Best Capitalism Quotes

"The single greatest force for raising literally hundreds of millions, billions of people from abject poverty is capitalism."

"We could just build a whole society based on competition and profit-driven growth where there is no culture, no God, no ethical boundary which will not bow down before money."

"Capitalism for what it is, is the greatest thing, and guess what, it's not everything."

"Pinker argues that the world has been drastically improved thanks to the enlightenment and more recently, neoliberal capitalism."

"You take for granted the world produced by the entrepreneurs and the capitalists."

"Steven Pinker's view of poverty is a common one: for most of humanity's history, we found ourselves in poverty and it was only with the rise of Capitalism, or The West, or The Enlightenment, or whatever you want to call it, that we escaped this trap."

"Capitalists themselves don't like capitalism very much...the state has always done is intervened as the kind of referee to save capitalists from themselves."

"What do you mean government does not work the way you think it does? It's not about people voting for a president, no. It's all big business and money, period."

"Countries that are closest to laissez-faire capitalism, that have the most economic freedom, are also the richest."

"This is America, it's capitalism, that's how it works."

"Capitalism has been making people insane for years."

"Capitalism is a system in which things are done because they generate profit, not necessarily because anybody needs or wants them."

"The basic premise is that a capitalist system combined with democracy and freedom, although it's not perfect, is the most effective system in the history of mankind for raising living standards, proven by history."

"I'm a capitalist. If you can make a million or millions of bucks, that's great, just pay your fair share in taxes."

"When capitalism is tried it succeeds and when socialism is tried the best you can talk about with socialism is redistributing the gains."

"It is a cautionary tale of what those who act in a capitalist idea or an idea of oneself should and will face if they ever decide to depart from that they've known."

"Capitalism in its current form is unsustainable."

"Capitalism is the social cooperation that occurs under the institution of private property."

"Companies exist to make money, but we're seeing the long-term damaging impact of that ethos where no matter how much money you're making, it's never enough."

"The sickness is the system when capitalism fails to save us from pandemics or itself."

"Stakeholder capitalism means that a company shouldn't answer to the shareholders but instead to society at large."

"There is no ethical consumption under capitalism."

"Capitalism is a system that arose over the course of centuries to allow people to keep the fruits of their own labors and then freely trade the fruits of their own labors."

"Capitalism doesn't reward hard work; it rewards you for exploiting other people's hard work."

"Capitalism is getting to the money, and the product... that's why you have to have strong regulations."

"Are we willing to confront a reality where, in the pursuit of profits, lives are gambled away?"

"This idea of weaponizing capital is very dangerous and is probably the largest issue that our country is going to face over the next couple of years."

"Capital development, the motivation for innovation, the drive to work harder, and the efficiencies of the free market are all touted as major benefits of capitalism."

"Capitalism is not evil nor is it some virtuous gift that has blessed mankind; it's a tool that can be very useful if used right and do a lot of damage if it's used wrong."

"Capitalism, like any tool, can also be improved and modified, already every economy in the world today has laws and regulations to rein in markets from being truly free."

"The development and improvement of capital is what has allowed the world to become as wealthy as it has over the past 250 years."

"People that oppose capitalism will point to rising inequality, the exploitation of natural resources, and the erosion of human rights in the name of maximizing output as equally important drawbacks."

"I am ardently free market and very pro-capitalism."

"Capitalism promised liberty, equality, fraternity and democracy. And, as I look around, I don't see those things."

"Capitalism is, to use a technical term, the fuck-you system of economics."

"Capitalism hasn't solved its problem; it wallows in it. And it messes up your life."

"I am a capitalist, so if someone on the internet asks me if I'm a leftist, I have to ask, do you mean am I a socialist or do you mean I'm like a Democrat or progressive?"

"Fascism is a social disease, but it tends to stem from sort of preconditions which arise in capitalism."

"Rampant unchecked capitalism has eventually led to a dystopian future where super powerful corporations seize power from the government."

