Defining Needs Part I

In my previous article I posited "Which economic system best serves society's needs?" as the basic question to answer in determining which economic system is best. It seemed pretty simple and straightforward at the time, but then a commenter chimed in and it got a bit more complex.

Waterboy said ""What ARE those needs? Is personal gain more or less important than societal benefit?" The answer to that question is what drives the ideology."

So, the question becomes, how do we define those needs? What is societal benefit? Personal gain at first glance seems far simpler, but after you think about it you realize that many people could define it differently. Including in many ways that don't seem to have much to do with what economic system you use at all.

Some would define it as a bigger family, others by a fatter wallet. And others by leisure time to pursue interests that don't necessarily provide what could be considered economic benefits, but that they enjoy or provides them with something that they don't get anywhere else. And so on.

Also I would like to point out that while personal gain and societal benefit can be mutually exclusive; this is not always the case. (I'm not saying Waterboy meant to imply that, it's just one possible interpretation so I wanted to deal with it.) Example: A man wants to start a business. If he does so, and it succeeds, this will obviously provide him with personal gain in several ways. There is the increase in materiel wealth from owning a successful business, the pride of accomplishment, and respect from others because of that accomplishment just to name a few.

But this successful business will also employ others, providing jobs, and will increase the materiel wealth of society as a whole. I believe most (especially with the horrible jobs numbers we're experiencing currently) would consider these to be of benefit to society. So it's not a question of deciding between personal gain and societal benefit, but rather of balancing the two so that one increases the other.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5760386/mix_and_match_economies.html?cat=3