Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? - Capitalism: What It Is, Where It Came From, and What It Means Today

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Did You Know? - Capitalism: What It Is, Where It Came From, and What It Means Today · Voices Of Life

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  Welcome to the Did You Know series of the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. A place where faith speaks, where history
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  breathes, and where hope finds its voice again.
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  Each episode is crafted to inspire, to strengthen,
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  and to guide you on your walk with God. And now,
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  to lead us through today's journey. Here. is
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  your host pastor david welcome to voices of life
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  a ministry of the church for life i'm pastor
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  david did you know that the word capitalism didn't
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  even exist when america was founded and that
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  adam smith the man often called the father of
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  capitalism never used the word at all did you
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  know that capitalism wasn't originally a compliment,
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  but a criticism used by 19th century socialist
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  writers. And did you know that capitalism, as
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  we understand it today, is not simply rich people,
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  big corporations, or greed, but a complex system
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  built on private property, markets, investment,
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  competition, and freedom for ordinary people
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  to start businesses earn wages and build a future
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  today in voices of life we explore what capitalism
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  actually is where it came from and why understanding
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  it matters especially for anyone considering
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  radical alternatives like democratic socialism
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  or communism did you know capitalism has no universally
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  agreed upon definition According to the Stanford
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  Encyclopedia of Philosophy, capitalism is unusually
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  contested, with scholars emphasizing different
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  elements, private ownership, markets, wage labor,
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  profit, or capital accumulation. But the simple
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  definition is this. Capitalism is an economic
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  system where most productive property is privately
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  owned, And economic activity is coordinated through
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  markets for the purposes of earning a return
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  or profit. At its most basic, capitalism is an
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  economic system. That's all it is. It means that
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  people can own property. People can start businesses.
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  People can invest. People can earn profits or
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  suffer losses. And people can choose what to
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  buy, where to work. and what to create. It is
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  not chaos. It is not every man for himself. It
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  is a system built on freedom of choice and responsibility.
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  So did you know Adam Smith did not invent capitalism?
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  He wrote about markets, trade, specialization,
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  and the invisible hand. But he never used the
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  word capitalism. The term didn't appear in the
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  modern meaning until decades after his death.
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  Smith's real insight was simple. When individuals
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  pursue their own economic interests, society
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  can benefit through exchange and specialization.
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  That means you may have an idea that nobody else
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  has, but it's your idea, and you have the right
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  to market it, not somebody else taking your idea
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  and exploiting it. But Smith also believed in
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  important roles for government, defense, justice,
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  and public works. He did not preach a world without
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  rules. So did you know capitalism existed long
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  before anyone called it capitalism? Ancient Greece,
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  Rome, medieval Europe, and Renaissance Italy
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  all had merchants, banking, investment, profit,
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  and private property. They also had long distance
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  trade. But historians disagree on whether these
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  were truly capitalists. Individual components
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  associated with capitalism existed separately
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  for a very long time. But modern capitalism required
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  something more. Wage labor, corporations, large
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  -scale production, finance, technological innovation,
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  and legal institutions and that transformation
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  arrived with the industrial revolution yep our
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  industrial revolution of the united states particularly
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  so did you know capitalism became modern when
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  factories replaced small workshops this transformed
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  capitalism from predominantly commercial activity
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  into a system of industrial mass production think
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  about the mass production of cars or airplanes
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  or even food. Capital became essential. Capital
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  went to investment, went to production, which
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  equaled sales, profit, reinvestment, and then
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  more capital. Yet, you do have to reinvest. It
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  doesn't like you. Made your money, and that's
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  it. Nope, you gotta reinvest it. That's why big
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  corporations say, well, yeah, you made this amount
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  of money, but they went back into research and
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  development and threw all that money in, plus
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  philanthropy and everything else. This is a cycle
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  that is the heartbeat of modern capitalism. So
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  let's talk about Karl Marx. Because he didn't
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  invent capitalism, but he changed the debate.
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  So did you know Karl Marx didn't coin the word
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  capitalism, but he shaped how the world talks
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  about it. Marx saw capitalism not as markets
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  or property, but as a relationship between capital
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  and labor. He looked at it as capitalist, to
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  owns means of production worker, to sells labor
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  power surplus value, to difference between value
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  created and wages paid. His critique became the
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  foundation of socialist and communist movements.
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  And early uses of the word capitalism were often
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  negative, used by socialist writers to criticize
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  emerging systems. But digital capitalism is not
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  the same thing as free markets. And socialism
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  is not the same thing as government programs.
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  Capitalism concerns ownership. Free market concerns
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  how extensively prices are determined through
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  voluntary exchange. And actual countries rarely
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  fit perfectly into one box. But the basic distinctions
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  are clear. Capitalism, private ownership of productive
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  assets. Socialism, greater social or collective
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  ownership. Communism, theoretical abolition.
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  Communism is the abolishment of private property
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  and class divisions. Historical communist governments,
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  however, developed state -directed command economies,
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  not Marxist theoretical and state. So why does
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  this matter for today's radical movements? Well,
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  did you know that many modern activists, including
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  some democratic socialists, communists, and anti
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  -capitalist groups, often misunderstand what
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  capitalism actually is? If you ask them, they
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  can't give you an answer. They cannot give you
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  an answer because they don't know. It's just
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  a buzzword they heard. So some believe capitalism
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  means exploitation, greed, oppression, corporate
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  control, inequity, the rich rule everything.
