To understand what capitalism is, we first need to understand what money is. Money is just a piece of paper. That's all, it's not good for anything. You can't eat it when you're hungry, it can't cure you when your sick, and it can't keep you warm in the winter time. Money it just a piece of paper. But we live in country where we have decided that this piece of paper is going to be worth something. It's going to be worth 5 dollars, or 10, or whatever.
Money is important, because without it there would be no capitalism. Capitalism needs money.
Capitalism is a way to organize a society. It's a set of rules we've all decided to play by. Humans invented capitalism, we made the rules up a few hundred years ago, and we're still playing by those rules today. The rules of capitalism aren't just something we've decided to believe in, there are actual laws that spell out the rules quite clearly. If someone breaks the rules, they could go to jail. Here are some of the rules of capitalism:
• People can own things. If someone owns something, they can do with it whatever they like. They can keep it, change it, destroy it, give it away, or sell it.
• People can sell things they own. In return, they should get a fair amount of money. They amount of money something is worth should be decided by the buyer and the seller.
• People cannot steal from one another.
• People buy things, improve them, and sell them for more money.
• People can also sell services, like hair dressing, or teaching.
• People should be paid fairly for anything they sell or do.
• People can lend money to others, but the money needs to be paid back with interest.
Canada is a capitalist country. Almost every country in the world is capitalist. In Canada we can get jobs, earn money, and buy and sell things with that money. In Canada it is possible to be rich, and it is possible to be poor. There are many, many reasons why someone in Canada might be rich or poor. Most people in Canada are neither ultra-rich, or very poor. Most people are somewhere in the middle.
There are a few countries that are not really capitalist, and a couple hundred years ago, there were many countries that were not capitalist. A group of people that does not use money, but only traded one thing for another (ex. a stone axe for some berries) is not capitalist. A country where no one owns anything, but everything is owned by the government and given to the people is also not capitalist.
Over the past hundred years, more and more countries have been moving towards capitalism. It seems to be a system, that more or less, works well enough.
There are great advantages to capitalism, and there are many good things about it, but there are many drawbacks and negatives about capitalism as well. Can you think of any?
