Capitalism

I posted this question on my Facebook page and it sparked quite a controversial discussion.

Interesting to see how property investors view it as property investing is retaliated to capitalism.

Is capitalism a tool that allows ordinary people (those that have not been born rich) to achieve wealth?

 

Yes - provided they have the right mindset. I've know a few unassuming people who did quite well to build on their average incomes. They'd do better if they were more organised though.

 

Absolutely. It's just harder if you don't have the social capital behind you that comes from being brought up in the middle class. A lot harder... Or perhaps unlikely would be a better word to use than harder.

 

Is it a tool? Yes. Is it a good tool for the poor to become rich? Meh. That said I haven't seen a better tool.

On a side note, is this capitalism you speak of the one we are practicing here in Australia at the moment? Or is it closer to when economists first invented the term?
before the welfare state, corporations that were bigger than countries, when women and black people weren't thought of as people in a legal and economic sense?

 

Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand? This form of capitalism does not lend itself well to the poor making it rich.

On a side note, corporations have been bigger than countries since corporations have existed. In fact they used to run countries. Think the British East India Company: Completely privately owned by shareholders and it ruled vast areas on the Indian subcontinent, it even had its own army... And yet we complain about the supermarkets.