In the human history has been different
economic systems, since slavery and feudalism until capitalism and socialism in
the actuality. After the cold war between USA and Russia (then URSS), the
capitalism was stablished in occident countries in their majority, which has
brought riches for some people and misfortunes for others. Perhaps are more the
bad things and those put the capitalism like one of the worst things could
happen to the world.
Capitalism is about private actors own and
control property in accord with their interests, and how these compete in the
free market depending on demand and supply to set prices. Unfortunately, in the
quest to accumulate wealth, these actors have perpetuated extractivist models,
which oil and natural gas are the first product in the world. It has become
evident that these extractivist models cause serious and irreversible damage to
environment, like the use of fracking which can contaminate groundwater,
rivers, lakes and wetlands, in addition to other risks. Too, capitalism has
promoted extensive agriculture and massive ranching, and that has a negative
impact in the environment in other ways.
In other hand, the free market is influenced by
the consumism, and this has created a necessity in the people to get new
products to be “happy”. Nowadays there are many products to consume, such as
movies and series on streaming platforms, video games, clothing, food,
household appliances, books, etc. These products promise to make people happy,
but it is only an excuse for people to consume more and more products. It has
been evidenced that when people prioritize fortune, financial success, fame,
appearances and material motivations, they tend to leave aside the intrinsic
satisfaction of their lives.
In the eagerness of companies to produce and of
people to consume, workers have been dehumanized to such an extent that they
are considered machines to provide profits to the companies. Long and exhausting
working hours, delayed and miserable payments, little or no job security, are
some of the things that workers experience in their daily lives. There is even
talk of the term "health" and "sickness" from the loss of
productivity that employees have.
Evidently this system has a lot of issues and
it has brought too many problems to our society, but this doesn’t mean that the
socialism or communism are better choices for us. The humanity needs to evolve
and to stablish a new system in which we could live in harmony with the
environment without losing our individualities and rights, but thinking like a
collective.
Recommended articles
http://nuevo.fuac.edu.co/recursos_web/documentos/publicaciones/descargalibros/TOMO3SISTEMASECOWP.pdf
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2015/06/pdf/basics.pdf
https://www.tni.org/files/download/beyonddevelopment_extractivism.pdf
https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/hydrofracking_w.html
It is alarming to see how capitalism has been affecting our society over time. Capitalism has indeed boosted our society enormously, but this does not justify the consequences it has brought and will bring with it.
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