14. Capitalism Capitalism is a complex economic and financial system that now dominates the world. Being able to exercise a decisive influence on the politics and lifestyles of people, it is almost impossible to remain indifferent to it. And indeed, today the people of Earth can be divided into two parts, depending on how you relate with c.
14.1. Definition and generalities c. The term was never used by Marx, but was introduced by Werner Sombart in 1902 with his opera The
modern capitalism, to indicate a production system dominated "by the principle of profit and economic rationalism" (Sombart 1967: 165).
"Capitalism differs fundamentally from the traditional-feudal economic system in which the same people are employed at the same time possessing the means of production" (Luttwak, Creperie Verratti 1996: 29). L '
is a craftsman who works independently and has his workshop and his tools and uses his head and his hands to look for work, produce and sell. The capitalist
instead owns the means of production and rely on other manual execution of tasks. "Unlike the then craftsmanship, capitalism distinguishes the work from the executive directors "(Luttwak, Creperie Verratti 1996: 39).
When it comes to c. you must think about many things (private ownership of means of production was minimal, city, currency, middle class, business class, wage labor market, free competition, profit) and is therefore not surprising that it is not easy to define it in a nutshell.
"For capitalism - writes H. Kelsen - we want an economic system characterized by private ownership of means of production, free enterprise and competition: an economic system, therefore, assumes that economic freedom, the absence direct interference by the government in economic life "(1995: 335).
"The capitalist society rejects anything that can not be used for profit" (SCHIAVONE Creagh in 1997: 221) and rejects everything that does not fall under a cold rational calculation of utility. "Capitalism leads to the production as an end in itself also leads to the consumption end in itself" (Bookchin 1995: 116).
The capitalist ethic is an ethic of the market, the main guiding principles are the production and consumption, and whose ultimate aim is the maximum profit in the shortest possible time. The c. is based on freedom of initiative and want the State minimize interference in the affairs of citizens, because it believes that the free market is not only able to organize themselves, spontaneously, but is also capable of producing a steady growth of the company. "" May all that is not expressly prohibited, "is the motto of modern commercial law" (Luttwak, Creperie Verratti 1996: 30). "It's never happened before that the company has given almost entirely to the market to determine their values \u200b\u200band behavior patterns" (THUROW 1997: 90).
"Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom" (Friedman 1981: 8). Starting from this indispensable condition, the c. builds its own political system, which moves in a bourgeois perspective revolves around the principles of production and profit. "The capitalist society rejects anything that can not be used for profit" (Greagh 1997: 221).
14.2. Capitalism and Democracy c. The is an economic system that can be created in different political systems, whether democratic or autocratic type. The fact is that all contemporary democracies are capitalist. It should be noted however that it is invariably of DR systems and that there is no example of cohabitation of c. and DD. This is not to say that the c. is incompatible with the DD. But I think that DD could tolerate one type of c. very different from what we know, a c. it is no longer based on relations director / performer or entrepreneur / employee, but on responsible participation of all, each according to their capabilities and skills, no longer on commercial advertising and consumerism, but information and knowledge. DR
The fact that the political system seems to be the most convenient and functional for the capitalist economy does not mean that the c. is democratic. For a capitalist ideal is that the government is able to guarantee the safety conditions, domestic and international, such that each farmer, financier or speculator can freely pursue their economic ventures and make profits without limits, and safely. The question who should rule? "Declares the capitalist indifferent to the 'who', provided that such a weak government in relation to operators and strong in respect of trade unions and all those movements that restrict the freedom of the market or attempt to private property.
Based on these conditions, no one can understand why the capitalist system can be truly democratic. "The capitalist democracy allows freedom of speech, of association, including elections, until no of these freedoms is likely to threaten capitalism, not just the threat becomes serious, the full force of law will be put into action to suppress the threat "(LASK 1976: 222).
