In: Economics
Could have (or should have) America turned to Socialism during the late 19th and early 20th century? We are still debating the role of government in the economy today and the utility of socialism and capitalism.
No; the country should not turn to socialism in any way.
Socialism is an economic structure where all sorts of business activities are controlled, monitored, and regulated by the government of that country. There is no private ownership.
On the other hand, capitalism is a structure of free economy where there is all private ownership. There is no interference of the government.
America is in the structure of capitalism.
The question arises and the debating is going on because the economy suffers so many recessions during the phase late 19th and early 20th.
Recession is a situation where all sorts of economic activities like production, employment, investment, etc decline. The main reason of recession is inflation. Increasing price on steady basis is known as inflation. Up to certain extent inflation is necessary for economic growth. But if the inflation rate is very high, people cut their spending and start saving causing recession.
Some of the recessions during these period are as below:
Recession of 1953: It started in the middle of 1953 and ended in the middle of 1954.
Recession of 1957 - 1958: This was also middle to middle recession and it lasted almost 9 months.
Recession of 1960 – 1961: It was a 10-month recession.
Recession of 1969: This was less than one-year recession. During this period GDP decreased by 1.6%.
Recession of 1973 – 1975: It happened because of rising price of crude oil. GDP decreased by almost 3%. Unemployment became acute.
Recession of 2002 - 2003: The recession appeared because of outsourcing jobs. GDP declined by 0.29% only.
2007 recession: It happened because of acute financial crisis worldwide. The duration of this recession was almost 19 months, starting at the end of 2007. GDP declined by 4% and unemployment rose to 11%.
The country should stay in capitalism because of higher per-capita income and higher life satisfaction compare to any other socialist countries in the world.
If the total national income is divided by the number of population of that country then we will get the per-capita income. This is around $40,000 in America during the phase; compare to socialist countries the average per-capita income during the phase is $1,000. This difference shows that America is richer than socialist countries and should continue to be as rich.
Another reason is people in America are satisfied in their life. This satisfaction level gives them increasing the standard of their living in the hope of getting more satisfaction, which is not possible in socialist countries because they can’t even think about luxury.