Capitalism by Leo Masteller

Capitalism

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:17:09 UTC

Capitalism is an economic system based on supply and demand. It determines the way goods are produced and how much they cost from how high of a demand and how high of a supply.

Argument

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:19:14 UTC

Capitalism is responsible for the deaths of around 10 million Congolese people. Due to it being driven by supply and demand, it caused them to want to fight for rubber since it was high demand, low supply, and very expensive. Capitalism is "an economic system that features private ownership of the means of production."

Evidence 1

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:19:31 UTC

According to Capitalism article, "Supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods in Capitalism and create competition for resources."

Evidence 2

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:19:41 UTC

The article Capitalism says, "King Leopold ll knew that in a few years, those trees would be mature enough to tap into for their rubber. This meant that the supply of rubber was going to increase and would lower the price of rubber. When this happened, King Leopold ll would not be able to make nearly as much profit. This made King Leopold ll rush to produce as much rubber as he could in as short time as possible."

Evidence 3

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:19:53 UTC

As it states in Capitalism, "Because supply for rubber around the world was so low, Europeans competed for this resource," and "If people hadn't demanded so much rubber, these atrocities never would have happened."

Reasoning 1

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:20:08 UTC

Since supply and demand was what drove capitalism and what created prices, if something is very high in demand but very low supply, it becomes very expensive just like rubber. Due to this, countries like Europe want to fight and compete for it.

Reasoning 2

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:20:19 UTC

He wanted to get as much of a profit from rubber as he could and with countries starting to grow rubber tries and the supply of rubber going up, he knew that prices would go down. Without any thought except for getting rubber, and went and created conflict with the Congolese people just to get as much rubber as he could and get the highest profit possible while he still could.

Reasoning 3

Leo_Masteller — 2025-04-22 17:20:32 UTC

Since rubber was such a high demand, it made the price sky rocket because of how low of a supply it was. It was very valuable for anyone that had it which made the Europeans really want it. They competed and did anything for it which was what caused all the deaths.