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706 - "And you're hosed on the Hitler issue since it was really the punishments inflicted on Germany after WWI that crippled their economy, combine that with a totally bizarre form of democracy they implimented which led to 4 national elections in 1 year and dozens of political parties that left the German people ready for war and fascism. "

Here you are sort of right, except that Germany had a long history of capitalism, (Remember Krupp and the Ruhr Valley steel and chemical industries, and the magnificent German fleet of WWI?) and unbridled capitalism, leading to WWI and when that was lost, and reparations were extracted, essentially again, anarchy insued, massive inflation, and starvation, and then Hitler, once again establishing tyranny, which killed millions more, which led to WWII, which killed millions more .

So - basically, unrestrained capitalism, leads to anarchy, and dictatorship.

All the above happened, while we had 'restrained' capitalism, thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, and his 'trust busters', giving us 'restrained capitalism, which gave us the powerhouse of a nation we had for many many years.

UNRESTRAINED CAPITALISM IS BAD.

RESTRAINED CAPITALISM IS GOOD.

I didn't say Germany didn't have capitalism. I didn't cause either WWI or WWII though. That's just dumb. WWI was caused by bad alliances combined with an urge to settle a lot of old grudges. WWII was caused by the end of WWI (left Germany destitute and made it functionally illegal for them to rebuild their economy). The Cold War was caused by the end of WWII (divided Europe and elevated the US and USSR to super power status). And the War on Terror was caused by the end of the Cold War (propped up a lot of nasty people, especially in the mid-east, creating a lot of bad blood, then just walked away from Afghanistan leaving it in total chaos)... hopefully we'll actually properly clean up the loose ends this time. Blaming capitalism for these things shows you're a communist, capitalism doesn't cause problem capitalism cures them, it is the only economic system that encourages the average person to innovate and invent, it is the only economic system that allows people to improve their lot in life and die wealthier than their parents, it is the only economic system that gives everybody a shot at the brass ring.