Capital is one of the three main factors of production, the others being land and labor. Capitalism - an economic system in which the means of production, such as land and factories, are privately owned and operated for profit. Usually ownership is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people. Capitalism, which developed during the Industrial Revolution, is associated with free enterprise, although in practice even capitalist societies have government regulations for business, to prevent monopolies and to cushion domestic industries from foreign competition. Opponents of capitalism say that the economy should be organized to serve the public good, not private profit.
Supporters say capitalism creates wealth, which creates jobs, which create prosperity for everyone.
The term was originally applied to politicians from the Northern United States who went to the South after the civil war to try to exploit the unstable situation there for their own profit. Now used to refer to a politician who runs for office in a state or other district that is not his home. To give someone carte blanche is to give them complete power to decide something, or to name their own conditions or terms. The Carter Doctrine, although it was not formally invoked, was put to the test after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The resulting Persian Gulf war in 1991 showed that the U.S. did indeed regard the attempt by a belligerent country to gain control of more than its allocated share of the region to be an assault on the vital interests of the U.S. caste - an exclusive, often hereditary, class or group.