Capitalism In America,
Socialism vs Capitalism,
Capitalism Defined
Socialism vs Capitalism In America
And Capitalism Defined
CAPITALISM has Gotten a Bad Name in America today because it’s so watered down with socialist & communo-fascist baggage.
The 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto was published by Karl Marx in 1848, over 150 years ago. It reveals the degeneration of the Original American Paradigm into the “modern” authoritarian, crony-corporate, statist mob called the United States, and now controlled by the transnational, crony-corporate, technocratic, globalist elites.
Good Old Abe Lincoln began implementing Marxs’ Communistic & Fascist principles in America via the Civil War, the 14th Amendment, and other such federal initiatives and policies. …
Did Karl Marx Name It “Capitalism”?
Capitalism Defined
It’s no wonder there is so much confusion with the word capitalism today. Legend has it that Marx is actually the first one to coin the term “capitalism.” And when he was referring to capitalism, he based his insights on what was going on at the time in the world of business. … And it wasn’t all that good.
Europe was still WAY behind America in shedding its royalist background. In fact, they still have a lot of it, given the worship of the royal families and their obvious power and wealth. Back then, much of “business” was based on favoritism from the kings & queens of Europe. Special privileges were granted to selected businessmen, such as many pages of regulations on things like … how to sew a sweater!
And if you did not comply with such regulations, you got in trouble with the king & his royal court. All these regulations served to put major restraints on creativity, innovation and productivity. Real wealth production was very slow. And of course, most wealth (of which there was NOT yet that much of) was diverted to the hands of the king, his royal court, and the special interest businessmen who in turn backed the king in his many questionable endeavors.
The Little Guy stood little chance of getting ahead in such an economic environment, as it was driven by statist politics, in turn, driven by the royal families. There was so many restrictions on trade, that wealth could not be produced anywhere near its potential. So the average person, MOST persons, lived in poverty. There WAS no “middle class” to speak of.
It was in that highly regulated and “unnatural” environment that Marx made his observations about “capitalism.”
Marx did not see that capitalism would soon evolve to be a FAR more beneficial institution for the Little Guy IF they could keep the top-down, statist politics & economic controls OUT of the way.
And America was the first country on Earth to implement such non-statist policies to any great and lasting extent. Most of the entire world lived under the thumbs of kings, pharaohs, emperors, warlords, and such.
That’s the kind of “capitalism” Marx was describing. He was unfamiliar with how the Free Enterprise Capitalist systems would evolve and dominate IF the centralized authorities could be kept at bay.
And it was the STATIST kind of capitalism that Marx and Engles wrote about. And it was the STATIST kind of capitalism, NOT the free market kind, that untold numbers of students learned about in the Universities of America over the following decades, and still do to this day.
The Economic Miracle that true free-enterprise, free-market economics, without the interference from the centralized state, eventually produced did not really get going strong till the middle of the 19th century. When Marx started writing, Europe was still way behind in the potential soon available when they shed the albatross of statist, political control over the wealth production of the country.
Yet over time, many “modern” capitalists eventually decided they preferred the statist kind of capitalism because their markets and profits and power were then protected by … The State! One of the very things we fought to overthrow by way of the American Revolution was being reinvented back into America by the elite business interests.
Once they achieved wealth, they figured out how to protect it by buying off the politicians who made the laws and regulations. And these were written to protect the interests of these ANTI-free enterprise, ANTI-market capitalists.
We now tend to call them “crony corporatists” because it was in great part the highly statist corporate structures that opened the door for big business to be regulated by The State, for the benefit of the business people who could afford the high costs of complying with high levels of regulation. And could afford to buy off politicians.
That put “The Little Guy” at a BIG disadvantage, and made it VERY difficult for “two guys in a garage” to come up with products that could compete with the already established businesses. This provided insulation from free-market forces for the established businesses, who did not have to maintain as high a level of often risky innovation, creativity, and then productivity.
