Capitalism vs. Socialism?

I read with great interest an article about capitalism and socialism and would like to share part of the views exposed with you, adjusted partly to my own thinking and its possible application in the Philippines, when we ‘dream’ about Inclusive Growth.

- Henry J. Schumacher

It all started the other day when I was talking to someone and in the middle of a perfectly civilized conversation about our impending doom, he blurted out: “but you're a socialist!”

Whoa. I’m not any of these things, capitalist, socialist, atheist, any-ist. My only role and goal when it comes to the world is to observe and being aware. And here’s what I see, here where I live, and beyond:

The genuine opposite of both pure capitalism and socialism are kleptocracy, oligarchy, authoritarianism — which occur when political economies are run by and for tiny elites.

Today, capitalism and socialism are not opposites. They are complements. The global economy of this century must and will be built on new synthesis: capitalism and socialism working together, each strengthening the others’ weakness, a kind of yin and yang of human organization. We see this already at work in the world’s most successful societies, like Sweden or Canada!

They seem to have the basics of a genuinely good life. What are the basics?