Capitalism here in America, is not Capitalism that was theorized by Adam Smith, and his fellow intellectuals. In Capitalism, Markets are essential, and currently in America, we have a sort of psuedo-market system. Why? It's simple. Markets are about INFORMED consumers. Since when are American consumers informed? They may be informed about the latest gadget, or fad, but not about the BEST gadget. Many people are fad shoppers, which is against the idea of Capitalist Markets. Here's a good example--iPods. Who would've thought that there was an alternative to an iPod which had longer battery life, and overall, much better quality? Sure, they didn't dump as much money into the design, but wouldn't an informed decision be to purchase the item that was a better deal, and more functional? This better decision is the 'Creative Vision: M'. It has four times the picture quality as an iPod, twice the battery life, as well as an FM radio tuner and voice recorder, and is the same price. The only problem is, it's twice as thick, but when you look at an iPod, you think--twice as thick? It's still pretty damn thin. I have had the pleasure of owning both products, and I must say, the Creative blows the iPod out of the water.
Would it be accurate to say I made an informed decision, or in other words, a Capitalistic decision?
I believe in capitalism. Anyone can get anything if they try and try again. If you work, you get paid. In Socialism, you all get the same thing regardless of how you work.
Socialism is not necessarily complete regulation. There are socialist ideas which are completely regulated (Marxist, or authoritarian, socialism) and there are socialist ideas which are completely free (libertarian socialism, or anarchism). In the same way, there are totally regulated capitalisms (fascism or corporatism) and totally free capitalisms ('anarcho'-capitalism or libertarianism being two examples), although the problem with totally free capitalisms is, due to capitalism's tendency to produce monopolies, they lead inherently to corporatism and fascism.Also, the options open to us are not simply "capitalism" and "socialism" like they exist as two islands and a Pacific-sized gulf in between. Socialism by principle is complete regulation, and libertarianism (not capitalism, I think,) zero, the point being that there exists a multi-dimensional spectrum of economic policy. Because our social dynamics and paradigms have been far removed from our basical corporeal parameters, it is important to have regulations that mediate the discrepancies, else those who have limited resources will be denied the opportunities that may yield greater results than if they were simply let alone in the hands of those that recieved them.