So when Marx was talking about “capitalism,” he was mostly talking about Crony-Corporatism or Crony Capitalism. …
He was NOT talking about the Free-Enterprise kind of Capitalism that thrived in America for the first hundred or so years of its existence.
Trouble is, the Crony-Corporatists have taken back over, and much, if not most, of business and economics today in America is controlled by them.
So when having a conversation with someone, and talking about capitalism, you have to make sure the word you’ve got capitalism defined correctly. Or rather, you need to agree with your conversation partner WHICH definition of “capitalism” you’re using.
Is it the free-enterprise, free-market form of capitalism? Or the statist, politically controlled, crony capitalism?
And before you jump on the idea of “unfettered free markets,” we’ll get to that.
But the short answer is Common Law. THAT was the moral institution restraining “evil capitalists” until the statist, crony-corporate capitalists figured out how to get rid of the common law, and replace it with a legal system more agreeable with their motives. … But we’ll get to that later.
Socialism vs Capitalism
If The People of today don’t like what they see in “capitalism” as practiced today, it’s NOT because of “capitalism” as originally conceived and implemented in America a few centuries ago. NO, it is, in great part, because our “modern” (actually a return to ancient primitivism) economic system has fully adopted ALL the Planks & Principles of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. You can find it ALL over the Internet. Read it. It’s ALL here in America today. …
Google: communist manifesto
But here is the core list of planks, with a short commentary, from:
http://laissez-fairerepublic.com/tenplanks.html
1. Abolition of private property in land and application of all rents of land to public purpose.
The courts have interpreted the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868) to give the government far more “eminent domain” power than was originally intended. Under the rubric of “eminent domain” and various zoning regulations, land use regulations by the Bureau of Land Management property taxes, and “environmental” excuses, private property rights have become very diluted and private property in lands, vehicles, and other forms are seized almost every day in this country under the “forfeiture” provisions of the RICO statutes and the so-called War on Drugs.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
The 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913 (which some scholars maintain was never properly ratified), and various State income taxes, established this major Marxist coup in the United States many decades ago. These taxes continue to drain the lifeblood out of the American economy and greatly reduce the accumulation of desperately needed capital for future growth, business starts, job creation, and salary increases.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Another Marxian attack on private property rights is in the form of Federal & State estate taxes and other inheritance taxes, which have abolished or at least greatly diluted the right of private property owners to determine the disposition and distribution of their estates upon their death. Instead, government bureaucrats get their greedy hands involved.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
We call it government seizures, tax liens, “forfeiture,” Public “law” 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of “terrorists” and those who speak out or write against the “government” (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
The Federal Reserve System, created by the Federal Reserve Act of Congress in 1913, is indeed such a “national bank” and it politically manipulates interest rates and holds a monopoly on legal counterfeiting in the United States. This is exactly what Marx had in mind and completely fulfills this plank, another major socialist objective. Yet, most Americans naively believe the U.S. of A. is far from a Marxist or socialist nation.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state.
In the U.S., communication and transportation are controlled and regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established by the Communications Act of 1934 and the Department of Transportation and the Interstate Commerce Commission (established by Congress in 1887), and the Federal Aviation Administration as well as Executive orders 11490, 10999 — not to mention various state bureaucracies and regulations. There is also the federal postal monopoly, AMTRAK and CONRAIL — outright socialist (government-owned) enterprises. Instead of free-market private enterprise in these important industries, these fields in America are semi-cartelized through the government’s regulatory-industrial complex.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improve-ment of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
While the U.S. does not have vast “collective farms” (which failed so miserably in the Soviet Union), we nevertheless do have a significant degree of government [AKA corporate, as an inherent part of government control] involvement in agriculture in the form of price support subsidies and acreage allotments and land-use controls. The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture. As well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
We call it the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two “income” family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920’s, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000. And I almost forgot. … The Equal Rights Amendment means women should do all work that men do including the military and since passage it would make women subject to the draft.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
We call it the Planning Reorganization Act of 1949, zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public “law” 89-136.
