Americans and Europeans seem to dwell a lot about the so called Capitalism. It looks like everybody on the face of the earth, is compelled to resort to this economic system. Can somebody tell me the pros and cons of capitalism in Africa?

capitalism is a myth created to suppress the people. you wonder in true capitalist environment you allow unprofitable ventures to go down, while then is govt. allover bailing out all these failing companies , HBO's,Meryl lynch,etc . its simple because there collapse has social ramifications, so whats wrong with socialism then you now wander?

Honestly I feel capitalism leads to gross inequality, exploitation and misery. It benefits the affluent at the detriment of the poor. For instance this current economic predicament; the poor are expected to bailout the rich so that everybody can survive.

Bothwell, thank you very much for posting this topic, because I thought of doing so. I had this discussion with my brother, and he is for capitalism, because it fosters competition between companies, so that only the best can survive. True, but the schism between the rich and the poor in the world is as a result of capitalism. I think greed is the cause (and I saw something like that in the media) of capitalism. It was not practised in the olden days, and our grandparents survived by living simple lives. Now, we want to live in the grandest apartment, drive the best cars, wear designers clothes . . . What is the end result of it? Probably emptiness.

What Africa needs is true democracy, regardless of the system of trade implemented.

First lets sort that out, then we talk about whether Capitalism or otherwise is the solution.

You cannot learn Mathematics without first learning to read.

capitalism in the real uncorrupted form of it is good,but unfortunately it is susceptible to compromise easilly hence the difficulty in getting where it is practiced without flaws, in my personal opinion communism is the best way to go as it shares the available resources equally and according to needs,it doesnt leave room for absolute power,corruption and there s checks and balances e.t.c