"The whole point of The Hunger Games books is about how capitalism is evil and destroying the world."

"Listen to the people who think capitalism is the best thing since sliced bread, but maybe also take a dare. Listen to the people who think it's critical."

"If we continue to keep our faith in it, despite the fact that it isn't working in obvious ways that we can see every day, there's going to be a revolution and we're not going to have any capitalism at all."

"Capital is always about growth; it has to grow because it's always about producing surplus value and surplus value is always about extra."

"Capital can survive its own contradictions but it can do so at a cost to human beings and the environment, and that cost is increasing."

"We have to start to find those answers, and one of the ways of course is to do that is to come to terms with what the nature of those contradictions are."

"Capitalism is a force for good because when a group of people builds a product or service that changes the world... everybody gets to benefit from that product or service having to compete."

"Under super-competitive capitalism, it's naive to think corporations can or will sacrifice profits and shareholder returns in order to fight global warming."

"You can't look at the United States or capitalism or free markets in a vacuum; if you do, you're doing it wrong."

"It's easier to imagine Armageddon than an end to capitalism."

"Capitalism is built on white supremacy. It's built on patriarchy. It's built on cisheteronormativity, on ableism, on settler colonialism, on imperialism."

"Marxism says that the problems of capitalism are built into the system and if you want to solve them, you have to face the fact that the system itself is the problem."

"The internal contradictions of an economic system become unmanageable and then there's a kind of explosion; the system dies and a new one is born."

"Capitalists are always trying to save on labor costs...but if all capitalists are reducing the number of workers they pay or reducing the pay they give to their workers, the working people have less and less money."

"When people couldn't buy in the 1970s, the capitalist system kept going anyway. How did it do that? Credit."

"The problem that a lot of lefties have with philanthropy is that it is often considered to be a kind of last defense mechanism for the inequities of capitalism."

"The economic system that we live under right now, stop me if you've heard this one before, is called capitalism."

"With capitalism, the pie grows, and there's an abundance ability for anybody to participate in that."

"Capitalism isn't working, they tell you. We're in late-stage capitalism. Capitalism is just freedom, choice, and transparency with property rights."

"The absolute nuclear family promotes rife capitalism."

"That's the power of American capitalism: it's actually unifying people."

"Philanthropy serves to legitimize capitalism as well as to extend it further and further into all domains of social, cultural, and political activity."

"The point is ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."

"Capitalism is a machine that requires people to be miserable and unfulfilled, all the while selling you the cure to the disease it created."

"The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and communism under the same tent, all under their control."

"That's what helped get us out of feudalism. Mmm, reasonable to assume. It'll help us get out of capitalism."

"I'm telling you you've walked away from capitalism you literally quit your capitalist job to form a communist enterprise according to what Marx wrote."

"Under capitalism you have the choice between working for the unelected guy, beating the odds and becoming the unelected guy yourself, or starving."

"Monopolies inevitably happen with capitalism, and whether they got that status with the help of the state or 'on their own' doesn’t matter."

"Capitalism is incredibly exploitative and incredibly unequal."

"The prime function of the state in a capitalist society is creating an environment where businesses are profitable."

"Debt is to capitalism what hell is to Christianity: unpleasant but essential."

"Late-stage capitalism or late capitalism for kind of short is a stage in which capital becomes so dominant that everything is commodified."

"Late-stage capitalism is the end result of capitalism: the final consolidation of power through capital."

"Black women stand to gain the most from disrupting the individual and exclusionary system of capitalism."

"Crony capitalism is awful and wrong, and that entrepreneurial, bottom-up focus solutions is a beautiful thing."

"Capitalism puts the interest of the market before the interest of the people, and socialism is just the opposite."

"Capitalism is the single most successful, prosperous, egalitarian, and robust economic system in human history."

"Capitalism accounts for personal liberty. It allows all people, including the working class, to have the choice to do whatever they like with their lives, as long as they're able to do it themselves."