14.3. Capitalism and State "The market, and only the market is king" (THUROW 1997: 3). But it is not. "If left to themselves, instead of moving towards a balance, financial markets may go to extremes and eventually collapse" (Soros 2002: 105). The presence and intervention of the State must therefore be regarded as fundamental. This is what teaches us the experience of recent decades, the market left to itself is unstable and dangerous, generates wealth, but also profound economic and financial crises, the latest of which is underway as I write.
A capitalism without rules (
deregulation) is growing out consumption to exceed production capacity in the country and require the implementation of a policy indebtedness. This is what happened in the U.S. and goes well with the overwhelming tendency of China to conquer new markets. "Americans consume more than they produce, allowing the Chinese to produce more than they consume (Ruffolo, 2008: 231). C. If the
could do without the state shall be very glad if so, eventually the free market remains sovereign. But the c. needs of the state and, in practice, there is no c. pure state, as there is a totally free market, and entirely free from political influence. Thus, from many quarters and now we are inclined to assume that, by itself, the c. not be able to "run out the full range of human motivations and aspirations" and that it needs to be corrected in some way political intervention of the state (see Turner 2002: 414-9). "The liberal capitalism can be a beneficial force for prosperity, political freedom and the prospects for peace, but only if accompanied by concrete political actions and policies that voters and leaders are free to adopt or reject. Among the policies to be chosen are those specifically targeted to reduce the insecurity and inequality that capitalism itself creates doubt "(Turner 2002: 436).
14.4. The two models of capitalism According to M. Albert, we can distinguish two main types of c., the Anglo-American and European, who, after the fall of communism, vie for the domination of the planet. The first gives priority to financial companies, stock markets and speculation, which, as owners invisible, affecting businesses, as without the direct involvement and responsible participation in the production process. The money is to decide, the lots of companies, which are considered the same way as any commodity, and stands as an end rather than as mere means. Speculators are not concerned, nor the quality of the product or the fortunes of the company, but only to its own benefit, which must be fast. The state must allow free enterprise, low taxes imposed to speculators who enrich themselves without work and save money on social spending.
The European model is based rather directly on the company and its production process. The company plays an important role in society and belongs to the stable shareholders, who are interested in its production, and can not be sold as a commodity ". Money is a means and the target profit is not necessarily quick, but in the long term. The state is called upon to act according to social needs and to impose a tax burden proportionate to income. This is known as "capitalism with a human face" (MALLE 1998: 36), which is particularly represented by the Swedish model.
However, in a capitalist society, power is in the hands of the rich. The rich man owns farms, where thousands of citizens, which gives it the power to blackmail politicians and direct their choices, is the owner of publishing houses and newspapers, television networks and Internet portals, through which it controls information ; is the owner of money, with which it can also affect the justice (we all know that often the causes are won not by who is right, but who can afford the best lawyers). Only
religious power could effectively oppose the capitalist plutocracy putting ethical values \u200b\u200bof the individual (or person) to those of money but, more often than not, the churches appear sensitive to their material interests and, at least de facto, uphold the values \u200b\u200bof capitalism. So the logic plutocratic dominating the world.
14.5. History During the Mesolithic and Neolithic period until the beginning of the relationship between families and clans were settled between and marked by the exchange of gifts, whose purpose was twofold: to ensure good neighborly relations and implement a form, however crude, of redistribution of resources (Ruffolo 2008: 6-7). Not only prehistoric humans, but also ignore the old idea of \u200b\u200bc., mainly because they tend to believe that every resource of land is owned by a god or his representative and behave accordingly. The first signs of
c. appear together with the incipient spread of agriculture and war, the introduction of private property, slave labor, business and entrepreneurship, even if they are still lacking the typical features of C, namely the collection with a view a profit and an economy independent from the company.
