Communism? Vs Free Market Economy?

[FreedomOverdose 0]

This is what I think about this topic. It may seem as a strange answer, anyway. I think that neither pure communism nor pure FME is desirable.. Both do bring advantages but the disadvantages far outweight it. The best economic system is therefore the mixed economy ; The government can act as a watchdog to regulate the activities of the private sector and will have as aim to maximise social welfare. The private sector on the other hand will bring in economic efficiency owing to the profit motive aim. It is therefore a truism that the mixed economy is the best economic system in a modern world . Anyway, it's not that easy, since you can't draw a simple line on how far the gov should access the market. Anyway, I think that time will show it. What do you ppl think?

[joeblogg 0]

free market economy is obviously much better than communism, in communist countries you can't do anything free. some communist countries are less strict than others but the main message of communism is that people have no rights and the government controls everything. in free market economy you can do a lot more things than in a communist economy. i'd say most people in like america or something would agree with me but i'm sure some people don't. its just my opinion.

[iGuest 3]

The idea behind communism was to create an economy in which everybody is equal. Communism as a theory is great but in real life it can't work.

[andresf91 0]

Saying communism is a theory may lead to confusion.Dialectic materialism is rather a "guide for action". So if "in real life it can't work", it's because it's not absolutely developed.You have to make a difference between the stages, that is: National Liberation process, construction of Socialism, and Communism in which classes are abolished.There will be always violence in this process. This doesn't mean that there will be civil war. It's not necessary in those societies where there are established democratic customs, or where socialist alliances are voted to head the Government. But it wouldn't peaceful: capitalist won't sit tight while the properties are expropriated, right?So my point is that you can't decide between two theories: the practical things are important? Do we want a world where one class rules another or not?I don't.

[fermin25 3]

Neither Communism nor Free Market Economy are good systems...The best goverment system already exist... This system is the NationalSocialism (Nazi)...Yeah the NationalSocialism system was the greatest for the german people...The corruption disappears, Germany experimented a quick growth... Germany was a great people...I think the communism is destinated to dissapear and the Cuban Socialism too... They are decadent systems...The NationalSocialism is the answer for 21st Century...

[inverse_bloom 0]

LOL, m8 i wouldn't promote the ideals of National socialism to loudly, even in these times. I wonder how many eyebrows were raised by reading the last post.

Edited May 25, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[andresf91 0]

I wonder how many eyebrows were raised by reading the last post.

You bet that...

The NationalSocialism is the answer for 21st Century...

It's isn't funny as a joke...So you say that our countries should surge from this crisis with a strong belligerent feeling which would result in an a dominance from the most powerful country over the other, whether by armed occupation or strategic alliances (the Anchluss or NATO, let's say).-This last part sounds too familiar!
The economies will grow because of war, we'll produce guns, jets and ships, and machines to make them, and that will move our economy. Tell how gratifying can be to work in a factory that makes all this things, sane people we'll get for sure.
Meanwhile, lots of schools will be created, where children will be taught how to identify the enemy for their looks and call the army as soon as they see someone strange.

Does it looks like heaven?
Not even joking man.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Neither Communism nor Free Market Economy are good systems...
The best goverment system already exist... This system is the NationalSocialism (Nazi)...

Yeah the NationalSocialism system was the greatest for the german people...The corruption disappears, Germany experimented a quick growth... Germany was a great people...

I think the communism is destinated to dissapear and the Cuban Socialism too... They are decadent systems...

The NationalSocialism is the answer for 21st Century...

The best government system was Nazism? Are you off your rocker? Nazism only flourished because it boosted morale for Germans after World War I. Think about it, if an entire war was blamed on your country, and your country had to pay money because of it which led to inflation, wouldn't you support a strong leader that wanted to boost morale? This led to hitler selecting a "master race" and clensing the country (and later the continent) of those not fitting that race.

Communism (and socialism) will never work. There should be some government regulation to make sure that no company or corperation has too much control over an industry (cough Freddy and Fannie), but not to the extent that the government controls everything. The government shouldn't be telling you what you should or shouldn't be doing (again to an extent). I believe in limited censorship, meaning that there is censorship, but little of it. Meaning that if you want to say that the government sucks...you can do so. If you run a TV show, you can do whatever you want on it, as long as a viewer is informed on the content.

As for communism there are even more reasons why it doesn't work. Number one, there is no incentive to work. Since everybody are equal, and everybody earns the same amount of money, what incentive is there to work? If you can earn the same amount as a doctor, as truck driving...is there really a reason to go to college and get a degree when you can earn the same dropping out of high school and truck driving? Complete government control never works, just look at what happened to Berlin. They had to build a wall to keep people in, and many people risked their lives to get to capitalism and out of communism. On the contrary, the United States government has to build a wall to keep people out, coming here because of democracy and capitalism. It really tells you that people tend to prefer capitalism and the ability to earn money over communism and government control.

