The Enigma Of Capital And The Crisis Of Capitalism

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.

At the end of the eighteenth century, with the rise of the enlightenment and the industrial revolution came the development of the capitalist economy. As mercantilism faded with the developments of the industrial revolution, capitalism, a new economic system developed. Capitalism is a system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth are controlled chiefly by private property owners who are free to seek profits in competitive conditions. Capitalism can be broken down into five functional components; self-interest, private property, division of labor, competition, and the invisible hand. Each component is an integral aspect of capitalism both at its inception and in our contemporary global economy.

Capitalism and the free world have long been intertwined in their state of dependency. Reaping insurmountable benefits, this economic system has become fully entrenched in our society, elevating itself to a deity. In the 2009 documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, film maker Michael Moore advocates the “blasphemous” notion that capitalism is “evil”. Although the documentary targets an American audience, its representation of capitalist corruption resonates globally. Throughout the documentary Moore mercilessly critiques the status quo while illustrating his condemnation with stark portraits of suffering ensued by economic crises to question the price that America is willing to pay for its love affair with capitalism. Despite blatant bias,

Throughout our Communication Studies, we have examined the capitalist economy through a critical lens and as a result, corporations always appear at the forefront of debate, blame, and power. From a neo-liberalist economic standpoint, the typical “prosumer” is encouraged to create consumer-generated content, but what happens when you put your creative labour to the test? York University consistently advocates, “this is your time”; in other words, students are responsible for their own success and are held liable for any failures or mishaps they may endure. While contemporary technologies have multiplied and democratized opportunities for musical creativity, intellectual property law has been used to repress our right to free speech, which is guaranteed under the first amendment (Demers 2006). Therefore, the industry’s effort at convincing people that file-sharing is equivalent to thievery have turned an increasing number of artists into intellectual property activists.

“Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains” (Engels and Marx). Peter Georgescu, author and chairman of Young & Rubicam wrote the article “Capitalists, Arise”. Capitalism is a political system famously known for letting individuals own things such as businesses and property instead of the government. In his article, Georgescu tries to inform the readers about the widening wage gap. He also explores the idea that big businesses need to improve wages for workers so that the standard of living can improve for everyone in capitalist America. He does this through tone, diction, and rhetorical devices.

The exact origin of capitalism is unknown and to precisely trace its inception is, as Joyce Appleby says, a conundrum in itself. However, speculation negating the inevitability of capitalism is an even greater feat and rather fruitless. Appleby’s research and evidence thus far, support a great part of her assumptions retracing the colorful history of capitalism, though her case against its inevitability falls short. The question at hand is whether she provides a compelling case, the answer is yes. However, compelling is not convincing and one must be convinced to provide legitimate support of their argument. Human nature is ingrained within us all and its traits inevitably materialize during the course of our growth as we mature, increase

After the Civil War, industrialization kicked off (an after-effect of the Market Revolution). But rather than attempt to control it, the government bowed out instead, claiming itself laissez-faire under Adam Smith’s capitalism ideas, and letting the industrial chips fall where they may. However, it appears the government couldn’t let the “invisible hand” decide the fate of the U.S. market, so they began to intervene in business affairs despite their original pledge not to. The government assisted a great deal in the rise of corporate capitalism (business economy run by corporations and monopolies such as the Standard Oil Company and the U.S. Steel Company) through its laissez-faire policies, railroad involvement, and corruption.

In Ha-Joon Chang’s 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, he tries to break it down to the readers some of the unexplored issues in regards to capitalism. He cleverly engages the reader into thinking critically about capitalism from a broader perspective. His perceptions are not only eye-opening, they are also relevant, especially with the current dynamic economy in the wake of the 2008-2009 economic crunch. He exposes the problem with the masses and why the economies still remain unstable. Acceding to Chang (2010), we do not see economic crisis coming because we are unaware about certain aspects about capitalism and we do not make an effort to enquire. It is important to note that he is not against capitalism as the title of the book might

In Thomas Picketty’s book Capital, he questions the ability of capitalism to remain the prevailing economic system in this country. Between 1945-1975 capitalism produced a system were incomes of the masses began to converge. It was a period were almost everyone was to enjoy and reap the benefits of the capitalistic system. However now that period seems more like an aberration, than a trend. With rates of inequalities rising, and economic growth slowing, some have wonder whether or not capitalism is doomed. Previous historical examples such as the French Revolution, have shown us that the masses will not subjugate themselves to a system that they believe is unfair and unequal. Today, capitalism has seemed to reach the tipping point, where we

A Howl Against Capitalism: An Analysis of a Poet’s Political Metaphors Ginsberg’s Howl is decidedly not the kind of poem that inspires children in traditional elementary schools across the country to put their right hands on their breasts, face the flag, sing the national anthem. Contrariwise, the controversial poem uses Ginsberg’s signature repetitive prosody and metaphorical speech to figuratively pummel the living daylights out of the society we know as America. More specifically, it is Ginsberg’s unabridged, unyielding critique of American lifestyle in the post-World War II era of the 1950’s from the perspective of the optimistically poetic but down-trodden beatniks. His fast-paced, restless thrashing is perhaps a defining feature of

Bertrand Russell once expressed that “advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate” (Russell). Even in a relatively capitalist society, there are always criticism regarding the capitalism and its disregard for “the unfortunate” and the tyranny the “fortunate” exert over. The foremost proponent of this antagonism would be Karl Marx, who claimed that capitalism is ultimately hurtling toward its downfall.

Thus the inherent structure, which capitalism has created within the society, would ultimately result in it being overthrown by the ‘working class’. He predicts, that when this occurs, there will be a change to a communist social structure where the means of production are no longer owned by a small percentage of the population, but the collective of the society owns it. Although in the past the only time that capitalist societies have broken down, was when the society was about to enter capitalism. It has not occurred regularly in a mature capitalist society as the structures of capitalism are working effectively to prevent this from occurring[6].

Capitalism started up as a system of investing and sharing money in order to increase the value of resources in the future. Capitalism was just an economic system, but then soon turned into a complex system of ethical practices. Harari defines capitalism as, “a set of teachings about how people should behave, educate their children and even think” (Harari 314). This economic system evolved along with the people that were endorsing it. Capitalism enables the rich to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. There are many benefits to capitalism, but there are downfalls as well, and these downfalls tend to be masked because of the rapid speed capitalists grow at. Harari first presents a definition for capitalism, and soon goes into great detail on why capitalism, while fast paced and unforgiving, is able to stand unwavered while other productions fail.

Capitalism appears to satisfy the ‘need’ for power and acquisition above all else, and the evidence is seen in the growth of global wealth, which certainly does not amount to equal wealth. The

Capitalism as a mean of production tended to accumulate and build new empires. As it has been reflected by David Harvey “the institutional arrangements embedded within the state have an influential