Capitalism and Socialism

                Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a letter to Coretta Scott, "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, viz., to block the trade monopolies of nobles, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes."

                Capitalism is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners or corporates for profit, rather than being controlled by the state. Capitalism first began to emerge during the 17^th century. When it emerged, the concept of a waged worker was a crucial part in the development of capitalism. The earliest capitalism brought new ways of production that was directed by the capitalist. The new capitalism ways had the capitalists exerting power over the new class, which included the waged workers.

I think that capitalism can be beneficial but yet have negative effects as well. I think it is right for people to be able to create and run their own business if they choose to do so. By making a decision to start their own business, they are putting a big chunk of their money forward just to start the business. If their business doesn’t succeed, they may be left with little to nothing. However, on the other side of things, capitalism can bring negative effects to our society if one business takes away from many others. One business should not have so much power to overrun all other businesses of the same area.

Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that states that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by a community as a whole.  The idea of socialism came from that of capitalism. People believed that workers’ conditions would be better if the control of production was moved from capitalists to the state. I believe that socialism has its pros and cons as well. The positive side of it would be that conditions for workers were improved as well as the fact that one person cannot completely overtake a large business. Overall, socialism is better for the people at large. However, people should have a certain degree of freedom to create their own business if they want without it being government controlled.

I think that to a certain point, capitalism has “outlived its usefulness.” I believe so because it takes away from a large number of people just to benefit a few others. I think that a government run business is all around better for the people. If capitalism continues, they negative effects may show more and more with time. I believe that socialism is the best theory for our economic and political systems.