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Capitalism vs. Socialism 7

Capitalism economy is guided by a free competition, it is one that entails private or individual ownership of production means as well as individual economic freedom. In capitalism individuals are free to compete without government’s interference or any other. In addition, majority of the means of production are owned privately by individuals rather than the government. Hence, capitalism is the unplanned market that is allowed to happen just like nature and which is twisted in response to the arising problems in the market (Hoppe, 2013). Socialism on the other hand, is the planned market or where humanity cooperates to regulate the kind of economy they wish to have. As much as the capitalism economy seems superior to the socialism by the much benefits it brings through the competition and other capitalist forces, its market strategies cannot yield the best results in some major markets such as the nuclear production therefore, at this juncture socialistic management strategies ought to be incorporated (Hoppe, 2013).

Capitalism rule of free competition seems much fairer compared to the cooperation strategy that rules socialism. Cooperation is usually unrewarding when it comes to humanity because of the diversification of the human perception on what is good for them. Socialism seeks to make life better for everyone and bridge the inequality gap for instance, prevent a country from having extremely rich people and at the same time very impoverished people in the society. Moreover, socialism aims at providing equal opportunity for everyone; it prevents situations where some companies have to prosper while others are crippling by regulating the prices of items in the market (Schumpeter, 2013).

Capitalism on the other hand is fairer because get rewarded with regard to their effort in life. It is important to note that human beings are usually industrious when doing things that bring individual gain than communal. Taking the example of the rental houses, they are usually in poor conditions and easily lose their value because the tenants do not mind. The reason being it is not their own house but the landlord’s. However, if the tenant gets to buy their own house it is better kept unlike the rental because it is their own. Hence, people are more towards the capitalistic strategies than the social since they bring individual gain. Furthermore, without competition, the world economy is unlikely to grow. If one comes with an innovative idea and gets the same reward as a person who is just sitting in the house then they won’t bother. If one knows that the government will help the needy live better lives in expense of the rich then there will not be need to be industrious in school. Socialism will tend to promote the human character of laziness which is always pushed out by competition (Schumpeter, 2013).

Competition is really good because it makes people ambitious and to think, it makes people learn to use what they have to improve their lives. It is not completely true to rule out that capitalism promotes the most advantaged, people who are already rich. There are poor people who have grown to be very rich in the capitalism economy without any illegal or unfair dealing of getting money. For instance, Apple, Inc. is a good example of a very prosperous company in United States whose founders had to borrow funds to start it being fresh university graduates. Innovation today has been a byproduct of capitalism because where there are no competition corporations do not mind about differentiation. As a result of competition better products come into the market making people’s lives better and opening up minds to do greater things (Hawken et al., 2013).

Nevertheless, capitalism market forces cannot yield best results in some major markets such as nuclear power production, health care industry, tobacco, detergents production industries amongst others. Moreover, all corporations have their downside due to their capitalism forces driving them to find success.in such cases, socialistic strategies become of great importance. It is very evil to have such a successful economy when the industries in the economy are destroying the environment and using workers wrongly driving them day by day to their death bed (Hoppe, 2013).

Nuclear power production is an example of a very valuable industry in the world that cannot solely be driven by capitalism. Capitalism strategy fails when profits become of much importance than people as well as social responsibility. The lack of interference and quest for money can lead to fatal results when manufacturers put money before everything else. Some corporations can even manufacture fake products and harm people provided they make money. Some work environments can be very dangerous to the workers such that the government need to intervene for the welfare of those staff. Nuclear power production is an industry where safety of both the workers and the environment is of primary concern. An accident resulting from a nuclear plant can be very catastrophic hence the need for high value for safety. Radioactive elements when released to the environment can be very destructive since its effect can last as long as 100 years causing diseases such as leukemia and thyroid cancer in children amongst other complications (Rana, 2014).

Nuclear power plants need proper designs to provide cooling to the high heat produced during the nuclear energy exploitation and even to accommodate emergency occurrences. For instance, an accident that occurred at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986 resulted from an important design deficiency which shows ignorance of the safety culture. The plant suffered from the coolant failure as well as a lack of the containment structure that would prevent any leakage of the radioactive elements to the environment offsite. The accident was severe killing 56 people, furthermore, it resulted to radiation sickness among 200-300 staff and firefighters without exemption of areas that were contaminated such as Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and beyond. In an estimation, 5% of the radioactive material contained in the Chernobyl plant unit 4 was released. After the accident, roughly 130,000 people were given radiation doses and are still being monitored. In addition, there are about 4,000 cases of children with thyroid cancers linked to the accident though most of them have been cured except for nine which were fatal. Therefore, such damage is severe and the industry is very delicate to be left in the hands of the capitalists whose main aim is to gain money by providing the electricity (Rana, 2014).

As much as nuclear plants create great potential for electricity harnessing its safety conditions are demanding and need strategies to regulate it. There should be proper measure to protect the workers in such an environment to ensure they are healthy and they are not used for the benefits of getting electricity; it is evil to sacrifice lives of engineers in such plants in the name of electricity; the staff there need good physical protection from exposure to the radiation as well as good wages which is worth the risk. In addition, care should be taken not to make human living environment unconducive or no longer inhabitable for the next whole century or even put people in health complication for the rest of their lives due to contraction of terminal diseases .consequently, there has not been found a proper way for disposing nuclear waste products which are harmful to the environment and people’s lives. Hence, putting into consideration all the dangers and risks associated with nuclear power industry, proper control should be exercised to ensure that people are the top most priority. Thus rules and strategies are needed to regulate this industry to ensure money or profit is not the primary objective and to ensure all the nuclear plants meet the standards for safety (Rana, 2014).

In conclusion, capitalism market forces cannot yield the best results in some major markets like the nuclear power production plants; in these cases socialism management strategies ought to be implemented to streamline the market. Socialism is therefore important in moderating delicate industries which can cause great negative consequences if they operate under the capitalism strategy.

Reference

Hoppe, H. H. (2013). A theory of socialism and capitalism: economics, politics, and ethics. Springer Science & Business Media.

Schumpeter, J. A. (2013). Capitalism Lovins, socialism and democracy. Routledge.

Hawken, P., Lovins, A. B., &, L. H. (2013). Natural capitalism: The next industrial revolution. Routledge.

Rana, M. A. (2014). The Chernobyl reactor accident: Some selected facts. African Journal of Engineering Research, 2(1), 1-7.