Capitalism

The housing and economic crisis which our country is experiencing at the moment has struck fear in many American households. Many, like me, are reminded of the great depression which swept through America in the 1930s. As I was learning about the Great Depression in my Social Welfare class this past quarter, I could not help but think that if the government had intervened at an earlier stage, would the depression progressed into such devastating stage? The White House staff were well aware of the thousands of Americans who were starving and suffering from the famines across the nation. Yet, the President who was Herbert Hoover at the time, refused to distribute direct government aid. Rather, he laid the country’s future in the hands of the free market system, or as it is commonly called, capitalism; believing that the market will fix itself and the country will recover from the depression. After all, capitalism is believed to be the “one best way.” Of course, the market “bounced” back, but the social condition continued to suffer.
After reading and rereading the keyword capitalism nearly a dozen times in order to make an understanding of why any leader or individual would base the future and lives of millions on a market system even though there is urgent and clear signs of intervention needed, I have to conclude that I cannot give a singular meaning for the word for capitalism. Some things are more complicated than what first comes to the eyes, and capitalism is one of these “things.” I have heard capitalism used in several different ways, however it has mainly been used to refer to the market or economic system, I believe this is the definition that the majority would agree with. However, as stated in Keywords, for some individuals, the term capitalism is thought of as a class conflict, others may see it as a political arrangement – there is no singular meaning or definition since it is such a contradicting word.
When President FDR began his term, he established numerous governmental programs in order to resolve the social and economic problems. I believe that without these social programs the economy would not have “bounced” back, I really question the capability of capitalism to fix all social and economic problems. Now that history seems to be repeating itself, what should our government do? Should we wait for capitalism to “fix” the economy or should the government intervene in distributing social welfare?