Why Capitalism is Better than Socialism

"We're not the Borg from Star Trek. We want to engage in private projects we do by ourselves and not with others," says Jason Brennan, an associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.

Brennan's new book, Why Not Capitalism?, casts a critical eye on a notion with wide appeal among academics, politicians, and the general public: That even though history has shown that socialism is unworkable in practice, it's still the best way to run society in theory.

Brennan says that such thinking neglects the fact that even in utopia people will have significantly different visions of a life well lived. "You want a system under which you can realize all these different conceptions of the good life and the good community," he argues. Even in a world free of petty rivalries, tribalism, and human failings, capitalism would still be superior because it uniquely affords citizens the rights and freedoms necessary to customize their lives and pursue their own, personally meaningful projects.

Interview by Rob Montz, who also edited the piece.

Camera by Amanda Winkler and Joshua Swain.

About 8 minutes.

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[RagingGoldenEagle]

The funny thing about a lot of socialists here in the US is they can't even make it work at a small scale.  My friend works in a company where almost everyone is a socialist.  And there is constant drama around people not cleaning their dirty (communal) dishes in the (communal) sink/dishwasher.  Same is true in my workplace (though we have a lot less socialists here), so I just bring my own dishes/mugs/silverware and keep them cleaned myself.  I used capitalism to break apart form the socialist system they have going and my stuff is taken care of WAY better than any of the communal stuff, and I get to avoid all the drama and am much happier as a result.

This is just like how my parents (who escaped to the US from the Soviet Union) describe it.  If everything is communal and nothing is yours, everyone just sits around expecting someone else to do the work.  I mean, it is HIS too, so if he has a problem with it he can fix it!

[alvaroramos]

Socialism has nothing against a person having their own personal property or personal projects, unless they interfere with the community/environment. It is not supposed to perpetually suppress people to each other. What is known as "utopian anything" today, even capitalism, is referring to the statist/authoritarian societies that try to preserve a successful revolution by isolating themselves, have protectionist policies, and overly central planning.

The problem is claiming that you have property rights over things that belong to no one or belong to the community. Profits are the rightful capital that belongs to everyone who labors, the labor movement is a community of people forced/attracted together by Capitalism. The profits are not supposed to go to a sole proprietor or a small minority reaping the benefits because they invoke their "property rights".

[Jup]

The human nature argument has been debunked a million times

[karozans]

"Socialism works only in 2 places.  In heaven where they don't need it, and in hell where they already have it."

--Ronald Reagan

[sammybojoe]

Having lived in a Socialist country for half my childhood, and lived in the U.S. for the other half, I've experienced firsthand why Capitalism is better than Socialism.

[Vorpal_Wit]

Socialists and Capitalists actually agree on the most important idea - that is to make people's lives better.  The difference is that Socialists think they know how to accomplish this and yet fail, while Capitalists admit no one can know and yet succeed.

[nicktaylor]

We're due to lose ~46% of jobs to automation in the next 15 years.

If you work for a co-op... ie: own the means of production, you get the same income for less work.

If you work for a capitalist, you lose your job, your house, everything. You have no say in what happens to you.

Personally, I can't see any way other than socialism (ie: the people who do the work (that's us) owning the means of production) for our market-economies to survive. Socialism is not "Unworkable in practice". Entities like Mondragon demonstrate this loud and clear. The 5 biggest co-ops in the UK contribute more tax than Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Starbucks combined.

Socialism is completely compatible with market-economies... people like this guy are arguing against the past... conflating statism with socialism. They are not the same thing.

[limemcd]

I like the idea of small towns that everybody knows each other and enjoys each others' company with gatherings eating meals, playing sports, as well as sharing thoughts and ideas about different ways of life. I like hearing about the differneces between living somewhere downtown where theres technology advancements compared to like cabins where you have to drive 30 minutes into town to buy groceries. I really enjoyed this :)

[sxeshaw]

The problem with the current market system (not at all capitalism) is that it allows the greedy to be greedy. To take it all for themselves and leave none for the rest. The worker's rights which were won in the 1930s are being destroyed by corporations for their own profits and for no one else. If you consider yourself in the lower or middle class only expect your income to go down, your mortgage to increase, and your social benefits to be slashed. But military/'defence' spending oh we can never lower those

[crypticcorgi]

Is society just us cooperating for the sake of peaceful coexistence or cooperating for betterment of all involved? You drew a deep distinction there. It seems to be the core of your prespective on the purpose of society. I am not sure many people agreed on what they think is the core purpose of society. But it is now a burning question for me now.

[michaelpisciarino]

0:12 Jason Brennan
0:46 What do we do with human failure?
1:41 We want privacy. Private pursuits
2:17 Recognizing Multiple utopias (that sounds Libertarian to me)
3:04 *The Information Problem* (Price Controls mess things up. You don’t know what other people want more than the people themselves)

[inquisitive]

What an idiot. Free market isn't necessarily capitalism. Capitalism is basically a system of private property. The point he made about how socialism is flawed in that it can't determine the true market value may be true. However, we see market failure throughout a quasi free market as ours. Joseph Stiglitz has done extensive research on this. The credit meltdown was a result of market failure. 

[JaySee]

If humans were perfectly peaceful and cooperative, we wouldn't need socialism. That's the situation in which we would have pure anarchy and total freedom.

[soulprestigio]

the only way socialism will work is when all people think the conflict isnt human nature

[hopperthemarxist]

99% of the comment section and watchers of this video have never watched, listened to, read anything by an actual socialists. You watch capitalists tell you what socialism is and means because you don’t like to disrupt your worldview. This book “why not capitalism” is stolen from a book called “why not socialism”. If you’re gonna read this book, read the original. If you don’t understand the case for socialism, don’t let a capitalist tell you what it means. You grew up in a capitalist society you’re inundated with this nonsense. Challenge yourself. Look into things you don’t know. Because I can assure you as a former libertarian, you don’t even know what you don’t know about socialism and capitalists won’t tell you anything

[lostindixie]

How can a Philosophy Professor have this incorrect a perception of socialism?

[ThePhantomBean]

Lol so human nature and prices are his argument. Apparently we also can't communicate with each other.

[jkm]

ATTN: Advocates of socialism in the US: I've recently inherited some land near the beautiful Sequoia National Forest in California, and I've just been approved by the state to start a tax-free socialist commune where all power, labor, and essential goods (food, clothing, shelter) will be shared equally. We will farm the land and responsibly use natural resources. No one will be exploited. Please let me know if you'd like to join.

NOTE: This invitation is only for those who truly believe capitalism is inherently corrupt and that socialism is most ideal. Anyone who merely preaches socialism but is too cowardly and lazy to actually live it out while feeding into the capitalist system is not welcome.

Cheers.

[gh]

Is it just me or did his depiction of socialism (baring in mind that socialism, despite also being left-wing, isn't communism) have a whiff of strawman about it?

[peterthehappywaiguoren]

Funny thing is mixed economies with strong safety nets, solid yet prudent regulations, strong anti-corruption laws, semi-planned markets in a democratic style government are the best. It just takes a lot of work, compromise and cooperation