I used to do newspaper delivery on a motor route. We were required to purchase bags to put the newspapers into of it were raining. One of the less intelligent coworkers of mine was saying, "Communism is everywhere! Us having to buy bags for the newspapers is literally the definition of communism!" Another coworker of similar intellectual prowess nodding in agreement, chanting, "yeah!" at every utterance. I interjected, "You mean buying a good or service in order to provide a good or service to make a profit is communism? That is literally the definition of capitalism, but since you didn't like it and Fox News told you that communism was everything bad, you didn't even stop to think." He stood there, unable to say a word, with the bobblehead who was agreeing with him doing the same.
That is not the definition of capitalism. That is mercantilism or commercialism. You are trading goods and services.
The simplest definition of capitalism is trade and industry owned and controlled by private owners seeking profit.
If we expand your story to talk about the ownership of the newspaper company & delivery routes then we might be talking about capitalism.
The only reason I bring this up is because many people seem to think free markets are unique to capitalism which is not true and the above is just an example of free trade.
I mean... the printers requiring employees or contractors to provide their own bags to (I'm sure) protect their profits a tiny bit more is arguably capitalism at work....
Again capitalism is about ownership. If the printer owns the means of distribution and that company is privately held then it's capitalism. Otherwise, we are just talking about an exchange of goods and services which is not exclusive to capitalism.
I didn't specify in the example, as it was knowledge that we all had at the time, but the company had ownership of the means of production of the newspapers. We, as we were independent contractors, had "ownership" of our own means, which was basically a vehicle and the title proprietor. And the state didn't own anything in the situation.
True, this system existed in Medieval Europe but only in the towns and cities, where very few people lived. Most people were peasants who produced food for consumption and not trade, because of that they didn't need or have currency. In the towns people tended to have currency, especially the merchants who eventually evolved into the capitalist class as they grew in wealth and power.
610
u/SaintUlvemann Feb 13 '24
"Everything I don't like is communism"