Capitalism, still the absurd systesm

Ryans flaw in his arguement is due to him thinking that economics and capitalism are above the environment in the grand scheme of things.

Environment is and will always be on top with economics as an influential  subset. The environment will survive capitalism (perhaps in drastically altered form) but if capitalism does not alter, it (and us) will fail and disappear.  I am making beer right now and the yeast is at a relatively similar stage as people are in the capitalist system.  They have used up most of the resources (there is still plenty left) but they also  have poisoned their environment and can no longer live due to their waste products.   We are headed in the same direction, just a bit slower.

Ok, sorry, I accept the point.

Sorry George, but here's another ism commentary. A common understanding about capitalism is that it's fundamentally about private ownership and a profit driven free market. But I perceive capitalism as founded on the principle concept of property, or capital, only. And that any economic system whose commodity is property/ownership based would be capitalistic.

Wikipedia classifies economies into three basic categories. Market and state controlled, or mixed. And classifies capitalism as almost exclusive to a market based economic system. However, I think that all these economic systems can be capitalistic. I also find that the literature is pretty firm on the idea that capitalism is synonymous with free market economics. For my part, I don't think this is accurate, because I think of capitalism as more about property than how "the property" is managed.

So, for this reason. I don't perceive socialism as necessarily the antithesis of capitalism. At least, not as long as our economies and relationships with our environments are property based, and our political ideologies remain human-centric. Although I agree that capitalism is absurd, for me the reason it's absurd is in the manner in which we relate to the parts of our environments. I think that what's more ridiculous about our global economy is the libertarian free market that's running amok.

For my part, if one is going to be anti-capitalist, then one should be anti-property. I don't think that establishing a socialist economy is necessarily the only viable alternative to what we perceive to be our problem with capitalist. Because I think that there are other economic alternatives. As well, it is possible to have a free market economy which is based on things other than the commodity of property. A free market economy can be a responsible economy, as long as the principle ideology of that economy is driven by human obligations and is not so human-centric.

The point I wanted to make was, we shouldn't think of capitalism in the manner that we do. Capitalism is a more fundamental principle than simply economics. From the OP's link to the article, the prof who asked of his students, "what would a socialist system look like?". The prof should have asked what a system would look like if it were based on a commodity other than property?

Much appreciated Fidel, and I see your points. As long as one believes they can own a horse, genetic material, space, or anything, they're in the mindset of a capitalist. Once one resolves that they own, they've claimed authority and dominance over that thing.