In Support Of Capitalism In Milton Friedman's What Is America?

With Capitalism or Against it Capitalism has been and still is a controversial issue being talked about today in our society and government. Capitalism is an economic system in which the country is controlled by private owners in making profit. In this form of economic system, the government has limited role in society. In the two videos, there are two arguments: one in support of capitalism and one critical of capitalism, particularly in favor of a modified form of capitalism. In Milton Friedman’s video, “What is America? (QnA),” he is in support of capitalism, the free market economy. Friedman said the law to limit monopoly and maximize consumption with less government intervention is free trade. He spoke of welfare programs, less/ lower

He says that even though the government gives them money, people under the welfare programs work and work to earn more and more money each day putting them at a better financial standing. Also, he argues that we should be worried about resources running out, such as trees because it means running out of the money supply, papers, and pencils. In the case of running short of resources leads to scarcity which means there will be an increase in prices of the resources. We need the resources to produce and if we don’t have enough resources, we won’t be able to produce more resources. So in order to be safe from scarcity, businesses will start building and planting more resources and trees, so in the long run we would have an increase rather than a decrease in supply. Friedman also explains the concept of illegal Mexican immigrants. They come to the United States working the lowest minimum wages possible because it is the only choice they have. Even though nothing is fair, he states that every country and person goes through developments, just like how the United States went through industrial development where citizens were paid low wages because the economy wasn’t strong. As the economy grew and became stronger, they began to get paid more. Same with these Mexican immigrants, they are starting off with low wages and as they grow and get on a better financial standing, they

He wants rules for these multi-nationals because they encourage third world countries to borrow more and more money, which lead to a high rate of debt and made them poorer and poorer each year. While wanting cancellation of third world debt, it would take a lot time and enormous policy changes to cancel them completely. He believes that capitalism can generate; however, it can also generate huge inequality. In the 19th century, changes happened, competition rose between entrepreneurs, people began struggling in making money and started to invest in new technology. This slowly led to te Stock Market Crash, where average share price collapsed by 345.6, which later brought the Great Depression. During the 20s and 30s, people lost confidence, many lost their jobs, and were worried of losing more and more of their money. By the end of the 30s, Adolf Hitler gained power and poverty had risen high which led to World War 2 as it lasted six years. in the 50s and 60s after World War 2, people enjoyed significant economic growth, unemployment rates remained low, and the youth had a voice, gained power and had money to spend. But in the 70s, it slowed down, that led to a combination of a recession and inflation such as rise in oil prices and economic