Capitlism does not equal economy

Capitalism is one form of managing the economy.

It does equal our economy

It is one way to ration things of limited supply.

And its the way its been managed that lead us to where we are

Where every single country is.

Just because you buy and sell prayer books doesn't make it less of a market or less capitalistic.

It means you engage in trades of your own free will.

Yes were better off this way i agree with that

That's not what I'm saying.

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding about capitalism.

Why did you think one scenario constituted capitalism but not the other? Because of the type of things being traded?

Global trading

Id like to see that slowed down

The alterantive to trade is war

We never mentioned global trading, but there was hesitation from your side to call what I described in that latter scenario as capitalism. Why?

Cause its ingrained

I think trading goods between countries is good but not currency

But i want the value of human life to go up

You seemed to be quick to call an economy with a big entertainment system capitalism, but you seemed hesitant to call a country of ascetics, trading by the same principles, capitalistic.

I find that important.

It had appeared as if you had agreed with me on the neutral mechanics by which markets work and capitalism, but then you seemed to make a distinction as soon as only certain TYPES of goods were traded.

Why?

By trade I mean with the intermediary of currency, in all instances.

Well when a king rules over 100 people, each matter more to him

Yes, because there is a short supply of people.

When a king rules over 1 million, each matters less

Depends on what it is about them.

If the worth of their labor is to be priced, it's whatever the king is willing to exchange for it.

Well the king wants more people most of the time

And its wrong to try to stop that expansion

If one day of labor is worth as much as a keg of beer, then the price, whatever it is, will be about the same for the two.

I mean you need people for more than just the economy

That is capitalism, or a comonent of it.

There seems to be a lot of conflation with unrelated concepts, such as what type of rulership there is.

I think we often condemn capitalism not for what it really is but for the things we usually conflate it with, such as "greed", or "unnecessary spending".

I dont think its always greedy

Sometimes it is, but its a lot less damaging than if a goverment went greedy

It's not anything either way. That is what I have been trying to say all this time.

Prices are like temperatures on thermometers. You don't make it warmer outside by taking a lighter to the thermometer.

But that is what we do all the time, in effect, by messing with the prices, such as through minimum wage.

People don't value your labor more, relative to other goods of equal value, by artificially messing with the valuation of your labor.

I think there is a very, very fundamental misunderstanding of prices, markets, and capitalism.