On another board, I read a bit about the distinctions between these two. Like many people, I suppose, I had just mistakenly equated them. What say you guys/gals here? I know there are some serious "economists" here....
It is the same. Free enterprise was coined as a pr term. I suppose someone could make something up. I remember looking up "capitalism" in an ecyclopedia. It said: "see free enterprise system".
The existing alternatives suck, for the most part, but capitalism sucks almost as much ... we need new ideas, better ideas.
new ideas will probably upend the present pecking order. short of a calamitous economic failure, its not going to happen
similar to what bucket said. here i stole and changed a churchill quote: it has been said that capitalism is the worst form of economy except all the others that have been tried.
Capitalism is a blessing, yet a conundrum. I'lll keep it simple. It is great, because as far as basic goods and services, any and everyone can have access to it and gain substantial profit from it. Then, in some industries you have monopolies, where someone company gets so powerful and such control over products and goods with subtle influences over political arenas, yet I don't think it would be possible for one gigantic company to gain complete control over a certain industries unless it had substantial amount of money...with influence and a little help from the government. Modern US, we do practice captialism for the most part, but as the same team we do have alot of practices that are very socialistic. One example, that comes to mind is how the Fannie Mae Foundation and Indymac were saved by the government. Some people think it was good thing, while others see as being very much against the principles of free market. Since, the government (or Federal Reserve) is helping a bigger interest. Isn't that a bit unfair competition wise? I will use the s-word again, socialistic.
Of course, the Federal Reserve is not really part of the government, but it's an official-sounding name...
