[Osterbaum]

Originally Posted by K-Resh

People in a Capitalist society might enjoy a standard of living that is a bit more than the people who live in the societies which said Capitalist society has plundered and looted and stomped all over in order to provide that standard.

This. And in addition, there are tons of people in advanced capitalist societies as well who dont enjoy a middle-class or higher standard of living.

One thing you often hear these days is how the (industrial) working class is practically non-existent. But really it's just located elsewhere, in the factories where they make our clothes and where they refine the raw materials we use to make our smart phones etc.

Originally Posted by Doc

Capitalism isn't evil nor is it good. It is merely a system. An organized way to trade things of equal value.

Sure, it's not evil as such. But the logic of it that dominates our society leads to some pretty evil shit too. However it is not a way to trade things of equal value; if all trades were of equal value, then where would the profit be? In order for someone to profit from a trade, someone else has to lose.

That being said, it isn't the most effective or fair system. Just the most resistant system. Its easy to set up and easy to keep going. It offers a centralized concept with decentralized controls.

Resistant perhaps, but even capitalism can't survive the environmental catastrophe it is creating. Bureucracy is also rampant as all hell in our capitalist societies, so I wouldn't say it's all that easy to keep going either.

On the flip side Socialist economics hasn't worked well ether. No incentives. No Ownership. Overwhelming costly regulations. Workers not getting or having rights.

Are you thinking of the USSR or other self-proclaimed "communist" countries? The USSR and it's allies were mostly state capitalist. They did not abolish private property, they did not abolish the wage system and they did not abolish the boss-worker relationship. All they did was transfer ownership to the state, replace individual capitalists with the state and bosses with bureucrats.

There is a lot more to socialist/communist/anarchist economics. I suggest you do some research if you have the time. Wikipedia is as good a place to start as any other on the internet. I identify as an anarcho-communist myself.

The issue we have now is that the market has stagnated. Too few are holding too much. Too many are captive audiences. This isn't because of the lack of competition mind you. The problem stems from the ease it takes for larger companies to crush and absorb other ones. The large ones have become "Too Big To Fail" which in turn ruins the system. if we want money to move around properly we need giants to fall. we also need an evening of the scales every once and a while. a flat tax could do it. as well as eliminating some tax loopholes for corporations.

This is a natural development for capitalism: further concentration of wealth. It is the direction where the profit motive motivates businesses to go.