Primary Arguments Against Socialism

Capitalism has proven to be the the premier economic system chosen by some of the most prominent leaders in history. Winston Churchill once said “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”(Churchill,1945). Socialism is appealing to the present generation and society as it provides a promise of equality amongst all citizens. What many fail to consider is that the equality promised by socialism only gives equal misery and tyranny. Capitalism is loosely defined as a free market system where the supply and demand of the country is derived from the private property of the owner. On the other hand, socialism consists of public ownership in the name of production.While
capitalism is built on reaping the benefits of one's hard work, socialism relies heavily on the concept that everyone will receive the benefits of only one person's hard work. One universal ideal that is shared across the human race is the concept of freedom. Socialism by definition is put in place to restrict one’s freedom. As civilization has proven throughout traceable history, capitalism outperforms socialism in predominately all economic facets.
The invisible hand alongside freedom and choice are propelling forces for the ideals of capitalism. As long as the person in subject is able to apply themselves to what they wish to achieve, a capitalist economy gives that person the right to succeed through the decisions they make. The desire to succeed starts at a very early age, with school being the first experience of success for a majority of students.
A teacher designed an experiment in order to prove to students that socialism will ultimately fail. All students grades in the class would be averaged on the test. The first test average was a B. Those who studied were upset and others who refused to study were pleased. This pattern trended downwards on further tests, proving that socialism will fail as there is no benefit to succeeding. (Excellent Lesson in Economics, 2009).
Giving each individual the option to thrive individually rather than being forced down by the majority gives a sense of freedom and incentive. The choices that a citizen is allowed to make on their own can send a middling family into prosperity if work is applied. “At school you selected your favorite subjects and could study them as far as you wanted, followed by applying to a job you chose from the widest variety ever seen in history”(Nunno 2010). Capitalism guarantees such choices along with the opportunity to generate a great lifestyle with the choices they decide to make. Not only are citizens guaranteed choice, they are also permitted a sense of freedom alongside. “History suggests only that economic freedom is a necessary condition for political freedom(Freidman, 1912). In a capitalistic society, freedom allows the market to thrive as citizens strive to succeed. Not only are people allowed to decide what they do, they play a major role in determining the market put forth in front of them. Due to the government relying on the firms and households to regulate the market, a force such as the invisible hand is necessary. “The invisible hand is a term coined by Adam Smith, a 1776 economist. The invisible hand helps control the supply and demand of products from firms to households”(Investopia 2014). Due to market forces, such as the invisible hand, capitalism drives itself, unlike the constant government oversight socialism requires. Along with providing freedom, capitalism in turn allows the creation and innovation of vital commodities such as pharmaceuticals and other profitable markets.
One of the primary arguments against capitalism is that it is immoral to separate the economic classes at such a dramatic scale.
However, it is the exact opposite for the upper class to make a significant profit when they have supplied society with a benefit that will last generations. Everyone has been there. Someone falls ill, the doctor provides them with a medical prescription from the local drug store with an insurmountable price. The average person would be quick to call the company out on their lust for a quick buck. Contrary to popular belief, many of these companies are not greedy in any way. Simply, everyone involved in the production of the prescription is looking to reap from the challenging work they have accomplished. “Bringing a single drug to market costs a major pharmaceutical company anywhere from $800 million to $1.5 billion”(Forbes 2009). In regard to the gigantic amount of profit, many think that pharmacists should not be allowed to collect such a large profit. Despite this opinion, much of the profit will go towards research for other life changing drugs. The same ideals go for similar groundbreaking industries. “The road to recovery runs through markets, not
government”
(O’Neil, 2015). By placing faith into the market system, rather than placing everything into the hands of the government, it will provide an additional incentive to press into the unknown. Some of the largest products of innovation have begun in capitalistic nations, where it is socially acceptable to lay it out for the small chance of success. “I think that America’s business success through the decades has occurred because we have so many people with specialized knowledge who are willing to put their money, time and resources on the line for ideas that can’t be proved to a committee”(Shiller 2013). Capitalism permits the individuals to be able to put it all on the line, rather than socialism which places a heavy restriction on freedom. Not only does capitalism promote creation and innovation, it also provides the better half of what some call a mixed economy.
Many countries today are vying for a mixed economy rather than an extreme on either side, but those countries still fall on the capitalistic side of the spectrum.
Both systems have their positives and negatives, but a mixed system with an emphasis in capitalistic beliefs is the one that will thrive in the near future; take the United States of America. Socialism while good for promoting a stable economy, is no way capable of keeping up with the capitalist powerhouses in the world. “They've opened their public schools and health care to more competition, and Sweden partially privatized its pension system. They may not be free market quite yet, but they're no socialist—or even liberal—utopia,
either.”(Reason.com).
The market controlled by citizens is vital to the success of an economy such as a capitalistic one. From allowing freedom, to a self-driving economic system, as well as supporting the process of innovation and separation from the past, capitalism is the way to go. The human race has been built on the variable of progress, so what good is an economic system that attempts to stall progress such as socialism.