by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
This “capitalism” is only attractive to parasites, predators, kleptocrats, legalized looters, embezzlers, fraudsters and all those insiders whose palms get greased along the way.
Back of the envelope definition of classical capitalism:
1. Transparency in markets, including pricing, information on quality and reliability of products, sellers and buyers, and of rules of conduct and rights governing all participants;
2. Risk is tightly bound to reward, i.e. everyone has skin in the game, those who lose are forced to absorb the entire loss.
3. Open competition, i.e. no monopolies or cartels limiting supply or setting prices;
4. Free flow of capital and labor;
5. Everyone pays the same rates of taxes, duties and fees on every transaction.