# Capitalism A decentralized economy with centralized state and money issuance that is driven by private property and the pursuit of profit. Financially, a system with hierarchical financial institutions and assets defined and measured by reference to what creates profit. The result: becoming-money of all social wealth. As such, fundamentally a wasteful, fragile & unstable economic system: a cultural-financial asset in decline. Dangerous in the way being long capitalism aggressively shorts the environment and the qualitative dimensions of our life and society. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://glossary.ecsa.io/capitalism.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.