Comment by 🚀 stack
Re: "Question and Answer Thread Use this thread as a place to…"
Except that "capitalism" no longer means what it did when it was placed into the dictionary.
2025-10-09 · 7 months ago
4 Later Comments ↓
🦆 galup [OP/mod] · 2025-10-31 at 01:38:
@stack There's no misunderstanding. Anarchism in anarcho-capitalism is against having a leader in the area of politics. The term capitalism is used as it is strongly tied to private ownership as it's essential. Having this understanding of private ownership as the essential creates no contradiction in the terms being used together.
You may use free market if you prefer, but the case for capitalisms essential being private ownership is strong.
Without going into specific theorists that contribute to the knowledge of anarcho-capitalism such as Rothbard or Mises we can turn to popular dictionaries, etymology sites or wikipedia to gain an idea of it's essentials in popular conception:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism
"an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/capitalism
""condition of having capital;""
https://www.etymonline.com/word/capital#etymonline_v_53180
""a person's wealth," from Medieval Latin capitale "stock, property,""
https://etymologyworld.com/item/capitalism
"Capitalism is an economic system characterized by: Private ownership of capital"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_capitalism
"Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production."
As demonstrated. It's not hard to see that Capitalisms essential and core tenet is about ownership and property rights.
The idea that it's at odds with the "free market" and that Capitalism is essentially "a corrupt political scheme designed to suppress free market and reward cronies, enforced by men with guns." is quite unfounded even with your appeal that "Except that "capitalism" no longer means what it did when it was placed into the dictionary.". The dictionaries very much point to an essential other than the one characterised by you.
🚀 stack · 2025-11-01 at 18:00:
An appeal to authority wil not change my mind about what is around me.
I suppose it may be more accurate to say that capitalism is no more and we are trapped in an absurd corporate Marxism with fascist flourishes.
I don't particularly care what the propaganda machine calls it, but they use the word capitalism for this authoritarian system that is decoupled from supply or demand, uses fake money, employs asses to set prices and dictate social/economic policies and protects the rich at any cost.
🦆 galup [OP/mod] · 2025-11-01 at 18:27:
@stack apologies, I misunderstood what you meant when you said:
"Except that "capitalism" no longer means what it did when it was placed into the dictionary.".
Also it was not an appeal to authority. It was to show that you're the one that arbitrarily asserts a definition and insists upon it. The word has a particular established usage and meaning that has been identified consistently by those that have employed reason to come to their conclusion.
You decided to use the word capitalism to describe something other than what it's roots and essentials are.
🚀 stack · 2025-11-01 at 19:01:
@galup, you are right about the misuse of the term 'capitalism' as defined in dictionaries. However I insist that the original meaning is lost -- there is no free market anywhere in the world, all money is pure fiat, and artificial barriers to running a business form large, state-subsidised corporate walled gardens that function outside real economy and need no 'customers' except for show. Private ownership is severely restricted, regulated, and used as a tax money pump. It is not I who insists on calling this 'capitalism'.
Original Post
Question and Answer Thread Use this thread as a place to post some intial questions and answers.