What Is Capitalism?

Capitalism is an economic system that is based on the principle of free markets. The means of production and wealth is held by the private sector and the government intervention is minimal. Land, labor and capital are freely accessible to individuals and private corporations and the prices are determined by the market not the government. People have the right to choose a product that they want instead of being forced to buy a certain product. People have the right to own property and market is governed by the principles of demand and supply, only the goods demanded by the people are produced. Although some of the functions like infrastructure development are still the responsibilities of the government, it generally does not intervene in the market. Capitalism wants to have more profits and lower costs so they look for sources of production that may be even outside the home country.

Capitalism is an inherently expanding social order in which the goals and powers of profit-seeking private investors are the most important force shaping society.

Capitalists hate free markets, which force them to pass along technological advances in the form of lower prices.  To protect themselves from that, in the late 1800s, leading capitalists lobbied state legislatures in the USA to win the right to form the giant conglomerate corporations that have since been the major units of the system.  Thomas Edison explained this to The New York Times in 1892, when he was merging Edison Electric with rival Thomson-Houston Electric to form General Electric.

Capitalism presumes that the Earth can sustain endless economic expansion and resource consumption.