Thus, ancient Egypt is considered the property of Pharaoh, which provides its officials to allocate a plot of land for each family group, which is then distributed to cultivate, taking for himself the part of the harvest necessary for subsistence and pouring the rest in the warehouse of the owner, or the Pharaoh himself. Not very different is the situation in small and large empires of Mesopotamia, which should be born by the actions of military conquest. In this case, the victorious generals occupy the land and divide the families of the warriors who care for them: the owners are the conquerors, they are in the will of god and will remain so until they have enough strength to defend themselves from other potential suitors. In practice there are two types of properties: that a group with wins and retains his own powers, for example, the territory of a clan or tribe, and that which is received by the king after a victorious military campaign, albeit with a commitment to pay a tribute to the king.
The aristocratic class is content with owning slaves and land, and does not think to reinvest profits or to enter into a free market competition, which will downgrade the level of industry, commerce and parvenu. Hence the low reputation of which they are facts people enriched by his own work, whatever it is. In fact, in ancient greek-roman world and for much of the Middle Ages, businesses do not have much social credit and are sometimes openly despised.
This state of affairs continued until the establishment of the Maritime Republics, whose economy is largely tied to commercial traffic of all kinds. The big merchants are starting to build their fortified luxury residences around the episcopal churches, attracting a swarm of small artisans and traders. That's how you go up the first urban areas, called villages, which are soon surrounded by walls. Start the rise of the bourgeoisie. Venice, Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi became the new Athens, with their fleets, that are rampant in the Mediterranean and look to the East, with their rowers-citizens, their political power and the same rivalry towards other republics and other cities that are springing up in the meantime.
After the discovery of the capitalist center of gravity shifts to other European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Holland and England, whose fleets through the waters of the oceans and bring their men in every corner of the planet , thus laying the foundations for the industrial revolution and by registering, between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, an irresistible rise of capitalism, which reaches its climax in the next century, the so-called American century. After
fall of communism, capitalism remains the only viable force in the field and dominates the global economy, nor can be glimpsed alternative, or so they say. "It is unlikely that, in democratic countries, capitalism and market economy will be replaced by something else [...]. There is no alternative in view that it can be shown more than the prevailing market economy (DAHL 2000: 175-181). The
c., which had previously benefited from those we know as the "first", "second" and "third" industrial revolution, continues to draw a tremendous support from so-called 'fourth industrial revolution', that has characterized the last decades, to this day, and that was put into effect by the diffusion of information and globalization, which would permit a significant acceleration of structural changes of the market economy, has meant that people began to talk of "turbo-capitalism
. "Capitalism is now called" turbo-capitalism "today because the structural changes are strongly accelerated by the spread of information technology and globalization" (Luttwak, Creperie Verratti 1996: 5).
Today China is a country with strong economic growth, is also the first creditor nation in the U.S., and many already see in it G1 in the future. The twenty-first century could well be Chinese, but anyone will, it seems that you are likely to exceed the limits of sustainability of capitalist growth, which are related in part to the finiteness of resources and the ability to release and disposal of waste, in part the problems associated with social inequalities, the growing demand for access to the wealth of the masses excluded (Ruffolo, 2008: 260). So in the end, the c. threatens to bury himself. Or manage to survive, but only if it can find a viable response to the above limits. In any case, it will have to play his game with himself. According to Giorgio Ruffolo, real alternative to c. if they have not glimpsed the only possible option, as well all'autoannientamento, remains to make changes and corrections to the present system (2008: 261-79).
14.6. The Bourgeoisie Bourgeoisie The term we refer to a particular social group, which revived in Europe in the early second millennium AD, eventually characterize modern society and contemporary art. Initially, the bourgeois are those who live in town (the village), as opposed to the nobles who live in the countryside. It is only since the French Revolution, which joins the bourgeoisie, as a positive alternative, the aristocracy. For the first time you start to believe that not only the birth or blood, but they also deserve the 'best': the merits underlying the career and wealth. That's how the rich are beginning to flank on the rich to birth, ie the nobles. In the nineteenth century the middle class is well defined and consolidated. It indicates that segment of the population that is committed to make money, that the Anglo-Saxons call
middle class, which is set against the peasantry, which produces goods supplies.
