<p>Mays:</p>
<p>This “flawed” system, which has more recently been adopted by China and India, have brought literally billions of people out of poverty. I presume you are a college student.
If so, the issue of whether capitalism or socialism is the better system was decided long before you were born. You need only compare South Korea to North Korea, or West Germany to East Germany, or the Cubans living in Miami to the Cubans living in Cuba.</p>
<p>Actually, capitalism has saved/improved billions of lives. The third world was not “thrust into poverty” by the West. Poverty was the norm for most of human history. The world is a diverse place and in only 200 years, significant numbers of people actually have wealth. That number is only improving and the developing world is getting better and better every day. </p>
<p>Economic equality is stupid, in a world with scarce resources. Equality of opportunity is admirable, and we do have a ways to go in achieving that in the US, but we’re not that far off, especially when you look at the whole of human history. </p>
<p>Democratic control of resources is also unintelligent. There is no reason to believe that democratic control has any sort of wealth creating effects. Efficient resource allocation requires price sensitivity. </p>
<p>Sweatshops suck. But people voluntarily take those jobs because they are better to the alternatives (usually working long hours in the field; or if you are a child, prostitution). Countries that have a lot of sweatshops are seeing appreciable gains in education and health care. And the world is getting better about creating a “race to the top.” Americans had to endure poor working conditions far longer than than the Germans or Japanese when they industrialized. And current nations with significant sweatshop labor can expect those conditions to last even a shorter period of time. And that shorter period of time they will endure those conditions in order to create a better life will not be due to any altruism or “fair trade”, but because they will have created wealth.</p>
<p>The world is far from perfect and we are lucky to be born where we are. But financial innovation such as the kind taking place on Wall Street, that allocates capital literally around the world, has done a lot to make the world a better place. Sure, Wall Street is far from perfect, and perhaps could do with some reforms, but ultimately the world is richer because of free market principles.</p>
<p>Floridadad, you’re kidding, right?</p>
<p>Thanks to citizens united, elections tend to be decided by who has the most money. Whether its the corporations or the labor unions, they’ll be spending the hell out of us, instead of giving that money to the workers, who need it.</p>
<p>I don’t pretend to know anything about anyone else here, but face it, even if you do a business/technology major, finding employment ain’t going to be easy by the time us high schoolers get out of college. Not in a world where a college degree is this easily obtained. GO PROTESTORS.</p>