and known as the Socratic method. When stationed in Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther

     Throughout history, there have been many systems developed in order to have a better society. Two of the most analyzed, and debated systems that have tired to change an economy for the best are communism, and capitalism. Communism, and capitalism have been compared on many levels, such as why they will or will not work, and which one works better. Throughout this essay I will concentrate on the differences, and similarities of how each operates, along with the benefits, and problems that each of them produces.

Conformity is a thing that most people succumb to unknowingly. A quote by Colin Wilson describes those poor souls as follows, "The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain”. This quote could be interpreted as an insult of man and their cowardice, but if you look past it and think about the context of the world the quote is applying it becomes a massive discrediting of all that man stands for. The quote looks past the trivial little man and looks more so at the center of this damned society. This quote looks to denounce three major systems that perpetuate a constant stink of society breaking conformity. Those three horrendous breeding grounds of conformity are as follows, organized religion, patriarchal society, and the educational system.

One person can make a huge impact in another’s life either for the best or for the

“We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can change the world”

So I propose we follow a great man finest idea, one that has mutated and but held firm from its conception. We continue to transform ourselves as have done for many years now, into a Marxist nation, this also is found under the banner of socialism. A proven state of self-government that all has a hand in. Without any upper tier or lower. The government of capitalism is unneeded with the horrid way of raising people up and then crushing their dreams within its confines. Capitalism is a constricting government with so many flaws in it, it has to be modified regularly.

American psychologist, Rollo May, once said, “the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.” This philosophy is supported by Solomon E.Asch’s in his article, “The Opinions and Social Pressure.” In the article, Asch conducts a series of experiments that centralize on the influences of social pressure and the extent to which an individual, when confronted by the differing opinions of a majority, will surrender their perceptions to others. Asch argues that although humans believe they’re independent in their decision-making, they tend to pay heed to the majority because they fear the scrutiny of others and being an outcast in the group.

Accordingly, one idea or fact that is often raised to differentiate socialism from communism is that socialism in general is the political movement that refers to an economic system in that they believe that the state should be in charge of all important producing industries thus taking hold of the control of free market in order to promote economic parity and egalitarianism. Theoretically, socialism seeks to distribute wealth equally among its citizens in a way that the rich don’t take

When I was first given this assignment I was extremely perplexed at how I would even begin to finish it. I had no idea how economics related to my life in anyway. I hadn’t thought about it critically and I struggling terribly. Thanks to some much needed help from a fellow classmate, he allowed me to get an idea of things from his own essay. After reading not one, but two other essays, I was so surprised at how oblivious I had been. I never realized that just about everything that goes on in my daily life is, in fact, economics. I never realized that from the things I buy to the money I earn from working is all economics. The things I miss out of while working or going to school is a complete opportunity cost. Or even

Rather than eradicate capitalism, socialism exists within it. Moreover, democratic socialism is characterised through the balance and compromise between free market capitalism and the Governmental state (Bernstein 1993: 142, Heywood 2012:128, Anderson 1985: 10). Marx considered socialism as a class movement, which is what subsequently played out in the political realm, once universal suffrage had been achieved. For previously powerless people it was the only peaceful way to be heard: “Electoral politics constitutes the mechanism through which anyone can as a citizen express claims to goods and services.” (Przeworski 1985:11).