A Fair System

               To show how capitalism and socialism work our history class used starbursts and they represented money. Some students were given more starbursts than others like some people are born with more money than others. Next the starbursts were redistributed equally among all of the students. This equal redistribution shows how socialism works, because the money (or candy) is collected and equally redistributed by the government (or the teacher). The rich students who had a lot of candy were frustrated with this method because their candy was getting taken away and given to others. But it may have been a god thing for the poor students with less candy because they were given candy that they didn't have to work for. I agree with Moran when she said that socialism gives the poor no initiative to work hard, because they know that they will get money (or candy) without even working for it. Students then demonstrated capitalism. They played Rock Paper Scissors to earn more starbursts, and like a student might win many starbursts from a game, someone can earn more money from working hard at a job in the real world. This method, capitalism, gives more opportunity for people to work hard and make their own life like Ryan said. Capitalism also gives people motivation to advance and work their way up to being wealthy, because their is no other way to earn money without working for it. In socialism it's more fun for people who are earning money without working (the poor) and might be frustrating for people who have to give away their money to pay for the poor (the rich). In capitalism it was fun for people who started with a lot of starbursts because they has less to lose, but people who started with less were more frustrated when they didn't have a lot of starbursts.
               Karl Marx began with the theory of capitalism, he believed that everyone started out with uneven amounts of wealth and had the choice to work to get more. People who were poor were not happy with this, which caused Marx to change his idea to socialism. In his idea of socialism the government had the power to collect money from everyone and redistribute it evenly so that no man was wealthier than another. Marx believed that socialism was more fair for the poor but the rich were not getting what they earned. Marx then decided that it would be better to have a classless society with no one who is rich and no one who is poor, this is known as communism. When the people decide to have a classless society no government is needed to control the redistribution of money because there is no difference in wealth. Adam Smith had an idea of the invisible hand. This theory of the invisible hand described that even without a government, the poor will be able to benefit. When there is more than one store or company selling the same product, there will be competition between the two, which will cause both companies to lower their prices and create a better product in order to get business. This is good for everyone, especially the poor because they are able to afford things, and the quality of the product will be better.
                 In my opinion I think both methods of government are a little extreme, so to create a balance of benefitting the rich and benefitting the poor I think the best solution is a mix between socialism and capitalism. The government we have today in America benefits the poor because the wealthier people pay higher taxes that can help the poor, but wealthier people don't have to sacrifice too much of the money they earned to pay for people who don't work to earn money.