What we have today is not capitalism but corporatism, the alliance of Big Business and Big Finance with government through cronyism and corruption in form of legalized bribery and the revolving door. Worse, it is the foundation of empire, and thus closely approximates Mussolini's definition of fascism as corporate statism, but behind the facade of democracy.
Angry Bear
The Evils of Corporatism
Linda Beale
This has been some week. First, Lord Keynes shows that we didn't have a "gold standard" in the 1800s and now Tom Hickey admits that what we are presently enduring is not technically "capitalism".
ReplyDeletenow Tom Hickey admits that what we are presently enduring is not technically "capitalism".
ReplyDeleteNow? I have been saying that for a long time.
That doesn't imply that I think that capitalism is actually workable even under the best of circumstances, because in my view "the invisible hand" of the market is a very visible fist due to the inevitable institutional arrangements of presuming capital to be the dominant factor that other factors must serve.
Well, whatever. If we had pure capitalism, whatever that is supposed to be, that would be bad too. I think the best way of looking at it is to recognize that the creation concentrated economic power, organized in systematic corporate fashion, is the natural outgrowth of unrestrained, free economic exchange and enterprise. If we want societies organized according around principles of equality, shared costs, and shared benefits, then we need vigorous and capable democratic governments with sufficient power to establish and maintain a rule of law that promotes those values. Equality is great; but it is not natural. It's like a clean and well-maintained house. It doesn't just happen; you have to keep working at it. A laissez faire attitude toward an economy is no more sensible than a laissez faire attitude toward housekeeping. In the latter case you end up with a disorderly, unpleasant, dysfunctional and unhealthy house.
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