Is This Thing Working?

This will be the first in a series of posts about capitalism; something which is on everyone's mind, no doubt. I mean that with everything that has happened recently in the U.S. economy and elsewhere, there are few more pressing issues in the minds of most. There isn't a grand outline although I do have a few ideas and, of course, they have been bumping around in my head for a while, so I'm hoping for something akin to coherence.

The question asked of any system or device is whether or not it works, the same must hold true for capitalism. We must remember first what capitalism is and is not. It is simply an economic system; that is, a way for everyone to make a living and have what they need. It is not the basis for freedom, does not create equality and harmony, nor does it act as a creative force-those are all the responsibility and province of humanity itself. When something has been around for as long as something like capitalism has, it's like water for fish-you simply stop recognising its existence. The problem with that analogy is that fish need water; they have adapted to that environment and cannot live outside of it. Can the same be said of humans and capitalism? Hardly. At best, we can say that it fills the need to be able to produce and distribute goods and services at a barely-tolerable, minimally-acceptable level. I describe it in this way because by its own standards, there are gross inadequacies and rampant misallocation. The claim capitalists make about this system is that it will produce goods at levels people need without outside intervention. They claim that surplus will be minimised and efficiency maximised. The problems with these claims are widespread and obvious when looked for. One may not recognise these as it is common practice to blame such problems on individuals, "human nature", and artificial manipulation of the economy. It becomes clear that the system itself results in these conditions, so I don't feel the need to repeat the arguments from others here. This means that shortages and concentration of goods are inherent, stemming from the guidelines of capitalism. Thus, returning to our original question, we must conclude that it is not effective for those who cannot get what they need within this system.