14.7. The liberal capitalism The bourgeoisie has created the liberal capitalism which now dominates the planet and has to deal only with himself. Compared to the old-feudal economic system, the c. has few similarities and many differences. Among the similarities, we must remember the use of force. Even liberal states they originate from acts of conquest, and must defend itself with force. But the differences are clearly prevalent. Only the richest countries in fact have such sophisticated weapons of war do not fear attacks by foreign enemies, as well as a police system that fairly protect people from the risk of criminal activity. A sound insurance system, then, while ensuring fair compensation to those who have suffered loss, not only as a result of actions by third parties, but also because of natural events. A number of economic enterprises and productive employ masses of employees, workers and salaried workers. The fee shall be ordered to compensate citizens for any wrongs and protect their belongings. But that's just what he wants to appear: the reality, as we shall see, is another.
14.8. A dual society Today in capitalist countries, it is possible that one person holds those assets or those means of production (land, industries, services, workshops, commercial and financial) that previously could only belong to a community, and may have an economic asset that would be enough to safeguard livelihoods to millions of people. In a capitalist country no one asks if luck is the result of the great entrepreneur of personal merit or fraud, deceit, robbery or exploitation, just as no one asks whether the poor should be provided to his personal limitations or external causes. In a capitalist country to anyone interested in the principles of justice: it is facts and facts say that those who have more money is better and who is poor is an incompetent.
Consequently, the rich are denied rights granted to the poor, how to exercise the economic power to make the ascent to political power, have greater access to information sources and the media, to afford the best financial advisers, the best legal assistance and health care, and many other things that are normally closed to the poor. Although seemingly the law is equal for all, it is clear that the rich can avail of the law to their advantage more than I can do to the poor, and be stronger right to defend its interests and its properties.
The owners of the means of production usually rely on other manual execution of tasks and often live in rent and without the need to carry out any work. The difference with the old-feudal system was clear: the owner then had to personally contribute to the good performance of its business, now may be limited to reap the rewards, as does, for example, the shareholder who does not even know the actual production of in which he is part owner; then the craftsman had to use their heads and their hands to look for work, produce and sell, now can program the contractor desk tasks to be assigned to individual employees. The result is a distinction, unreported but in fact, between citizens and citizens of Series A Series B
14.9. The state minimum Once the protection of the law, the capitalist hopes to be left free to take any initiative in the belief that his business skills, his flair and his genius can open new markets, create new jobs , increase the average well-being and usefulness, and claims this is when the maximum freedom the individual and the minimum state interference. A few laws have been minimal, and all aimed at ensuring the safety of citizens, respect for their commercial contracts and protection of their private property. Not only was it not restrict the race to the enrichment of some citizens, but should also help, such as not having a progressive tax burden, in the belief that the rich make progress and to advance the world. Better yet, for the capitalist, is a single world state or a world commonwealth of states, always the 'floor', living in peace and where everything that is not expressly prohibited by law is to be understood as lawful.
14.10. Globalization is in this context that develops the culture of so-called globalization. Looking at the world as a village, the great entrepreneurs identify the places where labor is cheaper there and they produce their goods for resale where there are people willing to pay more. "The capitalists get rich by moving services, goods and natural resources where they cost less to where they are more expensive, and moving the production of goods where it is more expensive, less where it is" (THUROW 1997: 181). We are facing a new phenomenon. "For the first time in human history, any product can now be produced and sold everywhere. In a capitalist economy, this means that each commodity and all production activities will be carried out where costs are lower, while the final product or service can be sold where prices and profits are higher. Minimize costs and maximize revenue here, in substance, the maximization of profit, which is the core of capitalism "(THUROW 1997: 124).
14.11. Free competition In words also accepts the capitalist free competition, to guarantee that this will help select the best people and products, which are of benefit to the consumer. In fact he is willing to abide by the rules only when competition is stronger than others and can crush them, but the fear in all other cases. So when there are more firms that are potential, producing the same product, fearing damage and competing, they tend to create trust
or signs, or conditions of monopoly or oligopoly, that eventually favor the capitalist and harm the consumer . In practice, it is rare that a country fully implements the capitalist free competition, would rather the spirit of free trade.
