Other than the drive of competition to make best products, why is Capitalism good?

Question

Other than the drive of competition to make best products, why is Capitalism good?

Answer 1

The profit motive, which is the central driver of capitalism, provides incentive for individuals and corporations to excel.  The opportunity to make a profit and improve our lives is a good reason to get up in the mornings and go to work or to study or to think.  New products, new healthcare processes and new drugs result from the opportunity for a company to make profits.  When a company makes profits, that company hires more employees and the society as a whole benefits.  When we kill the profit motive, for example through raising corporate taxes, we diminish all the good results that capitalism brings.

Answer 2

It prevents shortages and surpluses. In a capitalism based system, if there is not enough of something to meet demand, demand is lowered (by increasing prices) or supply is raised (by increasing production). The opposite can be done to mitigate unwanted surplus.

In a centrally planned economy, the government is usually too slow to react to such changes in demand. By setting both prices and quotas, a communist government leaves the market with no way to correct itself. That is why cultural revolution China had a glut of unneeded steel while there were horrible food crises.  

Answer 3

Think about what it means to "make best products."  The drive to improve productivity is progress, it means learning how to do more with fewer resources.  Such progress raises living standards and further detaches us from the harshness and uncertainty of hunting and gathering.

Answer 4

In theory pure wild capitalism is good until you layer in the crooks,the lawyers,the bankers & the carpet baggers, who think nothing of cheating to win. I feel Too many unregulated, unmonitored rich capitalists have perfected milking strategies to feed on the weak middle class and the poor. Capitalism is Darwinian Socialism for humans that believe acting like pure animals in nature is a model for all behaviors incl the economic ones. I say that's all Baloney. And we can do much better than live by the "might is right" code of species in competition.

Answer 5

It produces the efficient amount i.e., the lower price at the lowest cost.  According to economic darwinism, the company the produces the best product at the lowest cost is the company the succeeds.  Any company with inefficient production has higher cost and so higher prices and thus has to exit the market or, in an evolution since, die.  Economic darwinism, hence "survival of the fittest" poster-ates that low cost, efficient companies succeed and, so, all companies must abide by such rules or exit the market.

Answer 6

It allows people to create a service/product and, through that, earn a living.  It is called "Living the American Dream".