FIGUERRA, SHANE R.

REAL ESTATE ECONOMICS

1. Discuss the ethical issues in capitalism.

Capitalism has been subject to significant ethical issues and

debates over the years as an economic and social system. While there are
existing proponents who argue that capitalism promotes individual freedom,
innovation, and economic growth, critics highlight various ethical concerns
associated with capitalism such as dreed exploitation of labor, income
inequality, and environmental degradation concerns. To begin with,
capitalism's profit-driven nature can result in the exploitation of labor.
Workers may face poor working conditions, low wages, and long hours,
particularly in industries where labor protections are weak. Critics argue
that this exploitation is ethically unacceptable and that capitalism prioritizes
profits over the well-being of workers. Another one of the most prominent
ethical issues connected with capitalism is the substantial income and
wealth inequality it can produce. Critics argue that capitalism tends to
concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few, leaving many people
with limited access to resources and opportunities. This unequal
distribution of wealth can lead to social unrest and undermine the principle
of fairness. In addition, capitalism's pursuit of economic growth and profit
can contribute to extensive environmental degradation. The focus on
short-term profits may lead to overexploitation of natural resources,
pollution, and disregard for long-term sustainability. Critics argue that
capitalism's emphasis on growth and profit can conflict with the ethical
imperative of environmental stewardship. In a globalized capitalist
economy, multinational corporations may exploit cheap labor and resources
in developing countries. This can lead to massive ethical concerns related
to the treatment of workers, environmental damage, and economic
dependency. This mechanism of capitalism can lead to the concentration of
market power in the hands of a few large corporations which can stifle
competition, limit consumer choices, and potentially harm smaller
businesses. Thus, critics argue that this concentration of power is ethically
problematic and may lead to anti-competitive practices.

2. Discuss the moral issues in capitalism

It has been discussed earlier that capitalism is an economic

and political system in which property, business, and industry are
controlled by private owners rather than by the state, with the
purpose of making profitable returns. The great ethicist and
philosopher Immanuel Kant claimed that it is fundamentally
immoral to use people as a means to an end, and that is exactly
the mechanism of running a capitalist economy. It uses people as a
tool for labor in order to meet an end of accumulated profit. Modern
capitalism is being criticized for greatly prioritizing profit over
people and the planet, wherein such immoral priority has led to
significant ethical business concerns. The terrible working
conditions of the people, the long hours, low pay, dangerous
conditions, lack of job security, and extraordinarily low wages are
the dreadful impacts of economic capitalism. It is hard to accept
that the working class people who don't own the means to produce
and sell commodities have only one choice of commodity to sell,
which is their labor power, their ability to work. In this way, workers
are forced to sell themselves to some capitalist piecemeal in order
to acquire money to buy the necessities of life. Thus, it is really
significant to politicize work in the most possible way similar to
what has been pointed out in the video presented in the class
earlier. The government shouldn’t only focus on the aim of creating
more jobs available for the labor class within the society but more
importantly to recognize the meaningness of the jobs to offer.
Capitalism directly exploits the human workforce but there are
existing meaningless jobs that are becoming more and more
lucrative in the sense that it serves the delusions of structured
accumulations of greater wealth for the economy of the unnamed
capitalist.