Is Capitalism Dead?

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A decade or two ago, we declared the End of History with the collapse of the Soviet Union--meaning that capitalism had triumphed over communism, and everything had been decided--there was to be no more discussion on the issue.

Now, it would seem that capitalism were on its death knell.

So, is capitalism dead? If so, what will replace it?

So long as their is human greed there will be champions of the concept of capitalism.

'Capitalism' is a very broad term. It can be applied to any system in
which accumulation of a valued resource leads to greater accumulation
of said resource.

That is a process that takes place in a variety of very different situations
and the fate of one is not necessarily linked to the fate of another.
Capitalism is not one kind of thing that either lives or dies.

Your question would be better if it is a little more specific.
i.e. "Are large scale, international businesses dead?" or
"Is the trading of company assets dead?"

Not dead but tired and bleeding. In the process of giving itself a kick up the backside.

I wouldn't say so. Communism wasn't able to sustain itself among the majority of the world's governments who followed neo-liberalist economic policies. US interests are very broad and despite their country's economic downturn, it doesn't mean capitalism is dead. A lot of US businessmen are still making huge sums of money by selling off US interests. If anything, it means the main capitalist players are simply changing. The US wasn't always at the fore as a creditor nation. Before World War I it was Britain, Germany & France. Who is to say who it'll be next?

Nonsense. The Great Depression didn't kill capitalism, and neither will the current recession. We've seen worse, and the economy will soon enough recover, and when that happens people will stop speculating on the death of the most successful economic system in the history of mankind.

It depends on how you define success though. If you're talking about sustainability or longevity barter trumps it in both cases.

Not remotely.

Um... no, not really. Barter is terribly, terribly inefficient and can't be sustained very well without an incredible infrastructure to facilitate finding a double coincidence of wants. Even today, with the Internet and so many other advances in communication and networking, barter is not a practical system for most things.

I think capitalism is far from dead, but hopefully we will be careful to avoid the extremes of capitalism in the future (if we remember that is). I guess the ideal situation is a careful balance between some aspects of socialism and full on capitalism, but I don't know whether we are wise enough to ever reach this balance or keep swinging between the two (that is assuming western civilisation keeps going as it is and doesnt destroy itself/get destroyed).

Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Well, we still have some believers.

I wonder what Soviet citizens thought about the impending end of communism?

the system of rewards and penalties in capitalism keeps it viable...it basically fixes itself except in cases where there's outside intervention in the process like how the government is currently dumping a ton of money into failing companies that should be failing for their bad practices.

Like any system it will be rattled and shaken with chaos, but if it is strong enough it will simply adapt itself, if not, then it will change. A bit like a living organism's evolution.

I think, maybe at most they might add a few neo-'s in in economic jargon and a few minor characteristics might change until another chaotic event reshapes it yet again, but it will still be Capitalism in essence.

Edit: I thought I might add, purely for the drama effect, that Capitalism is very much alive.

Last edited by Puppet on 12 Dec 2008, 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

drama queen.

So you're basing success on efficiency? Barter is as old as the human race, still practiced today, and would still be viable after the complete collapse of civilization I'd call that pretty successful.

Capitalism is nice but it only works because we have the stability and infrastructure needed to support it. If a government goes down the drain or the means of coin/printing production is destroyed or inoperable your money becomes worth only the paper it's printed on in a barter trade.