"Capitalism is inherently a hierarchy of merit, where people will rise and fall within a marketplace based on three factors: one, how much effort they put into it; two, how much of that effort becomes victories; and three, how much they're able to learn from the effort if that effort becomes defeats."

"Western liberal capitalist societies...reward success but we do not punish failure because we understand that failure in economics is punishment enough all on its own."

"Capitalism is the reason there have been massive quality of life increases worldwide in the past hundred years."

"Capitalism is not just the mindless pursuit of wealth...it's a system where people can act freely in accordance with their own desires."

"Capitalism is the worst form of economics, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

"What happens next is arguably the most mind-blowing economic miracle ever to have taken place on planet Earth."

"The rise of China is a story of capitalism, a certain version of capitalism. It's a story about how capitalism can morph and change depending on what effects we want businesses to play in our society."

"Capitalism doesn't care about human well-being. The primary concern of every nation should be the well-being of its citizens."

"Capitalism is the best system that we've got."

"The greatest tragedy of capitalism is so many young people who are full of creativity and potential...they're stuck...in jobs that are not rewarding to them."

"I'm not married to capitalism; if there's a better system, then fuck capitalism."

"Climate change is a really bad thing. Do you think that reform and the capitalist systems we have now are equipped to address that in time?"

"Capitalism definitely has the tools to address the problem."

"Right now, Amazon is scared shitless of Walmart. That's because capitalism works."

"The difference is, is that one, I'm not married to capitalism...if there are better economic systems that work, then move us there. I am all for that."

"It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism."

"I think that capitalism is on its way out, not because the left... have managed to overthrow... but capitalism is overthrowing itself."

"It's the worst system to organize an economy except for all the others that have been tried."

"The capitalist economic system has made every human on the planet materially better off than ever before in history."

"Market capitalism has not destroyed our social fabric. Lack of values did that."

"There is a widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it."

"Capitalism is malleable, it's flexible, it evolves."

"Most social ills involve the complex interactions of a variety of systems, and depending on your perspective, capitalism has either generated more wealth than any economic system in history, which is good, or it's contributed to rampant inequality, climate degradation, and a host of other problems, which is bad."

"Can you be ethical and a capitalist, or put differently, can capitalism be used to make the world a better place?"

"The economic, the predatory capitalist is hand in hand with the existential, that the spiritual goes hand in hand with the social."

"You can still have free time in a capitalist system."

"The wonders of capitalism have been brilliant... it drives everybody to do really, we now have a large abundance of resources."

"Every single capitalism we have a record of has built into it a tendency to ever greater inequality that is only periodically interrupted by revolts from below."

"Is love possible under advanced capitalism? What kind of nihilist is that, concerned with such a significant question?"

"Capitalism has been anti-fragile as a system of resource distribution."

"There is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by free enterprise."

"If you want to be socially progressive and do something interesting, you have to embrace capitalism and you have to embrace technology."

"The capitalist model as we know today...will be replaced with a new version of capitalism which will find a good balance between individual greed and collective responsibility."

"The COVID crisis appears to be serving as a wake-up call for reforming capitalism."

"The Devil Wears Prada is not just for women, it is not just about fashion. It is a brilliantly written piece of fiction that details the menacingly transformative nature of societal pressures, capitalism, and morality."

"My own personal theory is that being trapped in a bland job where your value is tied only to your output is closer to something I would call capitalism."

"But the more interesting critique, the one that we've been talking about, is if you attempt to ascend through the ranks of capitalism, you must sacrifice your inner identity, your individuality, and your morality."

"I believe in capitalism. I believe in the marketplace. And instead of just standing on the sidelines and complaining about what other people are doing, I want to fight with them in the marketplace of ideas."

"Everybody should get a financial education in a country that's based on capitalism."

"This kind of setup is not how America was built; it's not even capitalism, really."

"The reality of capitalism is that the profits and resources that people receive at the top of the business rarely trickle down to those at the bottom."

"Under our current capitalist system, where corporations hold significant influence with very little regulation, power is profits, and profit isn't ethics."