14.12. The figure of the consumer In "free" market move two key figures, which are each mirror the other. Of the first we discussed: it is the entrepreneur or financier. The second figure is that of the consumer.
In theory, the c. that the consumer wants to be left free to do as it sees its purchases. In fact, however, even this freedom is respected and in fact the consumer is constantly bombarded by messages of any kind, that give it direction in certain directions, then, are most welcome entrepreneurs and politicians. Today, in a capitalist country, eg. in Italy, you can expect a large extent what a baby will do during his life, based only on his family and the place in which it resides. For example, a child is born Udine, it is expected that he will be baptized, who attend the school, which will seek to enter the world of work activities by choosing the less risky and more profitable, to buy a certain kind of products according to its availability and economic according to the advertising pressures, which will marry and will give birth to one or two children, the nurture of such projects to get them higher than he has been able to come, that will do anything to give others the best image themselves in the belief that this will help you make money, which will exhibit the signs of his wealth as evidence of its quality and that also will take care to build a tomb that is appropriate to its status, even after death, others know that he was a great man.
capitalist society does not care about the real needs of the individual, but only of production and consumption, depending on profits. So many needs are created by the business community, who, having to sell their products, investing money to send to the people of enticing consumers to induce them to buy advertising. And even when the consumer has bought, the message continues to reach it without stopping, the snare, the circuit, seduces him, and finally induced him to make new purchases, which are often useless. Buy today and tomorrow with pay installments and without interest. Tenders and loosening of the market appear so persuasive as to induce the consumer to commit even money that he hopes to win tomorrow and take a risk that might cost them much more expensive than you might imagine.
The consumer who purchases on installment must be secure at least maintain the current revenue, but woe if something unexpected occurs, a disgrace, an urgent new spending. In this case he will have to borrow and to pay for it, should tighten their belts and still hope that in future, the business should be even better. But this is not obvious: the farmer has to work when it suits them, and when a worker does not make or the product does not roll, there is the risk of redundancy, and more years pass, the more difficult to find a new job. Under these conditions (buy in installments and not having job security), it is well understood that it is extremely difficult for an average consumer in a capitalist society can never be peaceful and happy.
14.13. The market needs above all not only induced needs, but also the simplest, such as education and health, should be subject to the logic of free market and profit. Apparently there is freedom of education and care, but only apparently. Take the schools. The publishers propose texts that comply with ministerial directives, but they are often not designed with the ability to learn and the real interests of an average guy, which should be to learn to understand the natural environment, economic and political surroundings, so that we can live responsibilities as an adult. For their part, teachers are so burdened by the need to comply with the programs and to carry out bureaucratic not find a suitable space for a personal relationship and an elastic interpretation of the educational and training activities. So often the school is on the edge of the concrete problems and everyday life and does not meet the real needs of future citizens, namely students, or gratifying the professional qualities of teachers.
