First off, a great comment, I enjoyed reading it. Bringing some clearity to the meaning of "capitalism" is indeed a pressing necessity.
> I'll argue that "capitalism" is about transforming society across time by deploying large amounts of capital.
That definition of capitalism doesn't seem to clearly separate it from socialism though. If we combine it with this quote:
> Stalin's great legacy was very rapid industrialization and technology development ... Post-Mao China has been out-capitalizing everybody else
we reach the conclusion that capitalism can be practiced in socialists settings, indeed "deploying large amounts of capital" is quite normal for socialism. The only variables are the amount of capital available for deployment and the goals and professionalism of its managers.
So, the definition has to be augmented with something about the functioning of the market and the effects of that on distribution. I can't tell you what exactly because I don't burden myself with defining capitalism, or socialism for that matter, I view them more as points on a continuum, multiple points for each.
> I'll argue that "capitalism" is about transforming society across time by deploying large amounts of capital.
That definition of capitalism doesn't seem to clearly separate it from socialism though. If we combine it with this quote:
> Stalin's great legacy was very rapid industrialization and technology development ... Post-Mao China has been out-capitalizing everybody else
we reach the conclusion that capitalism can be practiced in socialists settings, indeed "deploying large amounts of capital" is quite normal for socialism. The only variables are the amount of capital available for deployment and the goals and professionalism of its managers.
So, the definition has to be augmented with something about the functioning of the market and the effects of that on distribution. I can't tell you what exactly because I don't burden myself with defining capitalism, or socialism for that matter, I view them more as points on a continuum, multiple points for each.