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Economics Talk

Economics Part 1: American Capitalism - an overview

cdreid for Economics Talk

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Wednesday March 30, 2011 · 5:58 PM PDT

2011/03/30 · 17:58

This is the first of a series of diaries i hope to post with the intent of educating the users of dailykos normally not particularly interested in the subject.

We americans have a rather bizarre relationship with words. Ask most americans, even kossacks, what "capitalism" means and they will use words like "freedom" , "entrepreneur", "free enterprise. We even have people arguing that it is the prime component of democracy. The reality is capitalism, especially the american flavor, is anything but.

To put it in the most simple and intellectually accurate terms capitalism is the borrowing, lending, and trading of money aka capital. Capitalism at its purest has no interest in business, in goods, in consumers or factories. It has no interest in rules, regulation, fairness, or creation. At its roots capitalism is purely a subset of Usery.

If you state that of course many, for the most part ignorant or illogical people will scream til the windows shatter. You should wonder why that is as capitalism is , indeed, just a word. They'll scream that capitalism is at the heart of all that is good about the west. That it brought freedom to the slaves and equality to women (yes.. they will literally argue that). And this is a central problem of american politics.

Capitalism is the borrowing and lending of money.

(more below).

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