Could it be that massive government debt indicates the failure of capitalism?

2016-07-14T01:40:37Z

Now don't get me wrong, as I'm not beating any political drums here. I know that socialist governments also have massive debt. But in a capitalist country isn't the private sector supposed to be the major part of the economy? If a government is running up debt to prop up a failing private sector (ie businesses too big to fail, putting money into the system, borrowing to sustain the economy) then essentially the people own that debt and the state is basically overriding the capitalist economy?

2016-07-14T16:00:37Z

Thanks everyone for the informative answers. What I'm saying is that in a socialist system the state owns everything so we would not be surprised by government meddling in the economy. But in a capitalist system we would expect the government to, well, govern, and let private enterprise sort itself out. The fact that capitalist governments see fit to take out massive loans seems to indicate that a purely capitalist system does not work economically without significant intervention. Yes?

Sienna2016-07-14T04:08:09Z

No. You're just showing your confusion. Capitalism means the private ownership of productive property.

Government getting into debt is entirely the fault of the government. They do it because it enables the political class to live parasitically at the expense of the productive class.

10

mokrie2016-07-14T01:42:21Z

No, it indicates a massive failure of Obama as president since he added 9 trillion dollars himself.

13

Anonymous2016-07-14T02:50:24Z

No, debt is a 'scheduled event' in Capitalism.

Politicians whine, and moan about debt, but reality is, debt is literally Step 1 for a Capitalist society.(you borrow to start a business, you borrow to expand, you don't pay anything up front, it's not in the Capitalist ideology)

10

Anonymous2016-07-15T01:35:57Z

Debt is just a figure. It cannot fail anything.

20

Anonymous2016-09-09T16:08:01Z

No just human greed captilsim beats any other system LOL.

01

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