People do not understand what capitalism means
Capitalism does not means being ruled by people having money nor the government favoring certain people to have money (that last one, actually, is the consequence of economy planning).
I keep finding troubling mixed references to fascism and capitalism, as if they were the same when they are actually the opposite.
If you check PoliticalCompass.org you could see they match Hitler and fascism as a “centrist” because they graph left and right as economic models, left being planning (socialism) and right being free-market (capitalism).
But what does capitalism even means then?
noun
cap·i·tal·ism | \ ˈka-pə-tə-ˌliz-əm , ˈkap-tə- \
Definition of capitalism
: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
So when people defines 2008 bailouts as “capitalism in its purest form” I fail to see it. Was that investment determined by private decision? Was the distribution of that good (the bailouts) determined by competition in a free market?
No. It was decided by a central institution, by a state institution, by politicians. It’s the contrary of what capitalism actually is because a central part of capitalism is having a free market.
The word you’re looking for is corporatism.
Not socialism? Well, you see, the advantage here is that I’m not a politician so I don’t have to play to be visceral with what I’m saying. I don’t need to inject fear or anger in you. The world is not black or white. Corporatism is using the State to favor some professional and industrial groups being used as political representation.
So now you can read articles like this from VICE and not be fooled by blissful ignorance being spread with such confidence.