"There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so you might as well just let people enjoy the things that they like."

"Socialism doesn't work, and free market capitalism democratic societies do work."

"Capitalism is the best way people have yet discovered to improve living standards, to improve quality of life, and generally to make it possible for all of us to do things we want to do in our lives as individual human beings."

"Capitalism is nature and this is a re-emergence of capitalism."

"Poverty among the many is the inevitable consequence of capitalism."

"I think capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production, distribution through voluntary exchange."

"Capitalism unfettered creates oligarchies of private corporations, which is the problem."

"The invention of private property rights leads to capitalism, which leads to a deeper division of labor and higher intensity exchange."

"We're making progress, and this has created the division of labor and the capitalism we see in the world today."

"Capitalism is also about specialization and division of labor... we homeschool our three kids... we had co-ops... my son and I took a blacksmithing course together."

"Capitalism...could be defined as an economic system in which rational private property rights and enforceable contracts provide for the efficient functioning of markets."

"Capitalism just funds your spirit. It's a tool for me; it doesn't change who I am."

"You cannot escape capitalism. It'll find a way to suck you back in if you try to escape."

"Capitalism is just... it's so ingrained in us that we refuse to advance for the sake of a handful of huge wallets."

"Capitalists also want clean running water and indoor plumbing because in the long run, it boosts societal output."

"I can oppose capitalism and also oppose ethnic nationalism; these are not two fundamentally irreconcilable positions to hold."

"Capitalism apologists claim that money shows you where value is... Profit isn't value. Value is value."

"Capitalism has created this bastion of free market enterprise...we have to find ways to make capitalism embrace the people that it's left behind."

"By literally going to Walmart, I am making a political action by reinforcing the capitalistic framework and consumerism."

"Capitalism is still the best system we know that works...but we need to make sure that the pie works better for everyone."

"We have never in history, thanks to capitalism, had such a low poverty rate around the world relative to the world's population."

"Capitalism has to rest on that pedestal; it can't create that pedestal itself."

"Funny that Dutch's plan involves buying land which is directly participating in capitalism."

"We want stability and rootedness but also mobility, dynamic capitalism, and the liberty to adopt the lifestyle we choose."

"Capitalism and the free market should be allowed to run the world, however, ostensibly it's not really economically right-wing."

"Preaching socialism without action is literally just capitalism. Do you understand? If you preach the idealistic way that society should operate, yet you don't implement any of those systems within your own community, you show that these systems can work."

"I benefit from [capitalism] absolutely. I'm a profoundly fortunate person, something that I regularly acknowledge and talk about all the time. I'm very privileged, I'm very fortunate, these are things that I do not hide. I'm wealthy, another thing that I do not hide."

"If white capitalism isn't helping white poor people, what the hell makes you think that black capitalism is going to somehow help black poor people?"

"Fascism is often said to be capitalism in decay."

"For me personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with an individual maximizing their outcomes within an unethical system like capitalism."

"Capitalism always thinks you got to keep growing, but there's a limit to the size of anything."

"I'm going to cut to the chase and skip that over, because I think what I wanted to say to you is have a conversation with you about the more core idea of the book, which is the other bit of it, which is the idea that we may be entering a transition beyond what we know as capitalism."

"The U.S. does not have a total free-market system. It's a capitalist system where some markets are free and some are not, and in fact, some of the biggest corporations benefit from the fact that we don't have a totally free market in a lot of areas."

"Extreme automation under capitalism is disempowering for the many and inconceivably profitable for the few at the top."

"Our nation's commitment to capitalism is what made my family's dream and the dreams of so many other Americans come true and be possible."

"Capitalism leads to economic democracy. Socialism leads to the economic dictatorship of the elite, always and everywhere."

"The free market alone gives everyone the same rights."

"Socialism and capitalism are matrices; they are economic systems within which people can be generous or greedy, selfish or altruistic."