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  Well, we could tear these all apart. I could
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  say inequity? Okay, well, what did you bring
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  to the table that somebody else did? So you want
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  to take their money because they had a great
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  idea and they were successful with it, and just
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  because you... we're not able to put something
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  like that together. There's no inequity there.
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  And you're not entitled to that person's equity
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  or monies or property. So if you want to do something,
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  be revolutionary by creating something new or
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  do a service better than anybody else. Because
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  capitalism doesn't necessarily mean greed. I'm
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  not saying there's not greedy people out there.
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  There absolutely is. But there would be in any
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  society. Even in socialism, you'd have greedy
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  politicians lining their pockets instead of giving
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  to the people. It can work any which way you
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  want it to. But capitalism is a system of freedom,
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  not a guarantee of virtue. It requires law, ethics,
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  cultures, institutions, and most importantly,
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  accountability. You don't get that in socialism
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  or communist governments. There's no accountability.
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  They'll tell you all these things, but they're
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  never going to be transparent and show you how
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  they got there. And it can be shaped responsibly
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  without being replaced. Many radical ideologies
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  propose abolishing private property, eliminating
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  markets, or placing the state in charge of production.
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  History shows these experiments often result
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  in shortages. repression, loss of religious liberty,
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  weakened civil society, concentration of political
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  power, economic stagnation. This is not political
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  rhetoric. It is historical record. Just take
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  a look at Cuba. Look at the Soviet Union, why
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  it had to abolish the whole Soviet Union into
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  individual states. Same thing. It didn't work.
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  There were food lines, food shortages, all kinds
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  of things. Cuba, even before there were sanctions,
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  they still had power outages and power shortages
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  and food shortages. But that was to the common
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  people. To the elitists, they had everything
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  they need, and they still do today. So did you
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  know America is not a pure capitalist country?
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  Most operate what economists call mixed economy.
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  So in the U .S., this is what we do. businesses
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  are privately owned markets set most prices people
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  can start companies people can invest people
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  can earn profits but the government also regulates
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  collects taxes provides social programs enforces
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  contracts protects workers and maintains infrastructure
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  this balance not radical replacement is what
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  keeps freedom and prosperity alive. Now let's
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  look at capitalism's strengths and weaknesses.
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  Did you know capitalism has both powerful strengths
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  and real weaknesses? Strengths are innovation,
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  efficiency, consumer choice, entrepreneurship,
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  and economic growth. So what are their weaknesses?
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  Monopolies, externalities, Business cycles, exploitation
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  concerns, there's always going to be something.
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  That's why debate is not capitalism, good, socialism,
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  bad. It's not that simple. The real question
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  is, how do we balance freedom, prosperity, equality,
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  security, justice, and responsibility? Radical
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  ideologies often promise equality, but historically
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  deliver control. Capitalism promises freedom.
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  but requires responsibility. But again, take
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  a look at Cuba. Take a look at what Venezuela
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  was like. Now that it's starting to open up,
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  it's going to be so much better like it was before
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  in the 1970s. The Soviet Union, but you know,
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  sometimes you still end up with a bad leader
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  like Putin, and look what happens. So he gets
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  you into a war of almost four and a half years
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  and spends all the money on the army trying to
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  invade a country that doesn't want to be invaded.
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  All because of greed. I hate to say it, but it's
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  about greed. It's about oil fields, minerals,
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  things like that. It has nothing to do, I mean,
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  he'll say, Putin will say, oh, I'm trying to
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  restore this to the way it was before 1918. It's
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  all smoke and mirrors. And that's what any, Fidel
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  Castro, brilliant, brilliant spokesperson. And
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  in the beginning, if you believed what he said,
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  and if he would have done exactly what he said,
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  you would have had a really good democracy. Not
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  a republic like we have in the United States,
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  but you would have had a democracy in Cuba. He
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  even said, I remember in a speech in New York,
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  how he despises communism. And what did he do
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  a couple of years later? Went into bed with the
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  Soviet Union and turned into communist. So even
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  sometimes the best intention, because of greed,
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  or our imperfectness as people, things can happen.
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  But did you know capitalism is not perfect, but
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  it is the system that has lifted more people
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  out of poverty than any other in human history?
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  And did you know it is flexible, adaptive, and
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  capable of reform without tearing down the foundations
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  of our republic? And did you know that understanding
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  capitalism is essential? before anyone decides
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  it should be replaced. Thank you for joining
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  us with this Voices of Life. Did you know? Exploration
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  of capitalism. What it is, where it came from,
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  and why understanding it matters. History reminds
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  us that the ideas shape nations, and the choices
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  we make today will echo in the future. Capitalism
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  is not perfect, but it is a system built on freedom.
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  responsibility, and the opportunity for ordinary
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  people to build something meaningful. As conversations
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  grow louder about replacing our republic with
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  radical alternatives, knowledge becomes more
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  important than ever. When we understand the past,
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  we can navigate the present with clarity and
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  confidence. This has been Voices of Life. Until
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  next time, I'm Pastor David. Stay encouraged,
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  stay aware, and stay faithful. And until we meet
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  again, walk in truth, stand in courage, and keep
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  listening for the voice that leads you forward.
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  This has been Voices of Life. Peace be with you.