Madam, – Now that many of the world’s economies are in trouble we hear a continual criticism of “capitalism“ as an economic system. Yet if Adam Smith were alive today he would argue that we do not have capitalism as he understood it because for all practical purposes we have little competition in the marketplace.
Horizontally integrated corporations own most of the earth’s resources, allowing minimum competition in the market. What we have today is corporate capitalism, which by definition does not allow for “mom-and-pop” businesses or healthy competition. – Yours, etc,