Posted on 01/16/2023 6:29:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It is a shame that, in the country that invented capitalism, we can’t explain it. Perhaps that is a reason we are losing it to socialism. Ask any conservative, or even an economist, and they are likely to describe it as “free markets.” Barter societies in the Middle East are free markets and they are mired in poverty.
Capitalism is not simply free markets. It is a designed, self-accelerating economic system that reduces prices and poverty. It was gradually designed, in the United States, from 1793 to 1914. Before we can understand capitalism’s benefits, we must define wealth and poverty in comprehensible economic terms.
The wealth of a nation is its amount of usable goods, just as poverty is a lack of usable goods. Poverty in a society is created by a lack of clothes, food, vehicles, housing, etc. If the supply of these usable goods is low, naturally, there is not enough to go around. This creates the divergence of wealthy and poor. It gets worse; those who can afford the limited supply of usable goods bid up the price, creating even more poor. A large supply of usable goods brings prices down so that more people can afford them. As the supply of usable goods rises, poverty declines.
The United States grew to be wealthy because we created far more usable goods than other nations. But how did that happen?
All usable goods are created by manufacturing. It is not the amount of money that manufacturing employees earn that is of value; it is the millions of shirts, hammers, and cars they produce that create wealth in a society.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Yes we can.
It’s idiot liberals who cannot understand it.
Otherwise known as standard of living, or collective quality of life.
Since we don’t produce things in the US anymore (relatively speaking) our standard of living should be falling. That correction has been staved off for the last 50 years by the government subsiding a pseudo standard of living at the expense of the future (debt). The crash is going to be hard.
Two classics on the topic:
Hazlitt: “Economics in One Lesson”
Rand: “Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal”
The best way to understand capitalism...and the best way to contrast it with another widely employed economic system...is to look at East and West Germany...and North and South Korea.
“Supply and demand of products.”
Von Mises classic is called “Human Action”.
Capitalism is how humans act when they don’t have a gun to their head or a boot on their neck.
Capitalism is the free employment of capital resources in business and governmental affairs
The US adopted the Constitution in 1788 following Adam Smith’s “THE WEALTH OF NATIONS”. Within 40 years we were an up and coming World Power.
Castro took over Cuba in 1959, and after 60 years of Communist rule they still cannot make “La Revo-loo-sion” work.
RE: Capitalism is the free employment of capital resources in business and governmental affairs
The question is “How free” should capitalism be? At what point does regulation become burdensome and anti-capitalistic?
Did America invent Capitalism or just it just practice it better than everyone else due to our revolutionary ideals of Freedom, Liberty and Justice fought for and laid down by the Founders?
I think the author is wrong on a few things.
Capitalism is a social system based on private ownership of the means of production. It is characterized by the pursuit of material self-interest, while being subordinated to and circumscribed by natural rights. And it rests on a foundation of the cultural influence of reason.
Based on its foundation and essential nature, capitalism is further characterized by:
-saving
-capital accumulation
-voluntary exchange
-money
-financial self-interest
-profit motive
-freedoms of economic competition and economic inequality
-price system
-harmony of the material self-interests of all the individuals who participate in it.
Correct. America didn’t invent Capitalism. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 and described the natural phenomenon of Capitalism via the “invisible hand” Like another Freeper said it is what happens when you don’t have a gun to your head aka “voluntary exchange” of goods and services.
Give me $10, and I’ll explain it to you.
Capitalism is kind of a misnomer. Free markets is a better description.
You have asked an interesting question that has a real and present answer
The answer is provided by the CCP in China. When Jack Ma came to America and made the Alibaba offering, the largest in the history of the New York Stock Exchange, it was the bridge too far.
Jack Ma and Alibaba and Tencent were reined in and became owned by agencies controlled by the CCP
Subsequently and presently, privately owned family and share selling corporations have been decreed unlawful by the CCP. Business ownership is now or going to be 51% by operatives of the CCP
This is real commentary and is not made up. Jack Ma is too far. For the record, he left China (escaped?) and is now said to be living in Tokyo. Jack Ma is one of the world’s finest businessmen and as such was no longer welcome in China
For the record, Alibaba is the Amazon for companies. You are a purchasing agent and need some part or anything, Alibaba has companies that will provide it. In America, we have Thomas Register that is the hardbound green volumes used to buy everything purchasing agents need
The term “capitalism” was almost unknown in the English world until first popularised by English translations of Das Kapital in 1867. This was the work of the father of communism, Karl Marx. The title was translated into English variously as The Capital or simply, Capital.
It was a derogatory term that the free market embraced.
The “free market” of the feudal years briefly discussed by the article wasn’t free as the peasants lived under the heavy hand of royalty.
Excellent article.
Note: In 1958 Cuba had the sixth highest per capita income in the world. Then Marxism happened. Today the average wage is 20 dollars a month. You cannot live on 20 dollars a month. Thus, the state controls distribution and subsidies of all aspects of the Cuban economy. This gives the state total control of its population. Today Cuba lives in poverty, fear and despair.
Note: Pre Chavez Venezuela had the highest standard of living in Latin America. Today the average wage is 33 dollars a month. You cannot live on 33 dollars a month. Thus, the state controls distribution and subsidies of all aspects of the Venezuelan economy. This gives the state total control of its population. Today Venezuela lives in poverty, fear and despair. It should be noted that those at the top in Venezuela and Cuba are of immense wealth stolen from the people.
Poverty, fear, corruption, and despair are built into a Marxist economy. It has always been so and always will be so.
The voluntary exchange of goods and services.
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