Well stated distinction which I’ll be sure to make when speaking with those less keen on Capitalism..
“The problem is that the word Capitalism has been tarred by association with cronyist economies.
Americans think “free enterprise”, a lot of other countries think “wealthy oligarchy that uses its influence to exploit others”.
IMO this is what causes a lot of the animosity and confusion surrounding such statements.”
Thanks to you both, I'll try to use Cronyism to replace Crony Capitalism when I try to make the point that they are both Fascism.
Capitalism requires a reasonable amount of free enterprise and free competition to be properly labeled "Capitalism".
When Marx coined the term “capitalism”, he didn’t intend it as a compliment.
Free marketers took up the term in the 20th century and used the term first as an ironic badge of honor, then as a neutral descriptive term.
The left still uses it in its original Marxian sense: a system in which the owners of capital exploit the working class, who according to Marxist-Leninist theory, in fact generates all economic value.
For this reason, when defending free market principles, we should be wary of using the term “capitalism”. It bolsters the claim of our left opponents that capitalism is just another ideology or “ism”. They can then claim the post ideological mantle (e.g., “I’m not for ideology; I want to do what works. And I’m against excessive income inequality”).