Capital Punishment

"It was great the way her mind worked. No guilt, no doubt, no fear. None of my specialties. Just the shameless pursuit of immediate gratification. What a capitalist."
--Joel Goodson (Risky Business)

Capitalism, an economic system grounded in private ownership of the means of production, is public enemy #1 to socialists who want to abolish private property. Thru propaganda campaigns, they seek to paint capitalism in a negative light. By and large the propaganda campaign, which has been in force for about 100 yrs, has been pretty successful. My guess is that, even in the US, capitalism currently sparks negative connotations in 50% or more of Americans.

Reason suggests otherwise.

The progression goes like this:

1) Humans have nearly unlimited wants. Once basic needs are met, they pursue other wants. The quest for filling human desires never ends.

2) Nature in its raw form provides scarce means for basic subsistence--let alone the stuff capabile of fulfilling advanced human desires.

3) Creating a more abundant situation requires production--combining nature's raw materials with labor to produce consumable output.

4) Humans have an aversion to labor. They seek as much satisfaction as possible from the least amount of work.

5) Humans thus create tools that serve to reduce the amount of labor required for production. These labor saving devices are known as capital.

Capital is essential to improving labor related productivity, which equals the amount of output produced per unit of labor. Higher productivity is necessary to achieve a higher standard of living, which of course aligns with 1) above.

As such, individuals have been capitalists since cavepeople fabricated primative axes, knives, and other tools in the early days of human existence.

There should be nothing unnatural or undesirable about capital formation in the hands of individuals.