Useful Fools

This post was created as a short reference defining characteristic the relationship between Capitalism and governing ideologies.

Capitalism is an economic ideology. It is often mistakenly placed in the same category as governing ideologies that may contain complete economic ideologies, such as Marxist-Leninism or Fascism. It functions under almost all kinds of governments and governing ideologies, but works optimally with the following government and social characteristics:

1. Strong legal and societal recognition of property rights (this is something too many environmentalists fail to understand)
2. Personal freedom with the minimum level significantly less than seen in the US (e.g. Singapore or China)
3. A transparent government that supports the concept of corporations and keeps crime at a low enough level
4. A transparent legal system which delivers the best possible approximation of equality under the law in both criminal and civil law
5. Low levels of governmental corruption (which is really a side effect of #’s 1-4. In general, the more regulation, the more corruption.
6. Not overly high taxation of corporations or individuals - put another way, government spending needs not be too large a part of the economy
7. A minimal regulatory environment - one that meets not overly ambitious social goals with overall system efficiency.