CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM: LOOKING FOR AN ANSWER.

The ideology of capitalism makes us all into connoisseurs of liberty -- of the indefinite expansion of possibility. Susan Sontag American author. Since XX century, Capitalism has been known as the dominant economic system. It was adopted by almost every country for all over the world included United States, and 27 countries of European Union, as well as Latin America. Through this model has been possible most of technology advances, a faster industrialization of societies independent of state interference, and easy trade markets between nations,(Specially first world countries with third world ones and democracy as its political system. However the lethal consequences of the economic crisis lived in EE.UU after 2008, and the recent crisis in Europe, have showed capitalism, in the long run was not the indefinite expansion of possibility and development as Max Weber and Adam Smith had established in their manifestos. On the other hand there is an opposite economy model from capitalism, it does not have many followers but still is recognized for many countries like North Korea and Cuba as the best economic systems. This is called socialism, which main purposes are among others to work in a collective and human way beyond of industrial mass production. Indeed it has been mentioned the change the world needs in economic terms must be based in a cooperative production of goods through the state. In order to mentioned before is necessary to establish: Does the Capitalist system provides a more effectively economic growth for current society than socialist model. In this essay it will be demonstrated which economic system affords best financial and social increasing for a current society by comparing capitalist and socialist systems in ideology, politics and role government intervention aspects. Although it is not an easy task to establish a single definition of these two systems it can be said first, A capitalist economy is one in which the means of production are owned and controlled by a class of people, known as the "capitalists. These are the ones who have the capital to invest in factories, machinery and for paying workers their salaries and its main focus is production of goods obtained from raw materials for sustaining social life. Consequently, Capitalism is a political theory that advocates competition - between the sellers to supply a particular good or service, and between the buyers to get the service or goods. Whereas a socialist economy is the one in which the modes of production are owned and controlled by workers, the investment is made mainly for the state on the contrary to capitalism, socialism advocates cooperation rather than competition, which is capitalism's

mainstream. Socialists believe that wealth or profits made from means of production owned by the state, will be used fairly and for the welfare of all the people, rather than just the elite class and even when socialism is also concerned in good life levels in society they do not base their economy in production but in cooperative transformation of raw materials. In the same way both systems were born from human assumptions and they pursue a full evolution of community, giving them a social aspect beyond an economic one. For example both agree own property is imperative for society development; But in their inner aspects there is a distinguished difference between the uses and acquisition of own property. According to the capitalism perspective, Dean 2004 argues The right to own property is central to mans existence. Private ownership of property (including land, businesses and goods) gives individuals security and a means to control their own affairs, thus, ownership allows to people to think about future investments. On the contrary, Socialism is not concerned in maintain private property because it seeks to redistribute wealth and to ensure that means of production are at the service of the entire society. Newman 2005. Finally it can be understood socialist model does not conceive the accumulation of goods in many few individuals, while capitalist recognize is an excellent way of investing in society and future advance. In the second place, it is necessary to talk about role government in both economies. In capitalism, governments mediation presents a minimal role in economic affairs, regarding last declared, Inham 2008 says: Governments must leave economic decision-making to individuals in the perfect liberty of the competitive market, (which means free competence between markets, selling and buying goods). Although this does not mean state is not important to capitalism. Precisely Smith 1776 holds, ...the state should provide first, the defense of the territory... second, the state must uphold the rule of law... third, the state should provide certain public goods. According to last mentioned the state labour is to give to society the resources, this mean the ways for they create a solving economy. In capitalism the state does not make economy growth, it, is made by society as well. Furthermore, despite Newman 2005, maintains socialism believes in the possibility of establishing self-governing communities, there is a complete control of economy by the state; as Janda, Berry, and Goleman expressed the scope of government extends to ownership of control of the basic industries that produce goods and services. Such perspective has not well seen by some authors as Dean 2004 who considers The guiding hand of government is too strong in a socialist system; it means that change is slow which means that innovation is missed. Therefore, in economic growth terms should be important to create higher independence levels from state, thus if government does not give the guaranties for people, then society can create alternative opportunities of stabilization trough different relations and exchanges with private corporations or other governments.

Another aspect which demanding a special attention is society, which is considered the predominant force of changing. with regards to this matter Newman supports all are products of the modern era in their belief that human beings may act as subjects of history rather than having their fortunes determined by fate, custom, tradition or religion that indicates in both models, society assumes a collectively responsibility of their own evolution, and everyone has the equal opportunity, no matter what the system is. In spite of this their differences are more noticeable, in the way society rights, for example, socialism sees the possibility of constructing a second egalitarian system based in solidarity and cooperation. Then Newman says, its a optimistic view of human beings and their ability to cooperate with one another Nevertheless, human rights are nor protected by this system by cause of they are not worried about individual rights even though its real interest is keep an egalitarian society, extreme cases like china, they have one-child policy, in attempting to protect society interest. While capitalism promotes the liberty, it provides the structure for people to pursue their best interests, there is no social objectives capitalism affords individual human choice. As Butters considers It creates the necessary conditions for people to escape poverty and create wealth for themselves and for others in this case is good to say as social theory socialism has better assumptions because they focus on the importance of working as a society by cooperating and making group efforts, giving an ideal of peace and understanding. Finally, economic growth is observed by sustained investment and capital formation. Private property or own property for instance, creates incentives that encourage people to consider the future and more incentives are made to protect and improve their property and as a result, future investments could be made on them. In that sense socialism cannot establish an economic increasing by reason of property due to its purpose is to maintain welfare rather than competition. Nonetheless evidence shows that wealthy countries are characterized by the institutions of capitalism; they have clearly defined laws and wellfunctioning legal systems, they promote private property, they use competitive markets to produce and distribute goods and services and they promote ambitious activity and when socialism does not accept foreign investment, capitalism fosters economic growth, fosters human dignity, stimulates innovation and fosters invention.

Therefore, capitalism has been strongly criticized because the liberty model they follow is essentially unplanned and uncontrolled and as a consequence they produce depressions and crisis, besides a total management of weak economies by stable economies, but in relation to this Butters quotes Corruption, greed, selfishness, the disregard for human life and every other negative human trait exists independent of the social structure in which people live. The great irony is that capitalism restrains and curbs these traits and provides the

foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and just society for all mankind in this respect is compulsory to understand, slavery, poverty, war and pollution may occur in any system or in any period of history. Summarizing, current society has not a single economy model, (even when capitalism domains almost all the countries in the world, and the best economy systems come from capitalists states) some capitalists countries as Switzerland or Canada have socialist aspects in education and health care and France make harder policies for industries than for lay off employees during this time of recession. what the society needs beyond of a strict economic system is maybe as Hobsbawm 2009 says, to create a progressive policy which means to mix up the best principles of each system and that way create a strong one who can redistribute private accumulation for collective social improvement, a pertinent system could be where people associate competence, equal management of modes of production, desires of development, evolution and cooperative humanitarian work, not just maximizing economic growth and personal incomes. Its crucial working as a society, that way it would be easier facing more current critical problems like environmental crisis, and certainly people must to create higher levels of understanding each other for gaining a bigger perspective of social and politic systems, because the final words have not yet been spoken.

Bibliography

Ingham, Geoffrey. CAPITALISM. Polity press 2008 Newman, Michael, SOCIALISM, Oxford 2005 Janda, Keneth, Berry, Jeffrey. Goldman, Jerry. Hula, Kevin. The challenge of democracy in American Governement. Wadsworth engage learning. 2008-2009

http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=400 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_countries_still_operate_under_socialism_laws http://www.fundamentalfinance.com/blogs/socialism-vs-capitalism.php

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