in most countries, the government does more than that. it tries to make sure that people buy and sell fairly and that employment is fair. but most of the time, the government making sure that employment is fair is also on the benefitting side of capitalism. the government takes money in taxes and spends it according to what the governing body wants, often not what the citizens who elected the governing body want their taxes to be spent on. people in power spend money on guns and ships for the military. when the government is in charge of part of the economy, this is called a "social democracy." however, when the government spends money it causes arguments about what the money should be spent on, because often times we don't vote on policies, we vote on people we depend on making the policies.