Karl Marx

KARL MARX

Karl Marx, the historian, the philosopher, the economists, was undoubtedly the most influential and revolutionary socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. This I came to also acknowledge through this reading and have a new understanding of what communism is and how it came about. Communism shouldn't be confused with a anti-Semitic dictator killing millions of people or even the law of consecration for that matter. Like many influential men he wasn't so well renowned when he was living and it wasn't until after his death in 1883 his ideas came to life.

Karl Marx will forever be known for being the father of communism. In fact his greatest accomplishment can very well be considered his greatest set back. Many people can argue that communism is the best plan on paper, but that is where the problem seems to lie. His criticism of capitalism was that there was no incentive for workers because property owners or their bosses earned income from there hard work. He assumed that the relationship between workers and capital would always be conflicting. Many people disagreed with Marx's theories but this one might be the only one that still stands to be true. Consequently and what Marx didn't expect is that is what controls the market today. It controls the price, decides wages, improves working conditions and other work centered benefits. He misjudged the invisible hand and spent almost 20 years to write a book about the downfalls of capitalism entitled, Capital.

Some of his ideas are still refuted today but with little or no avail. Even though many of his theories didn't turned out to be true it proved that others were. The failure of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1980s and the rise of capitalistic America can be given as prove that a market driven economy will succeed. Which is Mankiw's principle #6. Even with the rise of communist China, they are starting to adopt a more capitalistic market. Although Mankiw's principle #7 states that governments can sometimes improve market outcomes, Marx takes that too the extreme where he wants to control the market. Mankiw suggests that government be involved with protecting the market along with promoting efficiency and promoting equity. And what I think Marx overlooked most was Mankiw's principle #4: People respond to incentives. As mentioned