The brutal rejection of capitalism in favor of socialism by African politicians at independence was largely due to a deep-seated misconception that equates capitalism to colonialism.
The fact that some Americans supported slavery in the eighteenth century is not at all remarkable. Most of the world agreed with them. What is remarkable is that many of them sought to abolish slavery in the new republic.
Historically, Europeans had few qualms about conquering and enslaving other Europeans. This presents some problems for the narrative claiming that injustices committed by Europeans are motivated primarily by racism.
Mises in 1944: "The German and the Russian systems of socialism have in common the fact that the government has full control of the means of production."
In a slave economy, slave owners seek technological innovations that make slave labor more productive. But they also place inefficient and artificial limits on innovations that might change the established social order.
The film Black Panther offered an attractive view of an African nation untouched by slavery or colonialism. Unfortunately, the film offers a rather dubious counterfactual.
The embargo continues, partly because the Cuba situation has indirectly exposed the corrupt sham of the entire Cold War and the corrupt machinery of the US national security establishment.
When Vikings robbed their victims, they often called the booty gjald (debt) as if the stolen goods were repayment for a service provided by the robbers.
Thomas Sowell has explained that while "Marx may have explicitly advocated the idea of a democratic workers’ government, his own personal style was dictatorial, manipulative, and intolerant."
