Capitalism is a brutally effective mechanism for change. From its earliest origins, in "The Wealth of Nations" to using brute industry tool picked China up out of poverty, capitalism has stood as both the greatest engine for benefiting people's way of life and also stymieing any effort for some to be the basic meal. Through the late 19th century till now, capitalism is less a theory of how market should work but rather invisible hand of market, the inevitable role of industry. Therefore nations are not either capitalistic or not, instead governments mitigate how much or how little they have of it.
Just like the nature of capitalism, that is to say the nature of investment, risk, profit, and loss, every government makes choices on how capitalistic they wish to be or not be. Thus they decide how much their citizens can risk and invest and try to mitigate for the most profit to aid the government and the least loss that might hinder the nation.
America was founded on this concept of bold capitalism. Jamestown, the first sustained colony in the Americas from the British empire, was not created by those seeking religious asylum, instead it was crawling with profiteering tradesmen. And so embarked America's rise, marked by industry, expansion, technology. These things in large part give America and its wealth. Industry created materials to sell, expansion gave way to new resources for industry, and technology made the prior two more efficient. In these three pillars of capitalism, people are noticeably absent, however capitalism isn't about people it is about profits.
Along America's history, how unions would form, social plans enacted by the government, and the greedy purse strings of lawmakers tried to siphon off profits from businesses. Even in the early 20th century, antitrust laws also stayed in the way of business. Americans understood that capitalism unrestrained was damaging to Americans' lives. Over the decades business and government would spar vying for control of the same commodity, profits. Both parties had different motivations of the same net result, superiority over the other.
Thinking about capitalism is back into Americans' minds, because of recent crises in the American Financial sector. As per normal, fingers are pointing and who's to blame, the same struggle between industry and government. It would seem this time however that government would like to help industry, by extending it money. This however is not an industry center task, it is a people centered action. Capitalism is not about people, it's about profits.
When any government, swoops in to rescue a floundering economy, a power relation forms. It is as undeniable as a fireman rescuing an old lady from a building that is on fire. Though the circumstance is situational, no one would doubt who is in charge in that circumstance. The U.S. government is clearly the faction that has power, through rescuing the economy. Socialism is recognizable, when a nation's government has a significant role in that nation's economy.
How did America get here? As mentioned before the three factors of industry, expansion, and technology, all have slowed down or have been significantly dwarfed. In the year leading up to the autumn of 2008, one would be hard pressed to read a national newspaper daily and not have found notable closings of car manufacturers, and layoffs given out throughout the industrial sector. Apparently, worker unions had demanded pay that kept the industrial sector unprofitable. America's latest attempts at expansion by means of influencing oil rich countries, and drilling in protected areas failed in light of poor diplomatic skills, and stringent environmental policies. America has also been troubled to keep up with making new, indispensable products that can be patented, due to lack of market research money, and competitor nations making new discoveries on less finances.
So inevitably a market crisis comes, and the market can not sustain it. The capitalistic choice would be to let the failing companies die off, even if it harms some citizens. This would ensure market superiority of companies clever enough to invest in good commodities. America has made an about face in backing failing companies in order to bolster those citizens it would hurt. This is socialistic in nature, and marks the coming of new things. American capitalism is different now, and the shift of wealth will follow to those governments who care less about their people and more about their economy.
