in both successes and failures.The successes that capitalism rightly lays claim to relate to innovation. Competition does encourage innovation, and capitalism has produced well over a century of dizzying technical progress. At the same time productivity has also increased at a phenomenal rate. These technological developments can, in large part, be linked to the competitive environment of the free market.However, the failures of capitalism are evident in North American society also. In a city as affluent as Toronto, a city with a global reputation for quality of life, homelessness is a constant and squeegee kids are just a new element in the milieu. In the United States the inner cities have become hyper-segregated urban battlegrounds while gated communities proliferate. This handful of examples suffices to illustrate hat North American capitalism has done a less than perfect job of distribution. Under capitalism, as Frank Cunningham points out, freedom does not include freedom from poverty and rights do not include such simple material factors as shelter and employment. (Cunningham, 1977, P97)More importantly, these anecdotal illustrations point to structural imbalances in capitalism; imbalances that make free market and the level playing field myths. People are born with neither equal opportunities nor equal abilities: Therefore, they enter the playing field at different levels. The son of a Multi-Million Corporation vice-president, attending Harvard and living in Beverly Hills has different opportunities than the daughter of a landed immigrant from Poland who drives a taxi in LA. It is ludicrous to suggest that the two have equal opportunities or compete on a level playing field.In fact, these two individuals would largely live in separate worlds because of their differing economic circumstances. For the former the government would be represented by Revenue, for the latter it would be Community and Social Services. Whi...
