Ricardo’s Assumptions There are other assumptions, however, that are not so easy to get around: –First, Ricardo assumes that the resources used to produce goods (labor, equipment, factories, etc.) do not move from one country to another. –Yet today multinational companies can, and easily do, move their productive capital from one country to another. There are other assumptions, however, that are not so easy to get around: –First, Ricardo assumes that the resources used to produce goods (labor, equipment, factories, etc.) do not move from one country to another. –Yet today multinational companies can, and easily do, move their productive capital from one country to another.

Ricardo's Assumptions Second, Ricardo assumes that each country's production costs are constant and do not decline as countries expand their production or as they acquire new technology. Third, Ricardo assumes that workers can easily and unreservedly move from one industry to another. Second, Ricardo assumes that each country's production costs are constant and do not decline as countries expand their production or as they acquire new technology. Third, Ricardo assumes that workers can easily and unreservedly move from one industry to another.

Yet when a company closes down because it cannot compete with imports from another country that has a comparative advantage in those goods, the company's workers are laid off, suffer heavy costs, need retraining, and often cannot find comparable jobs.

Ricardos’ Assumptions Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Ricardo ignores international rule setters. International trade inevitably leads to disagreements and conflicts, and so countries must agree to abide by some set of rules and rule-setters. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Ricardo ignores international rule setters. International trade inevitably leads to disagreements and conflicts, and so countries must agree to abide by some set of rules and rule-setters.

Marx and Justice Karl Marx offers the most critical view of modern private property and free market institutions. Marx claims that free-market capitalism necessarily produces extremes of inequality. Since capitalist systems offer only two sources of income–owning the means of production and selling one's labor. Karl Marx offers the most critical view of modern private property and free market institutions. Marx claims that free-market capitalism necessarily produces extremes of inequality. Since capitalist systems offer only two sources of income–owning the means of production and selling one's labor.

Karl Marx Workers cannot produce anything without the owner of the productive forces. But owners do not pay the full value of the workers' labor; they pay workers what they need to subsist, keeping the rest for themselves and gradually becoming wealthier as a result. Workers cannot produce anything without the owner of the productive forces. But owners do not pay the full value of the workers' labor; they pay workers what they need to subsist, keeping the rest for themselves and gradually becoming wealthier as a result.

Increased Alienation for Workers They are separated from what is actually theirs in four ways: 1.In capitalist societies, the products that the worker produces by his or her labor are taken away by the capitalist employer and used for purposes that are antagonistic to the worker's own interests. They are separated from what is actually theirs in four ways: 1.In capitalist societies, the products that the worker produces by his or her labor are taken away by the capitalist employer and used for purposes that are antagonistic to the worker's own interests.

Increased Alienation for Workers 2.Capitalism forces people into work that they find dissatisfying, unfulfilling, and that is controlled by someone else. 3.Capitalism alienates people from themselves by instilling in them false views of what their real human needs and desires are. 2.Capitalism forces people into work that they find dissatisfying, unfulfilling, and that is controlled by someone else. 3.Capitalism alienates people from themselves by instilling in them false views of what their real human needs and desires are.

Bourgeois and proletariat. 4.Capitalist societies alienate human beings from each other by separating them into antagonistic and unequal social classes that break down community and caring relationships namely the Bourgeois and proletariat.

Bourgeois and proletariat. Though utilitarians claim that people would be lazy without private property, Marx counters that by this argument the bourgeois owners should long ago have wasted away. They do not work, while those who do cannot acquire any real property. Though utilitarians claim that people would be lazy without private property, Marx counters that by this argument the bourgeois owners should long ago have wasted away. They do not work, while those who do cannot acquire any real property.

View of Historical Materialism The real purpose of Government, according to Marx, is to protect the interests of the ruling class of owners. The forces of production of a society– its substructure–always have, historically, given society its class and its superstructure (or Government and popular ideologies). Those in power promote the ideologies that justify their position of privilege. The real purpose of Government, according to Marx, is to protect the interests of the ruling class of owners. The forces of production of a society– its substructure–always have, historically, given society its class and its superstructure (or Government and popular ideologies). Those in power promote the ideologies that justify their position of privilege.

Karl Marx The result of unrestrained free markets and private ownership will be a series of disasters for working people, leaving them immiserated. Three general tendencies will combine to bring this about:

Karl Marx First, modern capitalist systems will exhibit an increasing concentration of industrial power in relatively few hands. As self-interested private owners struggle to increase the assets they control, little businesses will gradually be taken over by larger firms that will keep expanding in size.