Why Free Enterprise and Capitalism Are Superior to Socialism and Communism.

 Folks,

In response to a YouTube comment, I shared my thoughts on why communism and socialism are failures. This comment is worth preserving, so I'm making a post here. My comment is below.

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​ @Flux_40  I was merely using an understandable and relatable analogy here; I wasn't trying to discuss economic questions, per se.

That said, I think that free enterprise (i.e. many small businesses) is the best system, as the free market and the pricing mechanism send clear signals about what is desired and what works vs. what isn't desired and what doesn't work. Even capitalism, to a lesser extent, provides these feedback mechanisms. Neither socialism nor communism have this feedback mechanism, so they're even worse; they cannot and do not distribute scarce resources in a fair or complete manner.

I differentiate free enterprise from capitalism, because capitalism promotes a dog eat dog mentality, where the bigger fish eat the smaller fish; this keeps happening until you have either a monopoly, duopoly, or, at best, an oligopoly. At this point, gov't and the remaining, large corporations become one and the same; we have fascism, which results in poverty and tyranny for the people, while a small elite lives well.

If one doubts how socialism/communism is a failure, then I'll issue that person a simple challenge: look at a picture of the Korean peninsula at night. Just go to Google and enter the phrase: "Korean peninsula at night". Then, look at the pics; look at the stark DIFFERENCE between the southern and northern halves! The southern half, South Korea, is all lit up; the population has electricity. This means that they are prosperous and live well. OTOH, the northern half of the peninsula, where North Korea is located, is dark. Why? Because the people are poor; because communism cannot and will not provide people with even the basics of life, let alone the luxuries thereof.

Why is the Korean example significant? One, there is no racial or ethnic variable here; the Korean people on the peninsula are the same. Two, the Korean people share a common culture. Three, the Korean people share a common history until the mid 20th Century. Four, the Korean people share a common language. Any and all variables that have been used to explain away the failure of communism (i.e. the reason it hasn't worked is because the right people haven't tried it yet) have been eliminated in the Korean example, yet the stark differences between communism and capitalism. While the people of South Korea may not have total freedom, they have more than their brothers and sisters to the north, which gives the South Korean people a better lifestyle.

SO! Capitalism, though far from perfect, is far preferable to communism. Thanks to capitalism, we have electricity; we have indoor plumbing; we have central heating and air conditioning; we have the automobile; we have all the blessings of modern life. Is it perfect? No, especially when it get excessive and we have these huge, multinational corporations. That's why I differentiated between free enterprise and capitalism. That said, capitalism is far preferable to communism or its gatewiay drug, socialism. Again, if you don't believe me, then riddle me this: why are Venezuelans escaping their country by the millions? Could it be because socialism doesn't provide them the necessities of life, including toilet paper? To ask the question is to answer it.

In conclusion, I would challenge you to Google the classic essay, "I, Pencil", which discusses all of these topics by showing how the simple and humble pencil is made. It shows how and why free enterprise, or even capitalism, is far preferable to socialism or its logical conclusion, communism. Thank you.