The Father of Capitalism did not believe in unrestrained capitalism

Adam Smith believed governments can and should intervene, that oversight is crucial, and excess political influence from economic power was dangerous.

Of course, what we have now is hardly capitalism, but more like a kleptocracy where money gets siphoned to a few who are stealing from the many.

With high-frequency trading dominating the market, frontrunning, [...]

What we have now isn’t capitalism

Adam Smith

(By DJ, promoted from the comments here to America’s love affair with capitalism a fatal attraction?)

Before we talk about America’s self-destructive love affair with capitalism, we need to define it. So many still fail to make the distinction between capitalism, as envisioned by its “father” as markets regulated by a central [...]