Hi @hansonmarie, I enjoyed reading your insight and thoughts on capitalism and the other readings for this week. The thing that stood out to me most was the fact that you and I both agreed with the idea that our economy is running on the idea of giving and receiving of products. I really felt more aligned with Gilder’s theory than Smith’s because he focused on how entrepreneurs have good intentions of giving when they start their business. You used the quote,

“In explaining the extraordinary production of capitalism, however, the anthropology of the potlatch impels us to focus not on the exchange mechanism (the market) but on the prior gifts and its creation” (Gilder, pg. 31, 1981).

I thought that this was a great quote to use when expressing that capitalism is based on giving a product to other individuals in our community who will value the products and be willing to receive them. Additionally, I also agree with you on the fact that many individuals in our society have some amount of greed in them and that they do exist in our community, but it does not affect how capitalism functions as a whole. And some greed is necessary because it pushes the world and market to keep running as well as it does. However, as you said, capitalism is not based entirely on greed. Thinking about it again, the definition Smith described that capitalism is, based only on self-interest and self-love, does sound more like greed. So, you are right, greed is what Smith believes capitalism to be. Hearing you say it like that makes me lean even more towards Gilder’s definition. I do not believe that capitalism is run based solely on the benefit and interest of specific individuals, because people would get smart to their intentions and decide not to buy from them. Lastly, you talked about risk and self-sacrifice, which play a major role in capitalism and our society today. Without entrepreneurs taking a risk and having some self-sacrifice, our world would still be functioning as it did in the 1800s. We would not have any new products or innovations without someone taking a risk to create them. Overall, I agree with your writings and opinions on capitalism. Your writing helped me to expand my knowledge on this topic, along with strengthening my opinion on Gilder’s definition.