[KC Burke]

Capitalism, a term popularized in the negative by Marx, is simply free markets. Property Rights and the Legal Structure to defend them, are the keys to giving free market economies the effectiveness to lift a society from poverty. Free Trade or a nebulous capitalism alone will not do it.

This has been best explained by De Soto in The Mystery of Capital and you can go here for one synopsis.

[NEWwoman]

Speaking of Marx, thought you might enjoy this Marx joke:

Two retired professors were vacationing with their wives at a hotel in the Catskills. They were sitting on the veranda one summer evening, watching the sun set.

The history professor asked the psychology professor, "Have you read Marx?"

To which the professor of psychology replied, "Yes and I think it's these pesky wicker chairs."

[NEWwoman]

BTW: Thanks for the link. I bookmarked it.

[Alberta's Child]

That's a good point. What most modern capitalists don't like to admit is that for a system that is not currently "capitalist" to become capitalist, it is often necessary for a large-scale ethnic cleansing to occur. A major problem in many Third World countries these days is that each parcel of land has about 17 different titles. At some point an outside "authority" (with a lot of guns) has to come in and set up a foolproof method of determining which title is the legitimate one.

[KC_Conspirator]

Property Rights and the Legal Structure to defend them, are the keys to giving free market economies the effectiveness to lift a society from poverty.

Hey neighbor! You are saying the same exact thing I have been saying for years. Property rights have been directly linked to the amount of freedoms one has and to economic prosperity as a whole. Although one can go back to ancient times to document this, I say that it began in the western world with the Magna Carta. But the nose ringed rabble in the streets don't realize this when they chant "Property is theft" at one of these protests.