Why should people support capitalism?

Answer 1

Not everyone hates communism, but the people that do dislike it because they think of it as hurting people, and making people suffer while the government does whatever they want. Which, ironically, is why most other governments, including democracy, are criticized as well.

Answer 2

There are different motives why people oppose capitalism and these are listed along with the groups where the people who make these arguments usually stand on economic issues

1) Wealth Inequality / Communism and Socialism: The issue here is the belief that capitalism promotes wealth inequality and leaves people to wallow in poverty. Since money in capitalism only goes to those who produce useful and desirable products, those who do not do this are left to stay impoverished. This included people who are not capable of creating these products (due to physical or mental reasons) and people who desire to pursue the arts or philosophy, which do not necessarily render a useful product. Communists and socialists argue that society should look out for the welfare of these people who are unable to work or pursuing aims for improving society that are not monetarily viable. Communists seek to redress this with a planned economy, so that all people are hired by the government. Socialists seek to redress this with an extensive welfare system to look out for these people.

2) Provincial Misfortune / Mercantilism and Protectionism:The issue here is that even accepting capitalism's argument that unrestrained trade will have net benefits to all consumers, it does not mean that every producer will be better off. It could be that a producer in a foreign country could drive local firms out of business. The mercantilist wants all wealth to be directed towards the metropole while the protectionist wants all wealth collected locally. In both cases, these groups will use legal means, either tariffs or non-tariff barriers, to prevent foreign goods from entering the economy and defeating local producers.

3) Immorality of the Banking System / Islamic Economics and Specie Circular: The issue here is that the belief that making interest on loans, the primary form of funding in a capitalist state or that the artificial creation of money based on lending practices is ethically immoral. Islamic economics specifically bans interest and requires a strong mitigation of risk, even though risk is a huge aspect of capitalism. Those who advocate specie circular wish for all currency to be backed by gold or silver and the current fractional-reserve banking allows banks to generate non-existent currency based on multiples of the money that the bank actually has.

4) Lack of Government Involvement / Corporatists and Progressives: in a capitalist economy, the government is not supposed to take an active role in the economy. Both corporatists and progressives oppose this governmental non-involvement and want the government to pass laws directly affecting businesses and the economy. Corporatists want businesses and government to align where the government creates non-market advantages for business. Progressives want the government to align with the people and to use legal means to restrain businesses and protect both laborers and consumers.

5) Materialistic Values / Religious Clergy and Environmentalists: The argument here is that capitalism accentuates greed and promotes materialistic values. These then overrun spiritual values and ignore externalities that can result from a pure pursuit of greed and profit. Religious clergy make the argument that there are spiritual values that are more valuable than materiality and capitalism underplays them. Environmentalists argue that greed leads to pollution and other abuses of the environment since externalities are not captured in a simple capitalist model. Without the use of law to make companies financially accountable for externalities, the environment will lose from capitalism.

Answer 3

It's linked to freedom which is not in some's best interest.