Hard to find a decisive moment or place for that one, I reckon. Reckon factory capitalism certainly made its debut in Britain, though. Unconscionable enclosures and mass dislocations notwithstanding, capitalism was probably not that bad an idea at the time, I reckon.
What I do like about this thread is the news that packet switching (UK Post Office), Internet (US DoD) and the WWW (Mark's champion of the commons) were all innovations that took place outside the market. The very market that now takes the credit for innovation in general and these technologies in particular!
... which, I see, have taken a six per cent nasdunk this morning. Anyone hearing any margin calls, yet? And how are those credit-card-funded portfolios going now, I wonder ...
Cheers, Rob.