Capitalism

The word capitalism has become unusable. When most people hear the word capitalism, they think of the current system of collusion between business and government, collusion between business and the military and a financial system that privatises profits and socialises losses. The technically correct name for the current system is mercantilism or fascism, but those words have long been forgotten. Most people now use the word capitalism to describe this kind of system. So when Christians try to defend capitalism, people read them as defending the current system, so they lose credibility. Putting the words pure, or biblical, ore free-market on the front does not help, because the meaning of the word capitalism has gone beyond the point of no return.

The economic concept of capital is important. The development and production of capital equipment increased human productivity and allowed us to escape from subsistence living. So the way that capital is created and who should own it and how owners should be rewarded for it are really important questions. However, those issues just get lost in any debate about the morality of capitalism.

So I prefer not to use the word capitalism. When describing the a biblical approach to economic development, I try to be more precise about what the bible teaches. I try to explain clearly how an economic system that is consistent with the scriptures would function. This system (a dangerous word too) would be very different from what we have now and it cannot be encapsulated in any –ism, including capitalism and socialism.