Wednesday, November 23, 2011

What to make of 'capitalism'

As an argument over semantics, this discussion is interesting just to see if I can come up with a good enough argument to convince you that the meaning I attribute to the word 'capitalism' is correct. Here it is: Ever since 1839 when the word 'capitalism' was first discussed in print and up to this very day, governments have been intervening in commerce, but, beginning with the so called 'Austrian school' and carried to this continent by Ludwig Von Mises and continued by Rothbard, a praxeological theory developed about how and why a free market works. Thereupon, the word 'capitalism' has taken on a new meaning because 1) a free market is not possible when there is government intervention and 2) the very essence of a free market is the use of capital derived from voluntary exchange.

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