"Every single capitalist state has unleashed the most horrific forms of state repression in defense of profits."

"If capitalism were truly superior, they wouldn't need to keep lying like this."

"Market socialism is like capitalism if it was done right."

"In a world without democratic socialists, people work for capitalism; in a world with democratic socialists, capitalism works for people."

"How did we go from a country that couldn't even admit that we were socialist... to now people coming out and saying capitalism is over?"

"Capitalism is responsible for saving over a billion people from extreme poverty in the last 15 years alone."

"Capitalism isn't perfect, but it's the best system we've found so far."

"We're at a point that your numbers verify, in which the capitalist system has reproduced the kinds of grotesque inequalities that we associate with everything from the Versailles Palace of the late Louis back to the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt."

"Capitalists don't want poverty to be abolished. Poverty is necessary for their continued existence."

"Capitalism too had to have an ethic. Our economy should have ethics that money should not be the bottom line; that love should be the bottom line."

"Rampant consumerism is really fucking cancerous as part of a lot of capitalist systems."

"Capitalism has been enormously successful in unlocking societal progress."

"Capitalism has been incredibly successful in advancing society. To the extent that it has caused us problems, it's because we haven't properly used it."

"Capitalism is the most dramatic success in the history of the world."

"Capitalism does what it does very well... capitalism has gotten some of the worst pollution in history and capitalism delivered a groundbreaking vaccine in like nine months."

"Investors in these banks will not be reimbursed. They took the risk and are now out of the money. That's how capitalism works."

"Equal outcome is literally an anti-American concept. It is anti-capitalist, it is pro-Marxist, pro-communism, and quite honestly, it never works."

"Steam needs competition but under ca-triple-apitalism, this is what competition looks like."

"We have grown up with the idea that there's a profound distinction between capitalism on the one hand and socialism on the other."

"Capitalism is failing; there will be a crisis, and they will fall, and socialism is the alternative that we are preparing to put in its place."

"The idea of capitalism is that you and I come up with an idea. It's all about technological innovation, advances in how we think, what we do, creating products, supply and demand."

"I'm not a capitalist, so does that mean I have to be a socialist?"

"Socialism is in opposition to unregulated capitalism because they see the inequality in the world."

"Adorno was concerned precisely with its destruction by the mechanisms of capital, concerned with what happens when the profit motive completely overtakes the cultural life of society."

"Capitalism is about taking responsibility for what you create and making it even greater."

"Socialism with capitalist characteristics would still focus on workers owning the means of production."

"The only way to prosper in a capitalist society is to identify what somebody else needs and to provide it for them better than they can provide it for themselves."

"Femininity, especially the version these coaches promote, is heavily associated with taking care of the household, but this notion has less to do with the nature of women and more to do with the nature of capitalism."

"I think capitalism is the best system known to man to lift people up from poverty."

"The capitalist way of organizing production...isn't efficient, can't be justified by some notion of productivity requiring it."

"We have all this conversation about capitalism, Marie, but what we really need to be talking about is economy."

"The internet will always filter out quality, in the same way wars have made nations stronger, or capitalism makes society wealthier in the long term."

"Well, there's a problem with that, and I believe the problem is that we can reform the capitalist system to be fairer, which is beyond dispute. We have had periods of time in our history where it has been reformed to be fairer."

"You need a true fair free capital market in order to have a vibrant economy."

"There's been a general consensus around the world that capitalism is the way to go."

"It's not socialism; it's capitalism where income doesn't start at zero."

"Centralized ownership from decision makers is the most successful strategy that we've ever seen in capitalist societies for the creation of value for shareholders."

"One of the beautiful things about capitalism is it turns strangers into customers."

"We're living in an era of woke capitalism, where companies pretend to care about social justice to sell products to people who pretend to hate capitalism."

"Capitalism posits that workers enter freely into a contract to sell their labor, but if the workers don't do this, they will die."

"Damn, you guys ever think about consumerism and capitalism?"

"You can hide, but you can't run from capitalism."