Okay, you've stumped me. I don't understand what you don't understand (did anyone understand THAT?)

I think everyone knows that the United States is a mixed economy, not pure capitalism, but compared to almost every other nation it's more capitalist than anywhere else. I have made numerous posts about specific areas where centralized government control of an area of the American economy was getting out of hand. Farm subsidies were one. Subsidized railroads were another. I am against subsidizing the airlines. I was against loaning money to Chrysler. In fact, I am against ALL real corporate welfare (true subsidies, not tax cuts). I am also against pumping tax money into the pockets of private health insurance companies, which was the point of the original post.

In general, the less centralized control there is of an economy, the better it works. The inverse is also true. Not sure how many examples of nations that have gone one way or the other you need to figure this out.

The communists say that their economic system didn't have a real trial. And they only had 70 years, not 225 years. So who has the "real" capitalism that is so gleefully touted?

It wouldn't matter how long a "trial" communism got. It doesn't work. Economists and philosophers like Hayek knew back in the 1940s that it was impossible to have a centrally controlled economy without totalitarian control of the citizens. In other words, "democratic communism" is a contradiction in terms. If you sat down for five minutes with a cup of coffee and thought through a few mental scenarios, you would see this for yourself.

As for "real" capitalism, the nineteenth century United States is probably closest if you are talking pure economics. Even then the government had entirely too much influence on economic activity, which some--not all--of the "robber barons" were quick to exploit.

I also think Hong Kong before China took it over was also a pretty good example of a reasonably laissez-faire* economy.

The verdict of history came in a long time ago on the merits of capitalism over communism, and anyone who tries to tell you different is trying to put something over on you.

* After all these years, I STILL have to look up how to spell that.