Course workCourse work
Define capitalism. Why is capitalism experiencing a crisis of epic proportions
in the Western financial world?
Capitalism is a form of economic system that encourages private ownership of means of production or where the economy is privately controlled. Course work Owners of capital are driven by private motive. Due to the excessive profit motive, sometimes capitalism has been accused of being exploitative (Mielants 4). Capitalism has largely been blamed for the 2007/2009 financial crisis. The western world accuses the unregulated market as the cause for the financial crisis. They argue that it is the insatiable greed by capitalist that brought their economy to near collapse. Capitalist are not concerned about the welfare of their country but the amount of the profit they make. Capitalist companies are formed around the main objective of maximizing owner’s equity. In United States for instance, disgust for a capitalistic system are expressed in such movement as Occupy Wall Street. The ongoing rescue program has generated a lot of debate. Some of the western world citizens claim that the ongoing bail out program is a misuse of public funds. Those opposed claim that it is the capitalist way of privatizing profit and socializing losses. The inequality occasioned by the capitalist system is also a concern to the western world. The economy in United States is only is controlled by the minority.
Mielants, Eric. The origins of capitalism and the “rise of the West”. New York: Temple University Press. 2007. Print.
Mills, Wright. The Power Elite. Web. [accessed from]<http://www.marxists.org/subject/humanism/mills-c-wright/power-elite.htm> January 21, 2012
Veblen, Thorstein. Conspicuous consumption. New York: Penguin Books. 2005. Print.
Weber, Max & Parsons Talcott. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Boston: Talcott Parsons. 2003. Print.