LETTER: SA does not have capitalism
Study claims that people believe capitalism is harmful, but it sidesteps a definition
The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, which contacted more than 34,000 people in 28 countries, found that a “majority of people around the world believe capitalism in its current form is doing more harm than good” (“Why many believe today’s capitalism does more harm than good (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/2020-01-20-why-many-believe-todays-capitalism-does-more-harm-than-good/)”, January 20). However, there is a fundamental problem: while skewering capitalism, neither the study nor the article provide a definition of capitalism, so we do not know against what standard we are measuring “harm” or “good”.
Capitalism (and here I include terms such as the “free market” and “economic freedom”) is a system based on voluntary exchange between people, free of third-party interference. By this definition, SA does not have capitalism; the state interferes in every sector of the economy. Capitalism has at its moral base the notion that people should be free to live their lives and t...
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