• Nougat@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Using money to buy commodities is a currency system. (As opposed to a barter system, where commodites are directly exchanged for other commodities.)

    Capitalism is where there is an ownership class and a labor class, and the ownership class operates businesses for profit. The profit which flows to these owners comes from value which labor adds and is not compensated for; that compensation is diverted to the owners, who receive a (much) greater amount of compensation than the value they add.

    Otherwise related, when the currency is not backed by a commodity (most commonly a rare metal like gold), that’s fiat money. It’s value is affected by the faith in the government which supplies it, as well as the total supply of said currency. When the price of products and services is determined by consumer demand, that’s a free market economy.