How did capitalism rise to dominate the world — and where is it headed next? This in-depth analysis traces the journey from early merchant banking and colonial trading companies, through the industrial revolution, globalisation, and into today’s high-speed, interconnected financial system. We explore the deep connections between markets and governments, the role of institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, and the hidden influence of shadow banking. We also examine the benefits and costs of capitalism — from lifting millions out of poverty to triggering global crises — and discuss the competing visions for the post-capitalist future. Will we see a green, reformed capitalism… or an entirely new economic order? Watch related videos: 🎥 The End of the Rules-Based Order? → https://dai.ly/x9ocnj4 🎥 Shadow Banking and the Invisible Empire of Capital → https://dai.ly/[yourlink] Follow for more analysis: YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@wperspective2 TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@worldperspec Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/worldperspective2/ #Capitalism #Economics #Finance #Geopolitics #Globalisation #WorldEconomy #IMF #WorldBank #WTO #ShadowBanking
00:00Capitalism is everywhere. It is in the price of your morning coffee. It is in the apps you use. It is in the ads that follow you around the Internet. It is in the quiet corridors where lobbyists and ministers meet. It has become so deeply embedded in our lives that many people cannot even imagine a world without it.
00:22But here is the question. Did capitalism rise to dominance because it is the best system we could create? Or because it rewrote the rules of power, of politics, and even of morality, until there was no serious alternative left standing?
00:38To understand how capitalism conquered the world, we have to go back to the beginning. Not just the Industrial Revolution, but earlier. The roots of capitalism are tangled in centuries of trade, empire, and banking.
00:53Merchants in Renaissance Italy. Shipping companies backed by royal charters in England and the Netherlands. The early stock exchanges that allowed investors to pool resources and spread risk. These were not just financial innovations. They were political revolutions in disguise. Capitalism's first major advantage was speed. Markets could adapt faster than monarchies, empires, or councils.
01:20When feudal systems took decades to adjust to a bad harvest or a war. Markets could respond almost instantly to changes in supply and demand. And once profit became the primary measure of success, innovation accelerated. Factories replaced workshops. Steamships replaced sale. Telegraphs replaced letters.
01:44The market rewarded those who could move faster, cheaper, cheaper, and more efficiently, and punished those who could not.
01:51But there was another reason capitalism spread so quickly. It did not just adapt to political power. It merged with it. Governments began to shape laws, taxes, and even wars to protect the interests of merchants and investors.
02:08Colonialism was, in many ways, a capitalist project. Colonialism was, in many ways, a capitalist project. The conquest of territories was followed by the extraction of resources and the opening of markets for goods manufactured back home.
02:21The British East India Company did not simply trade. It ruled. It ruled. It levied taxes. It raised armies. It reshaped entire economies in the image of profit.
02:32As capitalism grew, as capitalism grew, it also rewrote culture.
02:36We began to think of work not as a duty to community, but as a personal career.
02:41We began to see land not as a shared inheritance, but as a commodity to be bought and sold.
02:48We began to measure success not by honor, piety or public service, but by accumulation.
02:54And then came the modern era, the age of global capitalism.
02:59From the 1970s onwards, deregulation, privatization, and free trade agreements dissolved many of the barriers that had once limited capital's reach.
03:10Corporations could move production anywhere. Banks could shift billions across borders in seconds.
03:17Supply chains became planetary in scale. If one country tried to regulate too tightly, business could simply relocate to another.
03:26This global scale brought enormous benefits. Millions were lifted out of poverty in Asia. New technologies spread faster than ever.
03:36Consumers in the West enjoyed cheap goods, endless variety, and expanding credit. But it also brought enormous vulnerabilities.
03:45Entire industries collapsed in regions where jobs were sent overseas. Financial crises could spread around the world in days.
03:54And the environment began to bear the cost of unchecked extraction and production.
03:59The 2008 global financial crisis shattered the myth that capitalism was a self-correcting, perfectly balanced system.
04:08When the largest banks faced collapse, governments intervened, not to protect the unemployed, but to rescue the financial institutions that were deemed too big to fail.
04:20This revealed something fundamental. Capitalism depends on the state far more than it admits.
04:27Free markets are never truly free. They are maintained by armies, police forces, courts, and central banks.
04:35Different critics have different solutions. Some believe the system can be reformed, with stronger regulations, more progressive taxation, and public investment in green industries.
04:47Others argue that capitalism itself is inherently unstable and must be replaced entirely by something new.
04:54Still others point out that capitalism's greatest strength, its ability to absorb and adapt to criticism, means that every attempt to reform it ends up reinforcing it.
05:06And this leads us to a profound question about what comes next.
05:11We are living through an age of climate change, geopolitical fragmentation, and rapid technological change.
05:18Artificial intelligence, automation, and algorithmic decision-making are already transforming labor markets and political discourse.
05:27Some predict a new era of techno-feudalism, where corporate platforms replace states as the primary organizers of daily life.
05:36Others see the potential for a more cooperative, decentralized economy, using digital networks to share resources, without relying on centralized, profit-seeking entities.
05:49The truth is, capitalism has survived every crisis so far by changing shape.
05:55It can present itself as the friend of democracy, the engine of innovation, or the only realistic way to organize complex societies.
06:05Its flexibility is its armor.
06:08But flexibility can also be a weakness, because when a system tries to be everything at once, it can lose sight of what it is for.
06:17And this is where our bonus section begins.
06:20If we look more closely at the global financial architecture, we see a dense web of institutions, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, all setting the invisible rules of global commerce.
06:39These are not democratic bodies, they are technocratic, dominated by the wealthiest nations and financial interests.
06:48They can dictate the economic policies of entire countries through debt conditions, trade rules, and banking regulations.
06:56Shadow banking networks, offshore tax havens, and private equity firms operate in parallel, shaping the real flow of capital without the scrutiny faced by public institutions.
07:09This is the nuclear level of the conversation, because once you see these hidden layers, you realize that the public debates about capitalism versus socialism, regulation versus free markets, are only the surface.
07:23The deeper game is about control over the architecture itself, who writes the rules, who enforces them, and who is exempt from them.
07:32The question of what comes next is not simply about replacing capitalism with another economic model.
07:38It is about reclaiming the ability to decide what the economy is for, rather than letting it decide for us.
07:45It is about recognizing that any new system, whether it is called post-capitalism, green capitalism, or something else entirely, will still be shaped by whoever controls the levers of global finance and trade.
08:01And so, the story of capitalism's conquest of the world is not finished.
08:06Its next chapter will be written in the conflicts between states and corporations, between technology and labor, between ecological limits, and the hunger for growth.
08:17We have explored similar themes in my earlier videos on global power shifts, the rules-based order, and the moral architecture of finance.
08:25And in the next video, we will go even deeper, examining how emerging technologies could redefine the very concept of wealth and power in the 21st century.
08:55Let's see.
08:56We will see the next video.
08:57Now, come on, first to see the effect of the world.
08:59Let me see.
09:00Here we see.
09:01Thanks a bit.
09:02See?
09:03It is a bit of a prototype.
09:07This is a character that says, yes?
09:09This is a character that says, yes?
09:10With the ability to the world, this is about to communicate.
