Capitalism, n.
- A term invented by Karl Marx to encapsulate his view that money, and owning private property, is spiritually degrading for people, in his book Das Kapital.
- A general term for modern post-industrial society, with special emphasis upon corrupt corporate bureaucracy, commercialism, and the “rat race” as distinctive features of “capitalism” and not just its byproducts.
- An all-purpose explanation for anything that goes wrong in the world, such as diseases, poverty, imposter syndrome, environmental degradation, stress, and death.
- Private property; the idea that people should be able to own their own houses, land, clothing, vehicles, etc., and keep the fruits of their labor.
You might notice some tension between definitions 3 and 4.
Long story short, Marx coined the term capitalism so he could make private property the world’s whipping boy, and boy howdy, did it work out for him!
Out of Babel Books 
What reason should I give for why can’t get out of bed this morning. Oh…I will blame it on capitalism. problem solve.
Someone needs to write a song about blaming capitalism for everything.
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I’ll bet JP Sears has one!
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Do you know Ambrose Bierce’s satirical Devil’s Dictionary? He doesn’t define capitalism, but here’s a couple others.
Corporation: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
Labor: one of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
Personally, and as regards our own American system, I’d be happy if we could simply reconcile our “self-evident” moral equality with our pursuit of profit.
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