Essay Sanmple about Capitalism in the US

Our society is selfish because of money. Our society’s desire to grow economically and maximize our own individual profit regardless of how it impacts others stems from the system that is at the epicenter of our society- capitalism. Capitalism is our economic system. This system encompasses everything that expands the economy. It is a cyclical process that involves labor, the production of goods, marketing of those goods through a system of distribution, consumers, profit, and then the utilization of that profit for investment. Although capitalism was designed to enable each individual in our society to have an equal chance at maximizing their economic potential, it has now cultivated the exact opposite for marginalized groups in our society; moreover, has propelled the continual economic growth of the top 1% and the private sector in our economy when left unregulated. Additionally, capitalism has fabricated and ingrained this unrealistic idea of meritocracy. Meritocracy is the ideology that individualistic self-expansion determines self-worth as well as our worth to society. As a result, this idea to successfully achieve individual economic merit has led our society to hyper-fixate on oneself and has allowed capitalism to infiltrate every aspect of our lives. This infiltration of capitalism has affected the way every industry that produces revenue and contributes to our society’s economic growth as a whole functions. From the major meatpacking companies and the large commercial agriculture in California to the United States’ universities, all of these industries were designed to be effective in maximizing profit, but not resilient. Furthermore, these industries that are intended to enable individuals in our society to grow economically are all controlled by the private sector and exemplify what happens when capitalism is left unregulated by the government- exploitation, monopolies, increasing income inequality, and a widening in the wealth gap. In order to be economically successful in our society, one must be able to capitalize- but that becomes increasingly harder when the same system that is intended to promote growth also limits it by the people who control it. 

The first example of infiltration by unregulated, neoliberal capitalism into our society’s industries is big meat processing. The government agencies that are supposed to protect us against the corrupt actions of the private sector instead have only participated through the continual allowance of monopoly rents and vertical integration by big meat. The big meatpacking companies of the United States dominate their specific industry and accumulate profits known as monopoly rents. This dominance generates a decline in economic fluidity and fair competition. This decline results in an increase in wage inequality and a decrease in opportunity for economic growth amongst anyone who is below the top 1%. Additionally, our government has allowed big meat to vertically integrate each individual part of the meat production process. Vertical integration is a type of monopoly that occurred during the industrial revolution of the 1900s and was outlawed by the government in order to regulate our economy and prevent the practice of neoliberal capitalism from continually occurring. Despite this outlaw, today, the government still allows for this practice of vertical integration by big meat and it is because the overall goal of not only the US government, but our society is to grow our economy, regardless of the ethical implications. An ethical implication of unregulated big meat is the exploitation of their cheap labor source- undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants do not have access to a free labor market and as a result, are those who are the most easily expendable in our society and make up the majority of the big meatpacking companies' cheap labor source. For example, in engagement exercise #9, I elaborated on the concept of the exploitation of undocumented workers in the meatpacking industry, “In March of 2020, Smithfields Foods Company- one of the largest meatpacking industries in the United States, continued to enforce and encourage their cheap labor source to show up to work. They did this through incentives and with the knowledge that COVID-19 was easily contractible, yet did not provide the proper PPE or social distancing measures to their employees because it would cost more money-- money that they could otherwise invest into their company in order to continue to capitalize.” The government recognizes this exploitation but does nothing to prevent it because of our selfishness. This is because these immigrants, in the eyes of our society, cost more to care for than they economically contribute to society. Their worth, in fact, everyone’s worth is based upon their economic contribution to society and their ability to capitalize. 

Another example of infiltration by unregulated, neoliberal capitalism into our society’s industries is the large commercial agriculture in California. The labor source for the large commercial agriculture in California parallels that of big meat in the United States- undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are the cheapest source of labor and these food production industries exploit them at the expense of their health. In Villegas, California, undocumented immigrants have had to farm lettuce through brutal environmental conditions, from the forest fires to the COVID-19 pandemic. These conditions have ultimately led to an ultimatum for these farmers- to either keep working and risk exposure to COVID-19 or to lose their jobs with no legal or health compensation by the government- which would be a detriment to the livelihood of their families. This continual exploitation of cheap labor by commercial agriculture and big meat in America is no mistake; moreover, the government is allowing it to occur because undocumented immigrants are the key to fabricating the most efficient economic growth. From an economic standpoint, the big corporations and our government do not care about the ethical implications of exploitation because of the selfish main goal of our society- to capitalize. Additionally, commercial lettuce farming in California and big meat’s production systems were designed to be the most efficient, but not the most resilient and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed that. Capitalism advocates for efficiency- who can produce the most product and sell it for the highest price- and our systems reflect that. 

The exploitation of undocumented immigrants at the expense of their health, the widening of the wealth gap and income inequality, vertical integration, and monopoly rents are all examples of what happens when Capitalism is left unregulated. Capitalism is left unregulated out of the greed and selfishness of our society, but more specifically by the CEOs of big corporations and the government agencies lobbied by them. If this goal of maximum capitalization continues to dictate our society and the way it functions, it is imperative that we, as a society, advocate for and demand the resources to be able to capitalize, otherwise we will all fall victim to our selfish society's economic system of capitalism.