Case for Capitalism

[Volobjectitarian]

Originally Posted by jate88

Do you have a source for your claim?

Sure, four or five millennia of human history. On self-interest driving individual behavior, 350+ years of writing on human behavior and the human condition within various societies that have occurred since the Scottish Enlightenment.

You could also read Plato and Aristotle as primers, maybe some of the classicists going back to the Renaissance.

Wasn't aware I was writing a term paper and needed to footnote general history. Have you provided a bibliography for your claims?

[Avondalist]

I don't think capitalism is good or bad, I think it just is.

The word "capitalism" was popularized by Karl Marx to define the status quo in the mid-19th century, mostly as a pejorative. So arguing the merits of "capitalism" puts you behind the 8-ball, as the terms of the debate have been defined to cast capitalism in a negative light.

But free enterprise and private property rights have a much older lineage. They are almost impossible to outlaw, and terrible things happen when they are outlawed to greater and lesser degrees.

That said, private property ownership and free enterprise have a darker tinge. Not everyone is equally capable of participating in these systems. Moreover those who excel accrue momentum that is hard to break, especially when compound interest is involved. Add in the morally dubious (yet I believe, ultimately necessary) institution of inheritance, and you have a system ripe for abuse.

Again, I think all of these bad aspects of capitalism are necessary. Our species is an apex predator, and we would overrun the world and destroy the ecosystem if we could not keep ourselves in check. Given that capitalist exploitation is often made possible by surplus population, I see it as a necessary check on the human population.