[vkazanov]

Probably the best way to explain would be to say that capitalism as an ideology optimises for the personal good, while communism optimises for the common good.

As we probably know from the history of 19th/20th centuries, taken to their extreme these ideologies can be highly dangerous.

[wwtrv]

> while communism optimises for the common good

Communism mainly optimises for the good of the high ranking party members and other apparatchiks in charge they might occasionally throw some scraps to ordinary people but I don't see how can it be considered inherently superior to capitalism in this regard based on real world example.

While following 'capitalist policies' have generally resulted in a significant overall increase in the 'common good' it is unquestionably that it has also caused many terrible tragedies. However pretty much the only positive thing about communism that I can think of is that the fear of it spreading encouraged many western governments to enact progressive social, political and economical reforms (it's debatable whether this was actually a significant factor, though).

[vkazanov]

> Communism mainly optimises for the good of the high ranking party members

This happens when ideology meets the reality of dealing with people, who are mostly egoistic. Pure capitalism ideology leads into another trap: the one of oligarchic rule, with smaller groups of egoists winning the game of monopoly.

A less radical version of communism, the one implemented in late USSR, where the state owns and plans everything for everyone, while proving some common good benefits (medicine, education, etc) also has a couple of fundamental problems.

One is the economical problem of having to plan everything for everyone. A book called "Red Plenty" covers this really well, as well as some bits of a math behind it (linear programming, etc). In market-based economies these problems sort of go away. Until one has to deal with monopolies, that is.

I don't know if somebody has an explanation for the other problem, political in nature. Communists and modern "communist-socialist" states seem to always insist on political monopoly, which makes it impossible for people to provide fast feedback to policy-makers.

So it seems that an optimal balance achieved by "enlightened democratic capitalism", where the exploitive (and economically more efficient) nature of capitalism is balanced by democratic feedback.

[Akronymus]

I'd argue that under capitalism the bottom 5% still live better than the bottom 50% under communism. Altough, that doesn't correct for the technological/geographical differences.

[vkazanov]

Well, the science of political economy is not really science so hard to tell. :-)

It seems, though, that capitalism does allow for faster wealth generation. Given proper corrections and balances, of course.

I can name quite a lot of countries that never went the socialism way, but are not rich in any sense of the word.