There is no method of assessment of teachers' work than the usual market law, which states that most students enroll in a class, the teacher is more good, for whatever reasons that may have led the student and his parents prefer that class. The same can be said for health care. There's no way, as it were "scientific," to evaluate the performance of a doctor. What counts is the number of customers that that doctor is able to conquer, not the actual goodness of his care, the number of its performances, not their quality. This is the reason that in a capitalist society it makes little distinction between the provision of such "scientific" and a kind of "magic". In the end, only the satisfaction of the customer and the business that is determined, and so a seller of illusions, that manages to earn one million euro per year, is worth far more than any of the professionals, who earn one hundred thousand. Similar considerations can be made for any other economic and productive. The television program is the best one that suits
audience, the book, magazine, car, freelance, entrepreneur, politician, much as they can apply to sell and sell. The c. assess the quality through the quantity. C. The
poses no moral problems and considers everything that produces a good profit. There is a 'capitalist ethic
, unless you want to consider that the so-called Weber's Protestant ethic of memory, which sees the success and wealth in a tangible sign of divine approval and the election to eternal life ( WEBER, 1996: 213-4). In the capitalist logic, there is nothing forbidden. Even "the crime is simply an economic activity among others, that happens to have a high price (the prison) if it is taken" (THUROW 1997: 172). The c. aims to meet every possible interest, such as noble as the most perverse and leaves individuals free to decide what is good in itself: "the choice of being a criminal is legitimate as that of becoming a priest" (THUROW 1997: 302). Mafia-type activities, the support and exploitation of prostitution, pornography, trafficking in arms, trade in human organs, drug-dealing, theft, robbery, kidnapping of people, corruption, extortion, scams of all kinds, and every other possible action, which is repugnant to common ethical sense, this is evaluated by the c. depending on the volume of money that circulates. Without a code of ethics, capitalist societies they live completely embedded in the present, interested in immediate profit, and disregard of possible consequences, such as pollution and environmental degradation, leaving a legacy to future generations.
for C. in the first place is the market and profit "Gold opens all roads. The gold open all the roads became the God of the nation. There is only one vice, poverty. There is only one virtue, wealth. You have to be rich or despised. If it is indeed rich, it shows their wealth in every means imaginable. If you are not rich, you want to be in every way imaginable. Nothing is dishonest "(Diderot 1967: 263). Giving space to the market, because it generates wealth and contributes to social progress and welfare of the people.
The same technological progress and industrial property is allowed only to the extent that it is able to offer new products to market or to exploit new markets. From this process of monetization
general do not save even the ancestral family institution. Also, in fact, is under the scrutiny of a cold financial assessment, which states, for example, that children are no longer an advantage for parents, but only a burden. "From the standpoint of economic analysis, children are a luxury commodity whose price is rising fast (THUROW 1997: 35). According to this assessment, there would be no advantage to having children, and so, even the most natural processes, the generative process, is reduced to pure calculation.
14.14. The future of capitalism The future of the c. depends on its intrinsic limits and the answers that you will find the following questions. Is it really possible an unlimited development for all people? It has the land resources necessary to do so? Can capitalism worldwide, or we must resign ourselves to a world of duality? How will the Third and Fourth World, poor, against the First and Second World, the rich? Consumerism is an end in itself compatible with the capabilities the planet to dispose of waste products? Capitalism can create happiness? If the c. were set as the new system will be able to collect the inheritance? Until now a consensus answer to this question was not found. If
Marx branded capitalism and has advocates the end, Darwin, without knowing it, has formulated a theory that, in a sense, it can strengthen it. The theory of natural selection, in fact, shows: first, that all living things are competing with each other and only the fittest survive, and secondly, that man is descended from simpler forms of animal and represents the last step of ' evolution. Based on these conditions, social Darwinism can be said that even in human societies go on the most capable. Meanwhile, back in vogue the Renaissance idea that the fate of each depends on themselves, by their own will, by its own merits. Well, social Darwinism and individualism help explain and justify the capitalist competition and bring back the distinction between rich and poor to a simple biological fact. Now the quality of an individual can be measured with the heritage or it is considered appropriate to set limits to the richness of a person: the more one is rich and he is worth.
Today there are those who tend to see in the c. the highest possible expression of the experience policy, a level of development is not exceeded, the terminus of human history (Fukuyama 1996). According to Joseph Johnson, in spite of everything, "capitalism will be with us again for a very long time for the simple reason that has proven to work" (2009: 156). But there are some who believe that the c. must end. According to Severino, for example, capitalism, sooner or later, "must realize that by destroying the earth destroys itself. It is this consciousness, not the moral or religious conscience, to push capitalism to fall "(1993: 56). "Capitalism sets, because they are forced, by becoming aware of their self-destructive character ... The enemy most ruthless and most dangerous of capitalism is capitalism itself "(Severino 1993: 56-7). "The" dilemma "of capitalism is to destroy or 'really' the Earth, thus destroying himself, or be convinced of the destructive nature of his act, assume to the salvation of the Earth and not profit, in this second case destroying itself "(Severino 1993: 84).
