[lbo-talk] Capitalism: the Systematic Looting of Society

[Peter Hart Ward]

I propose for the next addition of the Oxford Dictionary a new  
definition of 'capitalism': 'The systematic looting of society'. An  
honest survey of the facts would seem to bear this definition out as  
both a more accurate as well as more inclusive definition than any  
previously suggested. To say, as the current dictionary version does,  
that it is 'an economic and political system in which a country's  
trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit,  
rather than by the state' is not quite accurate--in fact, the state  
and population, often against their will, have an integral role.  
Admittedly, and for better or worse, a paradox presents itself:  
capitalism can only continue so long as there's mutual theft;  
eventually, it would seem, its own success would destroy it.