What is Capitalism?

Capitalism in not a political theory. It is an economic belief that is often mistaken for a politicized ideology because it has two sides. An economic side and a political side. Its economic side is about capital formation, while its political side is about whom.

The economic question, capital formation, in its broadest sense includes individual savings, without which banks cannot play their role of intermediation. This answers the political question for whom? For everyone. 

For everyone, implies that our economy should be a win-win game where everyone benefits from growth and capital formation.  Not a zero-sum game where growth and capital formation benefit a select few at the expense of everyone else. The implicit assumption here is that everyone wants to get rich and are willing to put in the effort to do so.

In either case, zero-sum or win-win, the select few always benefit. That is life. This is true of any political system whether capitalist, democratic, socialist or communist. Therefore, the success of a select few should not be a measure of how good a political system is. Our concern should be getting the majority access to opportunities for capital formation in a securitized, free market. Why? Because we do not know from where or when the next Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk . . . will emerge from, and when they do, securitization spreads the benefits to all participants.