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[[Image:Tokyo Stock Exchange.jpg|thumb|Tokyo Stock Exchange]]

[[Image:Tokyo Stock Exchange.jpg|thumb|Tokyo Stock Exchange]]

'''Capitalism''' is a [[free market]] economic system based on private ownership and entrepreneurship. The investment of capital, and production, distribution, income, and prices are determined not by government (as in [[socialism]]) but through the operation of a competitive market where decisions are voluntary and private rather than regulated and mandated by government (see [[law of supply and demand]]).

'''Capitalism''' is the [[free market]] economic system based on the [[work ethic]], private ownership, [[innovation]] and [[entrepreneurship]]. The investment of capital, and production, distribution, income, and prices are determined not by government (as in [[socialism]]) but through the operation of a competitive market where decisions are voluntary and private rather than regulated and mandated by government (see, e.g., the [[law of supply and demand]]).

==Overview==

==Overview==

One self-regulating feature of capitalism is competition, which helps maintain fair market value for goods and services.  However, ''unrestrained'' or ''pure'' capitalism may sometimes create a positive feedback loop in which a small number of individual accumulations of capital grow ever larger, eventually becoming so few as to limit effective competition, thus ceasing to strictly be free-market capitalism.  In this regard, pure capitalism is unstable.  Modern political systems have developed regulation mechanisms in an attempt to render capitalism more stable, including anti-trust regulation, trade tariffs, etc.

One self-regulating feature of capitalism is competition, which helps maintain fair market value for goods and services.  However, ''unrestrained'' or ''pure'' capitalism may sometimes create a positive feedback loop in which a small number of individual accumulations of capital grow ever larger, eventually becoming so few as to limit effective competition, thus ceasing to strictly be free-market capitalism.  In this regard, pure capitalism is unstable.  Modern political systems have developed regulation mechanisms in an attempt to render capitalism more stable, including [[anti-trust]] regulation, trade [[tariff]]s, etc.

Since the fall of [[communism]], and the advent of information technology, capitalism is becoming increasingly widespread.

Since the fall of [[communism]], and the advent of information technology, capitalism is becoming increasingly widespread.

Smith goes on to describe how the productive powers of labor employed by the owner of a capital allow laborers to reproduce with a profit the value of their maintenance, over and above their own consumption, which then allows for an additional set of hands to be employed.<ref>Adam Smith, ''Wealth of Nations'', Book II, Chapter 3, Paragraph 22.</ref>  Smith observes labor is the original purchase price for all the wealth of the world,

Smith goes on to describe how the productive powers of labor employed by the owner of a capital allow laborers to reproduce with a profit the value of their maintenance, over and above their own consumption, which then allows for an additional set of hands to be employed.<ref>Adam Smith, ''Wealth of Nations'', Book II, Chapter 3, Paragraph 22.</ref>  Smith observes labor is the original purchase price for all the wealth of the world,

[[Image:Eco Pillars.jpg|right|400px|thumbnail|The [[free enterprise]] system in [[United States of America|America]] before [[liberals]], [[Republican in name only|rinos]], and/or members of the [[progressive movement]], such as President [[Barack Obama]], eroded America's [[economics|economic]] freedom and prosperity. Recently, President [[Obamunism|Barack Obama]] created [[National debt of the United States|massive Federal government debt.]] ]]

[[Image:Eco Pillars.jpg|right|400px|thumbnail|The [[free enterprise]] system in [[United States of America|America]] before [[liberals]], [[Republican in name only|RINOs]], and/or members of the [[progressive movement]], such as President [[Barack Obama]], eroded America's [[economics|economic]] freedom and prosperity. Former president [[Obamunism|Barack Obama]] created [[National debt of the United States|massive Federal government debt]], which upset the system.]]

{{Cquote|The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people. What is bought with money or with goods is purchased by labour, ²<ref>'Everything in the world is purchased by labour.'—Hume, 'Of Commerce,' in Political Discourses, 1752, p. 12</ref> as much as what we acquire by the toil of our own body. That money or those goods indeed save us this toil. They contain the value of a certain quantity of labour which we exchange for what is supposed at the time to contain the value of an equal quantity. Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; and its value, to those who possess it, and who want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.<ref>Adam Smith, ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', [http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html Book I, Chapter 5, Paragraph 2,] ''Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities'', First Edition 1776.</ref>}}

{{Cquote|The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people. What is bought with money or with goods is purchased by labour, ²<ref>'Everything in the world is purchased by labour.'—Hume, 'Of Commerce,' in Political Discourses, 1752, p. 12</ref> as much as what we acquire by the toil of our own body. That money or those goods indeed save us this toil. They contain the value of a certain quantity of labour which we exchange for what is supposed at the time to contain the value of an equal quantity. Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; and its value, to those who possess it, and who want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.<ref>Adam Smith, ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', [http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html Book I, Chapter 5, Paragraph 2,] ''Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities'', First Edition 1776.</ref>}}

Capitalist societies also generally have higher standards of living compared to their non-capitalist counterparts in terms of per capita GDP, education, healthcare, and poverty rates. [[China]], for instance, has been growing extremely prosperous since it began opening its economy to capitalism in the 1980s.

Capitalist societies also generally have higher standards of living compared to their non-capitalist counterparts in terms of per capita GDP, education, healthcare, and poverty rates. [[China]], for instance, has been growing extremely prosperous since it began opening its economy to capitalism in the 1980s.

However, capitalist societies also have seen progressively larger gaps between the upper and middle classes develop, such as the United States where the top twenty percent owned eighty-seven percent of the financial wealth and eighty percent of the total wealth, despite having the largest GDP in the world.

However, some capitalist societies also have seen progressively larger gaps between the upper and middle classes develop, such as the United States where the top twenty percent owned eighty-seven percent of the financial wealth and eighty percent of the total wealth, despite having the largest GDP in the world.

 

 

A [[free market]], non-governmental system can pave the way for [[economic]] domination and control by a stateless, undemocratic [[oligarchy]] more powerful than any [[government]].<ref>[[TCN]]: [https://youtu.be/z9BzVBDgFo0 This Video Explains a Lot About the Elites Who Want You Dead], Aug 16, 2026.</ref> The [[Davos party]] or [[Epstein Class]], for example.

== Quotes ==

== Quotes ==

* [[Austrian economics]]

* [[Austrian economics]]

* [[Capital]]

* [[Capital]]

* [[Free Enterprise]]

* [[Free Enterprise]]

* [[Ludwig von Mises]]

* [[Ludwig von Mises]]

==External links==

==External links==

*[http://www.capmag.com Capitalism Magazine]

*[http://www.capmag.com Capitalism Magazine]

*[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/capitalism/ What Liberals Say - Category: Capitalism], [[Accuracy In Media]]

*[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/capitalism/ What Liberals Say - Category: Capitalism], [[Accuracy In Media]]

==References==

==References==

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[[Category:Economics]]

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[[Category:Libertarianism]]

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[[Category:Anti-Communism]]

[[Category:Anti-Communism]]