I see a lot of arguments over capitalism and socialism. Who is right? Well like most political arguments, most people point out the flaws of others while avoiding discussing the flaws of their own ideas. In reality, both sides have flaws that are major. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that some of these flaws are on the same but on different sides of a coin. For example... In capitalism, wealth gets concentrated in a minority of private hands, and the beneficiaries of the wealth tend to rule by proxy; as a result, power is concentrated in a minority of private hands. In socialism, power gets concentrated at the public level; as a result, wealth also ends up being unequal due to corruption. For a lot of these problems, solve one problem and both economic systems benefit. But I think it's silly to make discussions of flaws taboo at a political level.
Capitalism: If the wealth was accumulated voluntarily, there's nothing wrong with that. The objection against capitalism would be a disagreement over homesteading and the initial allocation of resources. Of course, in practically every country the state hands out land. The problem cannot consist in voluntary trade. So long as the initial property allocation was just, so is trade. Socialism: This isn't what's wrong with socialism at all. Socialism is not wrong because it leads to unequal results, socialism is wrong because its allocation of resources is disagreeable, and in near all cases its adherents show no desire to honor their allocations, they have no problem with seizing back property through theft. That's not always the case - there are definitely principled socialists, I was one; but we're talking about colloquial socialism here, which is more akin to state control of resources. Of course, colloquial capitalism isn't any different. [hr][/hr] We don't have to fit into these labels - think for yourself!
Capitalism eventually leads to the wealthy running the state. Socialism eventually leads to the state running the wealthy. Both systems are flawed due to the Human Nature within them.