14.15. Advantages and limitations of computerized automation new industrial chains now makes possible mass production of consumer goods widely available at the popular level.
have improved the living conditions of families, which can rely on services such as electricity, telephone, running water, heating and so on, and improved, in general, the standard of living. According
estimators of c., even the dizzying income differences between entrepreneurs and wage earners are advantageous. It's good, in fact, that the entrepreneur is willing to assume all risks of the company, while the employee is properly paid from the safety of receiving a steady salary, however things go. "Clearly, there are advantages in a system that allows people to shift to other risks not want to run and allows them to be paid a fixed sum, whatever the outcome risky process. There are great advantages in allowing the opportunity for a similar specialization in accepting risks, these opportunities lead to the typical range of capitalist institutions "(Nozick 2000: 268).
Obviously not feel the same way the detractors of c., which put emphasis on the following questions. C. The
is an ideological system founded on the logic of competition: they all compete against all the strongest wins. This explains the impressive military equipment, along with the technological divide, geopolitics draw a two-speed, dominated by a few rich and powerful countries, foremost among them the U.S., which dictates its own law on the rest the world, is a law of war, exploitation, robbery, neo-colonialism, neo-imperialism (AA.VV. 2003). When
takes a worker, the capitalist entrepreneur has to "see this taking a chance of gain" (COLE 1976: 182) and must disregard all other ethical considerations, human and environmental. The c. does not pursue the principles of equality of birth and opportunity, or deals with individuals in the same way, but tolerates discrimination on grounds of wealth. So is inherently unfair.
While the capitalist society promotes the well-being, on the other hand, it creates an army of losers: all who, for one reason or another, can not adapt and compete. The spirit of capitalism is that it does not ask "the problem of meeting global needs" (Acquaviva 1994: 53). The capitalist does not care that the company is plagued by the scourge of unemployment or poverty and discrimination. "The fact that capitalism can not provide social security, is - writes Cole - the very best argument I know against the preservation of the capitalist system" (1976: 188). C. The
puts the money and ethics, without a code of ethics, capitalist societies they live completely embedded in the present, interested in immediate profit.
In the globalized capitalist world is that the rich "have most of the vices of the aristocracy without having the virtues" (Let 1995: 43). "I am happy to pay for private schools and high level for a private police, private systems for the collection of garbage, but managed to escape, to a large extent, the obligation to contribute to public finances" ( LET 1995: 45). In practice, they are willing to pay for private services and tend to avoid paying taxes, think about their interests and close in a dull selfishness. And so do the rich do not: each seeks the maximum profit for himself and is indifferent to the others. Selfishness dominates and the loneliness is increasing. C. The
generates glaring social inequalities, unequal distribution of resources. "What makes capitalism is great, but you can not be happy with the fact that the only incentive capable of so much variety and production efficiency also determine people's living conditions and unlikely to recur serious inequalities, inequalities which, in turn, then ask for a security policy "(Nagel 1998: 118).
the unequal distribution of wealth is accompanied by the unequal distribution of rights, so that the rich also exercises political power, while he who is marginalized by private property, so is the participation policy. In fact, "it is unlikely that economically unequal citizens are politically equal" (DAHL 2000: 167). Thus, large population groups are excluded from the democratic process and generate dual society.
Given these improvements, however, industries, chemicals, car exhaust, plastics and waste cause pollution of air, water and food, with negative consequences for health. In addition, the overexploitation of resources may determine alteration of the ecosystem, capable of fear of negative consequences, and only partly predictable about the future of our planet.
Then there is the capitalist's profit can be realized only on the condition of increasing demand and consumption for its own sake. No account is taken of the exhaustion of resources, pollution and environmental degradation, health risks and the legacy that we leave to future generations.
