Well, there is an pro-capitalists which allege that free markets system has gived to people good wages, most people in this century have access in education, cars, televisions, they are healthy etc etc.
But it is because of free markets system at West, or because the workers with their unions had protest against their bosses and they coaxed to have a better life?
It sounds biased and an either-or fallacy, but the reality is, everything good that we have like the things in that list...any sort of prosperity and comfort has come from free markets...capitalism. To the degree that we are not more advanced than we are, or that major problems have occured, it is virtually always due to market intervention through some sort of coercive means.
Economics in One Lesson covers those topics you mention (e.g. unions, wages, etc.) very well. Hazlitt addresses those exact questions.
ok, but the wages are these because of capitalism?Did the bosses give them to workers for their work, or the workers required them and now their lifes are better in this century?
someone90: ok, but the wages are these because of capitalism?
Absolutely. There's no other way. See Chapter 19.
Insofar as capitalism is able to function the demands of consumers are met, new capital is introduced and used more efficiently, and new production processes are put into place so as to maximize output, raising the standard of living for everyone. With this said there are many barriers to a free market in place, and a market that's heavily intervened in might be less efficient than a company that is intervened in just a little bit more. For instance let's say that through taxes and barriers to entry firms are able to keep wages for a specific group somewhat low, well in that case a union would serve them well and raise their wages up to the appropriate rate.
With this said, most of it is up to capitalism. No amount of higher wages could have attained people the higher living standards we know today in the absence of a capitalist system. Higher wages don't do you a bit of good if there just aren't enough goods, both in quality and quantity, to go around.