Specie economy. Specie are precious metals and gemstones. It leads to hoarding. Capital flows in only one direction: from the site of extraction, the periphery, to the ruler, the core. This leads to economic slowdown and stagnation. That's all I could think of. I kind of went off on it after "specie," but specie isn't a complete description so that's why. I'm probably missing something huge.
We did have a gold standard up until 1972, when Nixon took us off of it. I guess that's another way to describe mercantilism: it's not a debt economy. In capitalism, capital is fluid, meaning it flows many ways, not just the one way as in mercantilism. Debt, then, creates profit. The government in a capitalist system wants to assume as much as the public debt as it can. It does not want a large stockpile of capital sitting inert in private hands. That is bad for democracy. The word is "inimical."
When the government borrows, it doesn't have to print money to finance ventures. Buying things like an aircraft carrier is a venture. Our investments in overseas oil fields are ventures. The interest on these kinds of things is enormous and is used to keep the economy rolling. You borrow, then you finance ventures to pay off your debtors. The deficit is the difference between what you borrow and what you pay back. A surplus means you borrowed more so you have more incoming than outgoing. A deficit can mean you are being fiscally responsible since it shows that you are borrowing less than you are paying back. A deficit is an indicator--AN indicator, depending on other things, but a strong one--of a strong or rising military.
Debt is more reliable for paying for war than specie is, and capitalism is a better engine for economic growth than class struggle. Both class struggle and mercantilism are closed systems, and that's what makes them fail. Mercantilism implies hoarding, and class struggle implies starving.
I may be wrong, but they were treated poorly, as slaves
Akhenaten (pronounced /ˌækəˈnɑːtən/),[8] also spelled Echnaton,[9] Akhenaton,[3] Ikhnaton,[2] and Khuenaten[10][11] (Ancient Egyptian: ꜣḫ-n-jtn, meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336[3] or 1351–1334 BC,[4] the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV (Ancient Egyptian: jmn-ḥtp, meaning "Amun is satisfied", Hellenized as Amenophis IV).
Akhenaten
Amenhotep IV
Amenophis IV, Naphurureya, Ikhnaton[1][2]
Statue of Akhenaten in the early Amarna style
Statue of Akhenaten in the early Amarna style
Pharaoh
Reign
1353–1336 BC[3]
1351–1334 BC[4]
(18th Dynasty of Egypt)
Predecessor
Amenhotep III
Successor
Smenkhkare
Royal titulary
Consort
Nefertiti
Kiya
An unidentified sister-wife (most likely)
Tadukhipa
Children
Smenkhkare?
Meritaten
Meketaten
Ankhesenamun
Neferneferuaten Tasherit
Neferneferure
Setepenre
Tutankhamun (most likely)
Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit?
Meritaten Tasherit?
Father
Amenhotep III
Mother
Tiye
Died
1336 or 1334 BC
Burial
Royal Tomb of Akhenaten, Amarna (original tomb)
KV55 (disputed)
[6][7]
Monuments
Akhetaten, Gempaaten
Religion
Ancient Egyptian religion
Atenism
Akhenaten is noted for abandoning Egypt's traditional polytheistic religion and introducing Atenism, worship centered on Aten. The views of Egyptologists differ whether Atenism should be considered as absolute monotheism, or whether it was monolatry, syncretism, or henotheism.[12][13] This culture shift away from traditional religion was not widely accepted. After his death, Akhenaten's monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from lists of rulers compiled by later pharaohs.[14] Traditional religious practice was gradually restored, notably under his close successor Tutankhamun, who changed his name from Tutankhaten early in his reign.[15] When some dozen years later rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records.[16][17]
Akhenaten was all but lost to history until the late 19th century discovery of Amarna, or Akhetaten, the new capital city he built for the worship of Aten.[18] Furthermore, in 1907, a mummy that could be Akhenaten's was unearthed from the tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings by Edward R. Ayrton. Genetic testing has determined that the man buried in KV55 was Tutankhamun's father,[19] but its identification as Akhenaten has since been questioned.[6][7][20][21][22]
Akhenaten's rediscovery and Flinders Petrie's early excavations at Amarna sparked great public interest in the pharaoh and his queen Nefertiti. He has been described as "enigmatic", "mysterious", "revolutionary", "the greatest idealist of the world", and "the first individual in history", but also as a "heretic", "fanatic", "possibly insane", and "mad".[12][23][24][25][26] The interest comes from his connection with Tutankhamun, the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and ongoing interest in the religion he attempted to establish.
