How do you define capitalism? I've always thought it was

Capitalism is state-sponsored usury

>>2340126
So.. Banks?

There are books written on this very question.

GO. READ. A. FUCKING. BOOK.

>>2340203
>Implying there is a uniform answer
>Implying everyone who has ever used the phrase capitalism has read and embraced the definition within that book

kys

>>2340117

OATS

>>2340212
My point is, OP should not have made this vague, sophomoric thread, which it takes some writers hundreds of pages to properly explain.

>>2340117
Like mercantilism, but without state sponsorship. Is this incredibly broad, and probably incorrect? Maybe, but it isn't completely wrong.

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>>2340212
>kys
チュ~

Capitalism is when labor is purchased directly. In other words, I'm not buying beaver pelts from you, I'm hiring you to go hunt beavers 9-5 and give me the pelts, which I will hopefully sell myself for more than I'm paying you. You might agree to this because you don't own your own beaver gun, or simply because you can't afford to risk a bad harvest and need the guaranteed paycheck.

>Do X and i'll give you money
>Okay
>*profit*

capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are owned privately.
people were free to exchange goods, or currency for essentially whatever was available to them for thousands of years before the advent of capitalism.

>>2341262
>people were free to exchange goods, or currency for essentially whatever was available to them for thousands of years before the advent of capitalism.
What are you talking about?

>>2340606
>hunt beavers 9-5
>can't afford to risk a bad harvest

I wonder why.

>>2341266
what i said wasn't that complex.
op said:
>I've always thought it was the freedom of choice between varying brands of goods and services in exchange for currency.
i was pointing out that people were able to do that for a long time before what would be considered a "capitalist" system emerged.

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>>2341234

>>2341316
i can guarantee that the capitalist is paying the worker less than what his work is worth, but the worker has no alternative because all capitalists must pay less than what the work is worth in order to make a profit.
t. not a communist

>>2341351
>capitalists must pay less than what the work is worth in order to make a profit
Why would the capitalist invest in a factory if they could not yield a profit?

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>>2341316

Let's turn this into an-cap meme thread.

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>>2341470

>>2340126
So Jews?

>>2341351
For a non-communist you surely hedge everything on the LTV

Capitalism is a system in which the means of production are privately owned and run for profit in a market economy and in which the dominant form of workplace relationship is wage labour.

>>2341398
he wouldn't.
which is why, in a capitalist system,it is necessary for the worker to be exploited, otherwise the capitalist can't make a profit.

>>2341543
How is the worker being exploited?

If a capitalist spends $150000 on a truck which makes $30 an hour on its routes and pays the driver $20 an hour, isn't that the equivalent of giving the driver 2/3 the share of his capital? The goodly capitalist is literally handing $100000 to the worker.

>>2340117
Capitalism is when production is done by the people, or at lease a private group. It also tends to mean that multiple competing private groups offer the same service, offering competition, but that's just a natural thing to happen under capitalism, not something that is inherent to the system itself.

>>2341709
to make a profit, you by definition have to pay a worker less than the value of the product they produced.

Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production, which can be enforced either by the rule of law or by the political influence.

Notice that in many countries, capitalism is increasingly ceasing to exist thanks to the state assuming a more interventionist role in the economy. If your property is conditioned by several rules and regulations, and can be taken of you by any break of these laws, then you don't own anything, but merely lease it from the state.

Few countries are actually capitalist by this standard.

>>2341757
>No countries are actually capitalist by this standard.
ftfy

>>2341757

not sure if this is a marxist or an ancap

>>2340117
A system that distributes goods and services through trade for capital, usually in the form of money, rather than distribution by force or state decree.

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This spooks me!

>>2340117
Capitalism is the combination of two concepts: private property and freedom.

>>2341470
Let's not.

>>2341351

>i can guarantee that the capitalist is paying the worker less than what his work is worth

The LTV is garbage, nobody accepts it, it's bad/pseudo science from the 19th century.

>>2340117
> egoism
> accumulation of wealth
> built in gamification

>>2340117
>>2341470
>>2341479
Why are leftypol memes all filled with SJW shit?