10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.
People are being taxed to support what we call ‘public’ schools, which train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based “Education” .
And, the United States* “Education” system has fully perverted the original idea of “capitalism” in the minds of its unknowing and unsuspecting students. And actually, the U.S. “education” system is actually, primarily, a political indoctrination system.
The teachings pit socialism versus capitalism very directly and antagonistically.
* BTW, the terms “America” and “United States” have become almost diametrically opposed. The morals & principles of what we used to call “America” have been fully perverted into, in many cases, their polar opposites, their mirror images of the “United States.” And THAT is one BIG reason life in the United States is now the nearly Exact Opposite of what it was envisioned as a few hundred years ago by the Founding Generation of America.
(For those stuck on the idea of discrediting the Founding Generation for being a bunch of racists and slaveholders, the REAL history gives a MUCH different picture.)
If people don’t like Capitalism, it’s because what we have today in the United States — formerly known as America — is a bare-bones “capitalistic framework,” but heavily infiltrated with Communist / Socialist principles.
Capitalism Defined: an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
In capitalism, the means of production stay within the full control of individual human beings freely participating in the marketplace without control or interference by The State.
Their moral behavior WAS controlled by the Common Law which had evolved over a few thousand years as Western Civilization developed. It was a bottom-up, grassroots, de-centralized form of law developed to escape the top-down, centralized forms of law emanating from the kings, pharaohs or emperors.
TRUE Free Market, Free Enterprise Capitalism barely survives at the federal level today, and is only marginally better at the state level. …
It is, to a great degree, ANTI-American, ANTI-Free Market, PSEUDO-“Capitalism” we’ve had for MANY DECADES now, at least at the federal levels.
THAT’S what people don’t like about this “thing” they call capitalism but barely resembles Capitalism as originally integrated into American life over 400 years ago. …
Yet at the grass-roots level, free-enterprise capitalism still has some presence in America. It is ONLY that remnant of free-market capitalism that keeps America chugging along, even if under a heavy regulatory burden preventing or slowing down MUCH productivity and innovation in America.
History of Capitalism In America
In the very early 1600s, American Settlers from Europe quickly discovered how BAD, Destructive & DEADLY collectivism, socialism, etc. was and is to this very day.
In Plymouth Colony in 1620, they TRIED to use collectivist farming to grow food but kept running out, and mass starvation often ensued. Too many people were not producing enough for even themselves, let alone a surplus for others.
Then-Governor Bradford decided to switch all farming to private production. No forced or “socialized” sharing, as is true of collectivist systems. Everyone’s food production was on their own. And it all turned around. Starvation pretty much ended.
https://mises.org/library/great-thanksgiving-hoax-1
Like it or not, Human Nature dictates that for the most part, the number of truly self-sacrificing people who work for the greater good is in the minority. Most people respond best to personal and individual incentives. And too many people will free-load off others if they see the opportunity.
That’s one reason why individualist systems are far more productive than collectivist systems.
IF there ever has been, or even COULD, be a kinder, gentler form of socialism or collectivism than has ever existed before on Earth, NO ONE has ever demonstrated it yet, EXCEPT, possibly, at THE MOST localized, decentralized levels, in very small communities. In such cases, if the people are very like-minded toward such a collectivist lifestyle, then okay.
But once you get more diversity (the REAL kind of diversity, not the pseudo-diversity so much promoted by far-leftists today) differences of opinion on how people should live their lives become incompatible with truly collectivist living.
Problem is, at a bigger scale, those prone toward the collectivist / socialist mindset start thinking YOU, and eventually, EVERYONE, should be in full agreement with them, and if you are NOT, then something is WRONG with you, and you need to be censured, ridiculed, contained … or even killed.
