Many argue that poverty and climate change are being solved by capitalism, making the current system the best way for the world to continue to grow in a sustainable manner. In fact, those issues are a direct result of the capitalist system. Capitalism is the source of many structural issues in society as it promotes economic expansion – capital accumulation- at the expense of the well-being of society. The pursuit of profit is the capitalist's prime objective. Capitalism as an economic system relies on profit to the point where welfare falls to the wayside. Money begets money. Poverty begets poverty. Capitalism promotes the idea of profit as the bottom line while ignoring the realities of poverty and failing to promote social welfare.
In theory, profit and wage are set through competition so that both firms and labourers profit. However, theory does not necessarily represent reality. Firms can increase their profits by slashing wages as much as possible. While the basic rules of supply and demand clearly affect wages, the competitive equilibrium does not necessarily guarantee a livable wage. When the government does not provide protections like a minimum wage, companies will inevitably exploit workers through lower wages in order to increase their profits. The basic tenet of the capitalist system is that workers and companies have competing interests.
Before unions were widespread and established within the U.S., employees could not bargain collectively for wages that would allow them to live comfortably. In order to justify exploitative wages, capitalist society, especially in the U.S., encourages the narrative hard work and dedication as conducive to economic success. However, the vast majority of people will end up in the same income bracket as their parents.
Protecting the environment does not inherently lead to profit, so it is not a desirable goal for most companies. The Keystone and Dakota Access pipeline are predicted to cause massive damage to the environment, not to mention a massive amount of distress to indigenous groups, but are being implemented despite those facts for company profit. Similarly, Volkswagen was found to have created technology to lower carbon emissions while cars were being tested. This enabled the company to market their cars as environmentally friendly without investing in sustainable technologies, which would presumably increase costs. Many more major corporations actively ignore the environmental repercussions of their actions in order to profit, exemplifying the way capitalism prioritizes profit over long term sustainability.
If companies willingly shared their research, there could be huge beneficial implications for scientific and medical research. However, most companies cannot afford to lose the money spent researching by not patenting profitable intellectual property, be it in the form of lifesaving drugs or more efficient technology. A research culture that is not based off of the capitalist pursuit of profit could allow for a greater degree of knowledge sharing and innovation and increase the speed of progress.
Capitalism is not harmless nor progressive, and society must recognise the failings and inequalities inherent in the current system.
No comments:
Post a Comment