True and False Capitalism: A Catholic Analysis

Description

one of the best analyses I've seen of this; it's very short, only a few dozen pages, from [his lecture notes](https://isidore.co/calibre#panel=book_details&book_id=8618).His [definition of capitalism ](https://economics.stackexchange.com/a/31834/4101)(ref:6.2): "capitalism is nothing else than the name for the act of investment."He doesn't use the word "usury" but he distinguishes 2 types of capitalism: 1. **natural capitalism** (investing in a productive good) 2. **spurious capitalism** (investing in order to impede production; e.g., a competitor buying his competition in order to form a monopoly [ *à la* Bill Gates's / Microsoft's "Embrace-Extend-Extinguish"; cf. [*Controligarchs*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=9756) ])Usury falls under "spurious capitalism" ∵ [to buy what doesn't exist](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/User:Geremia#cite_note-2) is not productive, is sterile. Fr. Woodbury also mentions that "spurious capitalism" leads to inflation.* * *Fr. Woodbury was a student at the Angelicum of the great Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., and a great popularizer of St. Thomas in Australia, where he gave regular public lectures to audiences of hundreds of laymen. I wouldn't be surprised if John Lane's father attended them. Woodbury died in 1979.