Capitalism versus Socialism

In modern day western government mostly you will see somewhat a mix of Capitalism, Democracy and Socialism in place to a greater or lesser degree.

For example, Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare, to some degree would be called "A Socialistic democratic outcome" even though Capitalism is also involved in all these social programs.

So, when people say, "Capitalism won the battle with Socialism and Commnism" they aren't entirely correct. What really happened is people picked and chose what they liked about all these things and today our governments in the Western World, and places like Japan and S. Korea and other places reflect this.

Socialism says, "From each according to his or her ability and to each according to his or her needs". Idealistically this sounds pretty good. However, in practice it doesn't really work because of human nature.

SOME people may choose to give to others in this way but most people don't trust who they are working around outside of their family and friends to actually make this work (and rightly so).

For example, through the years single people I knew would say things like "I want to join a community" but what they really meant is "I want a community to economically and emotionally support me" which really doesn't work in the end.

IN the end each one of us is alone in supporting and helping our own family and friends whenever we can.

Because of this full socialism within a society is bound to fail. You might tax the rich with up to 60% to 70% like in places like Sweden or other European nations and have all sorts of social programs going on successfully but usually this doesn't work well in countries above about 60 million people. This appears to be around the limit of success in this sort of thing.

So, unless people have a common biological and cultural heritage and generally under about 60 to 70 million people in that country it all seems to fall apart when people try to make it work.

So, extreme social programs beyond Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare and unemployment insurance likely won't work here in the U.S. because there are just too many of us to make it work.

Capitalism is based upon greed which is why so many people are against it. However, if you study human nature in reality what often happens is when people become successful through capitalism they then become people who give in various ways to their communities and countries. Not all of them but many of them feel the obligation or love or need to do this. So, in this way social programs often are still created by rich capitalists who care about their people in their country or around the world.

I've never seen a country that is fully socialistic function and stay solvent very long so far in the 20th or 21st century. Because it is generally against human nature.

Ideals in the end are not how people actually behave. You have to have a system that people will support. And more capable people support capitalism and democracy (if they have a choice) than any other here on earth.