This is what led places like the old Soviet Union to develop their re-education camps. And for those who could not be re-educated? Well …
“You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” ~ Stalin, a Ruler of the USSR.
In the mind of the true collectivist, YOU, the Individual, cannot be allowed to interfere with their ANTI-individual, pro-collectivist mindset.
Then, in the late 1700s, The People of America, also decided to get “The King” (of England & America) OUT of their lives and tried to keep the soon-to-be-initiated United States government OUT of their lives too. They opted for VERY DE-Centralized Free Markets and Individual Initiatives rather than collectivist politics and economic principles.
THAT is, in great part, why America was, and Americans were, so successful, so prosperous, and made great achievements like ending slavery.
The Impetus of the INDIVIDUAL toward greater Creativity, Innovation & Productivity was finally, after many thousands of years, and a lot of repressions, fully (or mostly) UNLEASHED ! ! !
In (relatively) very short order, America became the Land Of The Free & “Unlimited” Opportunity and people from all over the world tried to move here and BECOME Americans!
This went pretty well through the turn of the 19th to 20th Century. The largest expansion of individual prosperity in known history occurred. Many problems of survival were near eliminated by advanced in food production, health care, sanitation, and so on.
The Middle Class was forming and growing and did so till the 1980s or so. Then …
Return Of Statism
Crony-Corporate-Capitalism
But the ANTI-Free Enterprise “corporate interests” eventually and quietly brought the Top-Down, highly Centralized State back into America’s economic life to get special interest favors protected by The State, a major element of fascism and REAL Communism.
This was launched in great part by the 14th Amendment, an outgrowth of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln’s administration, including the military, employed a number of European Socialists. It was Lincoln who fired the first federal-level shot at returning America to a top-down, centralized, collectivist, statist entity.
He did this at the behest of his employers. He was the highest-paid attorney in the state of Illinois. He did legal work for the big railroads, canal builders, and others we would now call “corporate interests.” Although they were actually trusts. In those days, Americans did NOT want corporations in America. They did NOT want a return of the special interest business deals such as existed under the Kings of England and Europe.
But Abe Lincoln paved the way to convince Americans that their very nature was the opposite of what a few generations believed. And he moved America toward the top-down, centralized political and economic systems we had fought the Revolution to get away from.
And to solve a problem where southern agrarians no longer wanted to be held hostage to the economic interests of the northern industrialists, the south tried to leave the Union.
Lincoln punished them severely for that, costing America, on both sides of the conflict, at very least 650,000 American lives and uncountable losses in property damage. And decades of restricted freedoms in the Southern states. Slavery was already on the way out, but the results of the Civil War included a new kind of “slavery” America lived with for many more decades.
Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto were being quietly implemented in America!
So now, the Blatant Evils of Centralized, Collectivist, Fascistic Communism (double redundant!) have for MANY decades now been overshadowing & dominating what little is left of the DE-Centralized, Free Enterprise Capitalism of Old. It is only the remaining remnants of that original, more purist form of TRUE Free Enterprise Capitalism preventing us from descending into the travesties of the highly centralized USSR, Maoist China, Venezuela, and other such Collectivist Disasters. …
WATCH OUT for the Likes of AOC!
(Alexandria Occasio-Cortez).
THEY are among THE WORST dangers to your future, at least as far as politics go, and the future of all those who go that route. …
And for those of you who believe in the alleged European Socialist Model so loved by Bernie Sanders? THINK AGAIN!
What’s left of those countries (and they’re descending into economic & social destruction now too) STILL have VERY strong capitalist elements keeping their Economic Engine going. But as Venezuelans are finding out, when the economy and politics go too far over toward the Collectivist end of the scale, the END is only a matter of time. Pretty soon, people start starving to death, which is already happening in Venezuela and has many times in other countries over history.
Thank You for Reading About Socialism vs Capitalism in America, and our ideas of capitalism defined.
That You For Reading,
David Scott Lynn (DSL*)
*DSL: Dynamics of Social Law