A current day comparison of the Berlin example is North Korea. Not only is North Korea communist, but it is controlled by a luny psychopath (IMHO). The North Koreans are branwashed to believe word for word everything that the leader says, and worship him like a God. There is a certian way that you have to take a photo of "The Great Leader" and he can do nothing wrong. Homes of North Koreans have no family pictures, but pictures of Kim Jung Ill and his father. The North Koreans have no Internet, and all the TV stations are controlled by the government, so the government can manipulate the news and tell the residents whatever they want them to hear. Border crossings are similar to the Berlin wall, consisting of electric fences and minefields. The few places where you can cross safely are guarded by north Korean forces who are instructed to shoot anybody trying to cross, even fellow guards. The few people that do escape get their family (including extended family) killed.

This is all my opinion, with facts scattered around (the North Korea part is all factual though) so feel free to disagree with it, just provide an answer why you disagree.

[networker 0]

I prefer to think of socialism being more ideal rather thancommunism.That is, socialism that includes free enterprise.Lot's of it. In the ideal society the government would regulate how successfula private enterprise could be, so as to not allow monopolies,and also to keep certain necessary, essential services(i.e publictransport, medical) centralizedand to stop them ever becoming privatized.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

The problem with centralized services (ex universal healthcare) is that too many people would take advantage of the system, and drive up costs for all of us. All it takes is people going to the hospital every day for a year (yes it has been done, check weird news) and the prices will slowly increase. It's like having a person digging holes in your favorite highway. The effects of some people (person digging up the road) effects everybody (normal commuters like you an me).

[jayzeed 0]

Hmm, we JUST talked about the economy styles last week :XD: Communism economy or "command Economies" the government has all control over private and most control over the public, sectors.When they make a desicion, you buy what they make. you dont wear blue if they make grean, you dont wear a feather hat, if they make straw. Even if you get somthing from a relative or visitin another Country, and your wearing that in a command economy country, you may be arrested, especialy if its government colors. Monopolies can not happen as there is no competition between businesses.Free market, the government has little or no say in the market. the People or entepenuers control the public and private sectors and what you wear/consume is determined byconsumer sovereignty, or what consumers purchse more. this market is much more preferable to most people, but monopolies are possible which can increase prices for consumers.My prefered economy is the Mixed ( US ) economy because theres no monopolies, the government can step in, place regulations, ETC.THanks for reading, Jayzeed

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

You are correct, in my opinion. Government needs to have some control, to make sure that companies aren't purposely raising prices (*cough Exxonmobil) and to make sure that they don't make a monopoly (which is hand in hand with the price manipulation). But when it comes to the government making decisions for you about what you buy, I think that is way too much government control.

[dangerdan 0]

Ok, Ok, where to start.

 

Firstly, to dispel the myth that either communism or FME actually exist. People often cite the USSR as the communist superpower and therefore associate it to with the losses of freedom and other events that occurred there. There is no country in the world (yup, not even you Americans) that have a FME, you will always have Government Intervention of some kind. But the nationalisation of banks, helping struggling car manufacturers and a national wage are all forms of Government intervention. Thus, both are just theories.

 

Communism is significantly harder to achieve and it is for this reason that I believe FME is a better policy. However, the self-regulated financial market has recently imploded and the FM has forsaken us all, or its part of the empirical cyclical nature of GDP known as the business cycle. I believe the laws of supply and demand are a better way of running an economy than a planned economy based around a "X year plan".

[Harlot 2]

