No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan, 1860 – 1925,
an American lawyer, statesman, and politician, three times the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States.

The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods.
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Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest [sic] of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
John Maynard Keynes, 1883 – 1946,
a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory, as well as on many governments’ fiscal policies.  

Have we read or heard the following statement by Winston Churchill, the statesman who led Great Britain through World War 2?   

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.  

Are we aware of the following variation, from a Web site?   

It has been said that capitalism is the worst form of economic organization except all those others which have been tried from time to time.  

Does that mean that we should be content with what we have?  

First, we note that there is more than one form of capitalism, each defined by the role of the state and the role of individuals.  This essay deals with American capitalism, which is the most powerful on the planet.  

Second, we note that American capitalism has gone through different definitions, as the role of the state has expanded and contracted, as the role of individuals has expanded and contracted.  We are going to explore American capitalism in the present day.  

How might we define present-day American capitalism?  

·        The profit motive, with some restrictions, is the basis for our prosperity.

·        On the other hand, the profit motive is the basis for our predicament:  health-care deficiencies, dependence on fossil fuels, insufficient safeguards against unhealthful foods and products, subordination of flora and fauna until they become endangered, even extinct.

·        There is a tension between government and private enterprise, with the relative strengths changing, but with private enterprise the stronger, at least since the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.

·        There is a tension between small enterprises and large enterprises, whether these be the family farm versus large agribusiness or small urban business versus large corporations.

·        Planned obsolescence becomes ever more important, expressed through short use life or disposability of products, because people must be kept employed.

·        To sustain our economy, we must create more wealth;  to create more wealth, we must open markets;  globalization opens markets.  Sustaining our economy through increased wealth creation is necessary because of population increase and the aging of the population, meaning that more people are becoming less productive.  

It is with this layman’s definition that we will be looking at American capitalism, a not-so-divine comedy.   

December 27, 2007