Summary of "Free Market Capitalism" is Oxymoronic: The Origin of Capitalism

00:00:00 - 00:25:00

This video discusses the origins of capitalism and how it evolved from feudalism. It highlights the importance of the money monopoly, which is one of the four key monopolies in capitalism. The video argues that capitalism has always relied on state-supported privilege, and that free market solutions will not necessarily dissolve capitalism as an economic system.

• 00:00:00 In this video, Gary Chartier and Charles Johnson discuss the difference between capitalism and socialism, and how the two can be in opposition to each other. Chartier and Johnson explain that capitalism can be defined as a market-based economic system, while socialism is a system in which the means of production are owned by the government or a collective. They go on to say that historically, capitalism has been accompanied by state violence and the suppression of the working class.
• 00:05:00 The video discusses the history of capitalism and how it evolved from feudalism. The enclosure movement, which took place in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, was a push to make land that had formerly been communal and available to the public for grazing animals and growing food into privately owned land usually with walls and fences around it. This change resulted in many peasants being dispossessed, with the largest number of people affected being those working in wages. The labor market was distorted in certain periods, leading to a situation where peasants could be bought and sold like commodities.
• 00:10:00 In the 18th century, Britain began to experience an economic downturn, which led to an increase in the number of people who were trying to immigrate to the colonies. This increase in immigration led to an increase in the number of people who were being used as indentured servants, which in turn led to an increase in the number of people who were being used as slaves. Mercantilism and colonialism were two important policies which were used to create the modern capitalism we know today.
• 00:15:00 In this video, the author discusses the origins of capitalism and how it differs from other economic systems. He highlights the importance of the money monopoly, which is one of the four key monopolies in capitalism. The other three monopolies are the land monopoly, the tariff monopoly, and the patent and copyright monopoly. All of these monopolies help to protect capitalists from competition and maintain the economic system.
• 00:20:00 In this video, Benjamin Tucker argues that mutual banking, which would eliminate interest and usury on loans, would be a revolutionary step toward worker autonomy and co-ownership in the economy. Tucker also argues that capitalism has always relied on state-supported privilege, and that free market solutions will not necessarily dissolve capitalism as an economic system.
• 00:25:00 The theory of free market capitalism is oxymoronic because it presupposes a preference for private ownership of land, which would lead to the virtual ownership of the entire world by a small faction of its inhabitants. This would impair the right of contract and destroy the economic form of capitalism. The amount of state coercion, violence, and monopolism all have served historically to create the rule of workplaces society in the state by capitalists. The modern forms of property distribution in themselves represent large amounts of historical bloodshed and were critical in limiting worker autonomy. If any free market advocate doesn't deal with the inherent inequality produced by such state interference and distributions of property, their cries for a free market ring hollow.