People usually associate the United States with a Free Market Economy while associating countries such as North Korea, Soviet Union, Cuba, and Venezuela with Communism. However, it has been pointed out in this thread that there is not a country currently existing. Even North Korea has a private economy and over 50% of their economy is based on black market trade. Even if black market trade is not publicly endorsed by their government, if something consist of 50% of your economy, you won't make too much noise about it. It has been proven again and again that a pure free market economy is a recipe for failure. The fact is that companies are out for profit and will do anything, no matter how immoral, in order to maximize profits. No matter how much they make, they will always push the limits to make more. In fact, when a free market is not regulated, it leads to Communism. When there is no regulations, companies turn people into slaves. They pay you as little as possible and put you in the worst conditions if it saves them money. That is really how labor unions got started. Companies paid low wages despite making record profits, and they put employees in terrible work conditions for the sake of saving money. Workers were dying left and right, but it was cheaper for companies to replace them rather than find ways of prevention and put them into effect. That is what really lead to labor unions. Workers organized and they literally revolted. If you look at every Communist country, that is what happened. People revolted against greedy corporations who paid the lowest of wages and treated workers more like livestock or slaves. The people revolted, replaced their government, and put corporations under state control. Some people try to say that we are more moral now, and companies wouldn't do that, however, they are still doing it. You have companies such as Walmart opening sweatshops in third world countries for cheap labor and they subject those people to terrible work conditions and unacceptable wages by human standards. We look the other way, but we would be in the same condition of the U.S. didn't regulate businesses. The U.S. regulates businesses within the U.S., but encourage deregulation in other countries as a means to boost the U.S. economy at the expense of the lifestyle and humanity of people within other countries. If you look at all Communist countries, they generally developed after revolting against governments who were controlled by Western Nations and supported Western corporate interest. The people revolted, installed their own government, and took over corporations and put them under the state's control. The initial intentions were to provide freedom, liberal, justice, and equality. That vision only deteriorated after Western Countries decided that it was in their best economic interest to overthrow such governments through bribery, coups, and assassinations, and then reinstall a puppet government that would support greedy U.S. and British companies and their unethical practices (which includes exploiting these countries of their natural resources). This forced Communist governments to crack down and put a sort of marital law in place simply to remain in power and keep the control of their country outside of the hands of Western capitalist. Why do you think North Korea really closes itself off as it does? Do we really believe that the country is full of crazy people? Lets remember that North Korea and South Korea is technically the same and was divided by the United States and Soviet Union. So we must act ourselves why there is a distinction between the two nations. I don't support North Korea's actions in way, shape, or form, but they are really doing what they have to do to not be overthrown by the U.S. and Western nations. People know better than to attempt to overthrow a government or assassinate the leader of a nation with nuclear weapons. Especially if you believe that a segment of the population is crazy and bent on destorying the West. You don't know who may get their hands on those nuclear weapons. People in Communist countries have to suffer because outside forces attempt to make their government unstable do so through any and all means necessary. In fact, look at the United States during the cold war. Look at how our government, during that time, transformed from the beacon of democracy to a military state. Now image if the U.S. was the size of Cuba or North Korea, and we were up against the Soviet Union spies, military, assassination attempts, and coups. You would have a state with little or no rights given to the people. We say the cold war is over, but we are still engaging small communist nations like North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. People need to really understand what capitalism is and stop associating it with democracy. Any economic system, no matter if it is capitalism, communism, or a mixture can have freedom, justice, and liberty. It simply depends on the stability of the government and the threats that it faces. Some people will try to say that the U.S. doesn't target these countries, but they do. The U.S. has attempted to assassinate several leaders of different countries across the world based on their economic decisions. Even if you look at Zimbabwe. What is the primary reason that the U.S. is against Zimbabwe? It is because of the economic reforms. It is not because of the lack of democracy. If it is because of the lack of democracy, why do we deal with Saudi Arabia? We deal with Saudi Arabia because they support our economic interest. We don't care about the rights of their people or the rights of the people of any country for the matter. Whenever we support the rights of the people of a nation, it is because that nation does not support our economic interest. It is all about U.S. national interest and every action made reflects our national interest. When Hugo Chavez began to nationalize his nation's economy, the U.S. attempted to coup his government and they almost succeed. The U.S. has made hundreds of unsuccessful assassination attempts on Castro. They have attempted to overthrow the government of North Korea and Iran. So when you wonder why Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela don't seek closer relations with the U.S. since President Obama is in office, it is because they understand the game that the United States play. They know that it is all about corporate and U.S. interest, and unless they are willing to surrender to that, there is nothing more in existence than insincerely smiling faces. There is a public partnership, but in the darkness of night there is assassination attempts, coups, and sabotage. It is almost like the Mafia, they smile in your face and next thing you know a bullet is in the back of your head. People need to understand how government works. The government classifies information in order to keep people knowing this stuff. Even when something is declassified these days, all of the vital information is marked out in jet black. I believe that the best form of government is a mixture of capitalism and state government, with tough regulations on corporations to ensure that they are ethical. However, I also believe that those regulations should extend to how corporations who are based in the U.S. operate in foreign countries. We should also change our foreign policy approach, and only use our military in "DEFENSE" and not as a bargaining chip or threat. However, I guess that will probably never happen because economic and national interest come before morality. This is way you see children in third world countries digging through trash for food. The majority of 3rd world countries have the means to feed their own people, and provide them with a decent life, however, their resources are exploited and used in order to fuel the American lifestyle. Why do you think that we have an economy double the size of a nation with 1.4 billion people? It is not because we are so brilliant and superior. It is because we have the big guns and we are willing to use them.

[sheepdog 10]

I don't see how this can even be a contest! Let's all give a big cheer to free enterprise!!! YEA!!!!Seriously, how could you ever be motivated to do your best and give your all when you know that the slacker next to you is going to goof off as much as possible, do as little work as possible, screw up all the time, be an annoying jerk, and still get paid as much as you do???? I mean, whats your incentive to do a good job? Pride in one's self and in your work will only carry you so far when you see everybody around you goofing off and not careing or showing any pride in their work. And at this point, I'm not even sure just how much the government should interfer with private business. While I may be able to understand that electric companys should not be allowed to price electricity so high that the average person could not afford it, then I find myself on the other hand wondering awhile back when gas prices kept going up and up and with the oil companies the government just turned a blind eye and let them run amok. Yet they spent no telling how much of the tax payers dollars in court against Bill Gates over Microsoft's supposed monopoly. Who the government goes after doesn't have a lot of rhyme or reason to it. So why bother at all? What purpose is served by putting any one company out of business? Look at Walmart. Look at all the hundreds of small mom and pop type stores that they have put out of business. Yet nobody whines or complains to the government and as soon as all the competition is gone, Walmarts raises their prices higher than anywhere else. Now why is that?I'd like to see a system where the person who really puts in the effort and works and acomplishes something wins. And doesn't get eaten alive by red tape, lawyers, lawsuits, and insurance companies. You remeber that, I think it was called the great American dream.