Daniel Mizell

Mrs. Powers

Economics (7)

8 February 2010

Capitalism Essay

According to Karl Marx, capitalism and free markets will experience major

problems which will cause the economic system to fail. The steps that Marx said

would lead to pure communism were: (1) Capitalism would experience

recessions and depressions and the rich capitalists would have industrial power.

(2) Widening between those in poverty and those in wealth will increase, causing

the poor to overthrow the capitalist system. (3) The workers would then establish

a socialist system and, through the state, the workers would own and control the

industrial power. (4) The socialist system would then go through a transition into

pure communism where the workers contribute with their full abilities and only

thake what they need.

The United States has been experiencing ups and downs in its capitialist

economic system. Thw worst down being the Great Depression. The stock

market crashed, many jobs were lost, people became homeless, and could not

feud themselves, and still the United States persevered, and the rich did not have

the industrial power. This proves that Marx's first step, Capitialism would

experience recessions and depressions and the rich capitalists would have
industrial power, is incorrect due to the fact that the United States has come

through ever economic problem it has experienced thus far.

The second step Marx states reads that due to the widening gap between

the impoverished and the wealthy the poor will over throw the capitalist system.

In the United States, there is a gap between the wealthy and the poor, however

the poor have not attemped to otherthrow the system. One reason this has not

occured is that the government gives aid to those that need it. The United States

also gives people the oppurtunity to change their lives so that they can overcome

their impoverished lives. The workers in the system can change jobs, get jobs,

even create businesses as they want to allow for the poor workers to move up.

This shows that there is no need for the workes to overthrow the capitalist

economy and change it as the wish.

The fourth and final step is the socialist system transitioning into the

communist system where everyone contributes completely and only take what

they need. This cannot occur because the previous step has not. The U.S.

government allows for people to do what they wish within the law but the U.S.

government will not allow for people to overthrow the government and set up a

communist system, which was our enemy during the Cold War,. Also history has

proven that a communist government doesn't work. People do not do their jobs to

the fullest of their abilities and they want to take more than what they need. Due

to this the workers would not choose a communist system because the past

gives them the evidence that it does not work.

Karl Marx's steps towards communism are possible but not probable for
the United States. The government would not allow for people to overthow it.

Instead the U.S. government allows people to work out their problems in the form

of unions. This prevents the four steps from going through. Also people have

used the problems that Karl Marx has pointed out to fix the capitalist system to

help prevent this from occuring. As long as capitalism continues to function

effectively it will not go through Karl Marx's four steps.