Obama Downplays Differences Between Capitalism, Communism, Just Do ‘What Works’

Speaking Thursday at a townhall event in Buenos Aires, President Obama downplayed the differences between communism and capitalism. Rather than focus on these "interesting intellectual arguments" on the differences between the two systems, Obama advises young people to "just decide what works."

"Especially in the Americas, that's been a big debate, right? Oh, you know, you're a capitalist Yankee dog, and oh, you know, you're some crazy communist that's going to take away everybody's property," Obama said. "And I mean, those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don't have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory -- you should just decide what works."