MISFORTUNES OF CAPITALISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Capitalism is an economic system where the ownership of the distribution and means of production is in the hands of private individuals.

Capitalism was a gradual emergence from the slave system or society where the mental and physical ability of the slave was owned by the slave master. 

After the collapse of the slave society came the feudal system. under this system the slave is given the little freedom to work on his own farm but still devote time to work on the farms and plantation of the slave master who is now the feudal lord and the slave the serf. with this the serf has no right to work under any other person's farm except his master.

under the feudal and slave societies what was practiced was the cottage industry and agrarian society respectively.

Capitalism rose out of these systems when industrial revolution became effective in Western Europe which gave rise to industries which became the main aspect of the economies. All these systems are the same at the basic levels since they exploit the poor worker.

(MACHINERY)

Under capitalism there are two main classes; the bourgeois (those who owe the means of production) and the proletariat ( those who owe nothing but their strengths) 

(SLAVE COUPLES)

Under this economic system, the capitalists allows free trade and competition where many companies spring up and cannot cater for the unemployment situation in their various countries causing competition among the workers.

the proletariat is given the choice to either work for low wages or stay unemployed and go hungry. with any wage the capitalists offer they get people to work.

 This brings to mind the economic system of demand and supply. The supply of labour is high with demand being low therefore the bourgeois offers any wage.

What we need to understand is that at the basic level all humans are equal and need to be treated as such. humans are only different at the functional level and this should not be an avenue for one class to exploit the other.

In view of this, whatever that comes out at the end of production should  be shared among all those that saw to its success.

The capitalist minded person will say profit from the product is as a result of their innovation and risk taking. After all he/she has paid off the worker and has no business with him/her.

The capitalist has forgotten the fact that  they included the worker to the factors of production and the worker has made it possible to turn the product into semi finished or finished product from its raw state.

What is profit as calculated by the economists and business gurus. Profit is excess of TOTAL REVENUE after taking TOTAL COST (TR-TC =P). Total Cost includes all means of of production, labour, labour power, objects and instruments of production according to the capitalist.

With this the means of production of which capital is inclusive is found in the Total Cost so why then do he/she again takes all the profit since the worker has made it possible to repay the owner or capitalist the amount he/she invested and has also taken his/her share of labour power invested into the business.

In this regard the capitalist exploits the working class to make the necessary profit from the toils of the proletariat who uses physical and mental abilities to make huge revenue for the establishment.

In most parts of the world with reference to Ghana, the capitalists are the CEOs and MDs who only invest their capital into the businesses and employ the services of the working force including the labourers to work towards the success of the businesses.

For businesses in Ghana to reach a desirable height, it needs the services of a hardworking labour class. Many collapsed businesses in the country is because of the treatment meted out to the proletarians. 

Many capitalists have it behind their minds that there are alot of unemployed citizens who are in need of jobs and therefore offer them low wages and exploit their labour power to generate excessive profits.

In Africa, Ghana in particular, to achieve a stable economic independence we should not compromise our hard won political independence to import products.