Perusing through my Facebook feed, I came across this jarring picture of an obese American boy as a juxtaposition to a starving African baby. The picture graphic played off the Coca Cola logo and stated “enjoy capitalism,” leaving me with all sorts of thoughts about whether or not capitalism truly is responsible for world hunger.

The truth is that there is more than enough food produced globally to feed every single human on earth. Hunger isn’t a necessity, but it seems to remain a constant reality, particularly in impoverished countries. I’d venture to say that capitalism has horrific consequences, which includes encouraging greed, tremendously uneven distributions of wealth, and a system that a select few benefit from the work of the majority. But capitalism also has it’s benefits with the proper government regulation to keep “free market” mentalities in check.

So with this knowledge, what are your thoughts on capitalism being responsible for world hunger? Weigh in.

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4 Comments

  1. I’m not quite sure that I can break down and elaborate on how exactly capitalism is responsible for world hunger, but what I do know is that the amount of hungry humans on the Earth is disgustingly high for all the resources that are available out there. If there is enough food globally to feed every single human on Earth how can people still allow others to starve to death? I don’t understand why this continues to happen when we are at a moment in history where resources can be available almost anywhere in the world expediently. I don’t understand why it seems that a blind eye continues to be turned at this problem. It’s shameful.

  2. In one word … YES! Industrial capitalism is immoral — MLK and Malcolm X tried to tell people this years ago — and hazardous, by definition, to the earth simply because corporations are beholden to shareholders for positive returns on the shareholder’s investment, irrespective of externalities. It’s sickening that not many Americans understand this mainly because there is no conversation in schools or the mass media about capitalism — it’s a given that capitalism works better than any other economic system. Communism, socialism, marxism, and any other economic system are not going to function correctly because humans refuse to look at the EARTH for structure in all things including economics. If we don’t learn the language of the EARTH, which is far older and more complex than any of our languages, we will see, in our lifetime, the destruction of human civilization.

    I stand in solidarity with all the protestors on Wall Street, Wisconsin, Georgia, California, Africa, the Middle East, England and any where else where capitalism is destroying the lives of people and the Earth.

  3. What we really need to do stop world hunger is to teach and educate people how to build and maintain resources, such as, water system to generate clean water for example. The more people educated in professions such as geo-technical engineering, agricultural engineering and more science fields can learn how to adjust living in certain environments with limited resources. On another note having children that you cannot support is selfish and has an economic disadvantage.

  4. 99% of Corp, Agra..Will never stop hunger …………….May Be Some These CEO Of Agra,Corp, Should Spend one year living and eat what 75% to 90% of our Planets poor and HUNGARY Go Through Each and everyday ……..Just something to think about How Would You Feel To see Your Children die of hunger… HOW WOULD FEEL…..THERE MUST BE BALANCES IN THE ECONOMICS OF THE PLANET….. EVERY TIME I SEE THE GOLDEN ARCHES OF THAT WOULD FAMOUS FOOD CHAIN THE BOOST OVER 40 BILLION SERVED..THERE”S ABOUT 8.5 BILLION PEOPLE…. …?

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