College of Business Administration

The political foundations:

1) What values do you assume are necessary to sustain a capitalist society? Does the free market support these values?

2) Will a laissez-faire policy in an open society lead to its eventual downfall?

3) How can we sustain capitalism without social institutions? Should the government of an open society be allowed to regulate markets, such as the energy market or the drug market? How does a capitalist society benefit the underprivileged?

4) Do you agree with George Soros' theory that an open society is being threatened by excessive individualism; or, do you believe that, as the laissez-faire capitalist doctrine asserts, the common good is best served by the inhibited pursuit of self-interest? Recall Smith’s theory on self-interest versus benevolence, do you think Capitalism is ethical?

The shades within the categories:

5) Is there an example of a purely capitalist experience or country? Is there an example of a pure communist system? (i.e. following the theories)

6) Do you think countries such as Sweden and France are more similar to or different from the US in their application of capitalist and socialist policies?

7) How would you define the Chinese experience, blending a communist political system with a market economy?

Some consequences of the application of Capitalism:

8) Are human beings intrinsically capitalists? Do they actually behave as “they should” to support the capitalist enterprise?

9) Is there a psychological aspect of capitalism (spiritual as well as material comfort.) Indeed, recall that Aristotle defines two kinds of pleasure: kinetic and static. Does capitalism promote kinetic pleasures (Money and Consumerism) at the expense of static pleasures (preservation of the environment, harmony, and fulfilling life)? In that sense, is capitalism ethical?

Conclusion:

10) Is capitalism better? Is it - as Churchill coined for Democracy- “the least worst of” available political systems?