Rebranding Capitalism as Voluntarism

I have long contended that “Capitalism” is a Communist buzzword meant to discredit and obfuscate, dividing the worker and the business owner. In reality the workers and business owners are in a mutually beneficial relationship, as long as there is no coercion. The businessperson takes on risk via loans, often for millions of dollars, which he uses to pay workers. The workers take on no risk except termination, and receive a steady pay. Both have a goal to increase the business’ success as it ensures continuing income and promotion for the workers and growth in money for the owner. Both are free to leave and fire as stipulated in the agreement.

Now, that is the core of the issue. Voluntarism, voluntary free trade, or free trade, is all that Capitalism is. We needn’t call it Capitalism. That was the actual rebranding. What we have seen is the imperialist inclination to destroy the merchant classes, which happened in the West and the East, time and time again. The very reason is that mercantilist, free trade lifts people out of poverty and that threatens the people in power. People, left to their own devices, make agreements with each other about work, and pay, and all benefit. It’s merely freedom of association.

The benefit of free trade is that both parties benefit. For example, I have 5 dollars and you have a toy car. I benefit more with the toy car than with my 5 dollars (assume I am a toy car collector), and you benefit more with the 5 dollars than with my toy car (you’ve been eyeing a bag of Doritos in the 7-11). Therefore we trade and both have a benefit, a win-win, so to speak. The sum of these win-wins doubles with each transaction (or increases by a factor more than 1) and makes up the economy. What I mean is, the economy is a measure of “value” in a society, and “value” increases as trade occurs, since people are happier in win-win situations. Win-win situations increase happiness, and therefore value in a society. This encourages more output, development, and trade, in a “virtuous cycle” which grows the economy.

It is this “value” which money seeks to represent.

We forget that Marx was alive before any Economics was developed. He knew nothing of supply and demand curves, Game Theory, and the like. We must stop using these antiquated terms which permeate our society today, especially in academia. Imagine, in universities, the same places where PhDs in finance and economics are given, in the Sociology department next door, they are using Marxist terminology predating any economic text. It’s like a Neanderthal family living next-door to a spacefaring alien race.