Capitalism’s Slow Fade: From Free Markets to Statism

LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i 

WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:

https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured  

In this episode, we examine the quiet shift from true capitalism—where consumers and competition decide winners—to statism, where government dictates the rules of business. From tariffs and regulations to crony systems that favor the big players, we explore how this transformation threatens small business owners and innovation. With insights from Ludwig von Mises to modern market realities, it’s a sobering look at capitalism’s whimpering retreat.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Is capitalism dead? Well, if it is, it's going out
with a whimper, that's for sure. And no, no, it's
not being replaced with Zoahan Mandami and Bernie Sanders and
AOC and communist socialist ideas. It's being replaced right now

(00:36):
with what we'd like to call Ludwig von Misis. And
if you're not familiar who Ludwig is, I suggest to
look him up and read about him a little bit. Statism.
That's where we're at at this point in time. Statism.
And again, I am still absolutely befuddled, befuddled because there's

(01:03):
really not much conversation or talk about this anywhere. Maybe
a little bit I've heard on CNBC, you know, pushing
back a little bit, but they're kind of joking around
and oh, it's not a big deal, and that's Trump
being Trump type of stuff. Nothing, nothing from the Republican Party.

(01:28):
What is what is capitalism? What it's true? Capitalism? The
power comes from you and I. The consumer decides the
winners and losers. The role of the entrepreneur is to
what the business order. What I do, what many of

(01:50):
you do, is to serve customer needs. You better do
a good job. You better serve customer needs. Okay, you
better attend to your customers. Better put out a great product,
or guess what, you're going out of business the old
Gordon Gecko. You either do it right or you get
eliminated again. What what are the signals? What drives the markets?

(02:14):
Every all markets, I'm talking stock market, I'm talking about everything.
How goods are priced, how they're sold. Again, it's splind demand, prices, profits,
That's what guides production. Innovation is driven by competition. Let's

(02:36):
change this up for a bit. Let's go to where
we're heading right now. Statism. Government decides. Government decide, Oh,
you like those chips in video. You like those chips
you make there? You want to sell those to China?
You gotta have to pay me. Government designs. Government's been

(03:01):
deciding for some time when it comes to well, we're
going to decide what cars you're going to buy. It's
been great that they're pulling away from that, but statism
most certainly has not gone away. Business owners in this climate,
you better you got to follow the rules. You better

(03:24):
do what the state tells you, what the political dictats are,
or guess what, you're gone. You're not going to make it.
Those market signals that we were talking about under capitalism,
which was you know, prices and profits. No no, no, no no. Deals,

(03:46):
got to cut deals, got to deal with tariffs, You
got to deal with regulations. That's what's going to determine
where and how and what you're going to price your
products and what eventually happens with this since you get
a system where it's a crony system, it's inefficient, and
you have concentrated power. Again, this has been happening over

(04:11):
some time. We've talked at great length about regulatory capture
here on the program. It is something, quite frankly, that
I have to deal with as a steward of people's money.
So I know what the terrain is. I understand what
the terrain is. You know, it's interesting. I'm going to

(04:31):
go back my rants that I went on about the
tariffs and also in regards to the things that are
happening now in regards to you know businesses having to
pay pay a fee a portion of their profits to
the government in order to do business in certain places
in Nvidia can handle it, AMD can handle it. The

(04:55):
issue is what's going to happen to the small business
owner around the country. And quite frankly, that's always been
my greatest concern. I know how to trade this, I
know how to invest this. Our portfolio we're killing it.
I understand what the terrain is, but I also understand

(05:16):
what this is doing to Americans, many Americans out there,
small business owners, and it's not good. Again, I strongly people,
I strongly hope that people look into Ludwig von Mesis.
I also mentioned and again this is what's shocking. Why

(05:38):
talking about capitalism going out with a whimper? Crickets crickets.
I mean again, I pointed out, I point out other
ones even like Mark Cuban mentioned this yesterday, pointed out
that this is like a dream. Maybe that's why the
left is being so quiet. This is like a dream

(06:00):
for the Bernie Sanders, the aox of the Worldlizabeth Warrens,
the type of control that is now being set up
in Washington, d C. And again, you're you're gonna get
you're hearing it, you know, Ah, it's Trump, He's gonna

(06:21):
do what right for Americans? Do you understand what you're
starting here? Who's who's to say, who's to say? You
get again? Next? You know, wins three years from now,
next presidential election, different House, different Senate, and they use
these same powers that Donald Trump has put forward to

(06:44):
do all sorts of other things, let's say, like green nonsense,
whatever it may be, shaking down other companies. Do you understand, okay,
the the risk that we're taking on here? And again

(07:05):
this has been it's been a process. It's been a process.
The the how the power of government and how they
are overstepping their bounds and what they're all about. And
like I said, started started during the Great Recession. Moral
hazard is what they call it. This is a moral hazard.

(07:26):
We're all socialists. Now we're bailing out this one, that one,
bailing out the auto companies. And again, this is what
it's led to. This makes it much more difficult for
the little guy, much more difficult for a much more
difficult for the small business owner out there. I hope,

(07:48):
I hope and I pray that cooler heads will prevail.
I hope and I pray that we'll actually have some
Republicans outside of you know, the couple that have a
backbone and push back against all of this. Again, who
knows what type of court cases might be coming down
the line, but we've done pretty well as a country

(08:10):
so far as far as innovation is concerned and wealth
creation is concerned. This one hundred and eighty degree turn
from capitalism to statism is going to do ungodly harm,

(08:31):
ungodly harm to again to the fiber of this country,
the backbone of this country, which has always been the
small business owner watchdog on Wall Street dot com,