http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-moral-antagonism-of-capitalism-and-socialism/ Ideas on Liberty Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:46:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-moral-antagonism-of-capitalism-and-socialism/comment-page-1/#comment-41538 Philip Davies Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:45:11 +0000 http://www.thefreemanonline.org/uncategorized/the-moral-antagonism-of-capitalism-and-socialism/#comment-41538 You say that the collectivist should ask himself "Do I have the right to force other men to work for my benefit?". But the capitalist must ask the same question. When a big corporation goes into an area to create sweat-shop working conditions that exploit the poverty of the local people, he is doing just that. The local people are often not completely free agents to accept or refuse the work offered. Their decision to accept inhuman working conditions is made under duress. In terms of morality Capitalism always assumes that each participant in the 'free' market is equally free to engage or not. In fact that is rarely true. The capitalist may not have created the poverty in the first place, but is nonetheless partly responsible for its perpetuation. You say that the collectivist should ask himself “Do I have the right to force other men to work for my benefit?”. But the capitalist must ask the same question. When a big corporation goes into an area to create sweat-shop working conditions that exploit the poverty of the local people, he is doing just that. The local people are often not completely free agents to accept or refuse the work offered. Their decision to accept inhuman working conditions is made under duress. In terms of morality Capitalism always assumes that each participant in the ‘free’ market is equally free to engage or not. In fact that is rarely true. The capitalist may not have created the poverty in the first place, but is nonetheless partly responsible for its perpetuation.

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