Is there a possibility that terrible social problems such as poverty and crime can be eliminated from society without eliminating capitalism?
This is a common question asked by people who have a desperate need to believe that capitalism can somehow be made to work for everyone in society (something it is not designed to do), and wonder if somehow, some way, we can eliminate poverty, crime and all the other problems that capitalism creates while still keeping the economic class divisions intact. The question betrays a lack of understanding of both the operation and purpose of capitalism, but I will answer it nonetheless. As for the possiblity of poverty being eliminated while retaining capitalist social relations, absolutely not. As long as class rule exists, there will be widespread poverty. This is simply a scientific fact based on the natural operations of the system, and in fact a significant amount of poverty is absolutely necessary for many aspects of the system to function normally, as well as an inevitable and unavoidable result of the ever increasing concentration of capital in fewer and fewer hands, which is one of
