AMERICAN CAPITALISM

WHAT IS CAPITALISM?

• Capitalist term coined by German economist and social theorist Karl Marx
• System in which a small group of people who control large amounts of money, or capital, and make the most important economic decisions
• U.S. often described as a "capitalist" economy

DOES CAPITALISM EXIST IN THE U.S.?

• If pure capitalism existed, it has been long since disappeared.
• Governments in the U.S. have been intervened in their economies to limit concentrations of power
• The American economy is better described as a "mixed" economy
• Mixed economy has developed
• Mixed economy has been successful