Some posts on the Voice are similar to what you might find in the reference section of the B'game libraries.  This is one of them.  It is an excerpt of a letter to the editor in today's Wall Street Journal and for our purposes I have excerpted only the definition–so we will be able to revisit the definitions in future posts by linking back to this one.

I still remember a good definition from a college government class of many years ago which is applicable here. The definition is of the three main economic systems that dominated the 20th century. Capitalism is an economic system in which there is private ownership of property and private control. Socialism is a system in which there is private ownership of property but with government control. Communism is a system in which there is government ownership and government control of all property.

Jack Alkire

Woodbridge, Va.

My thanks to Mr. Alkire for such a concise, clear restatement of what he, and hopefully all of us, learned in school.