>They did a
>helluva job with Lyndon Johnson's new Society. It was probably the worst social
>engineering fiasco of this century.
I guess, then, that you do not think very highly of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- or medicare.
Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to rain on the adulatory parade on this thread for everything capitalistic.
I, too, tend to support a more libertarian approch than that taken by the Great Society, and I agree that Johnson made a lot of mistakes, not the least of which was getting us into Vietnam.
However, one difference between him and today's politicians is that he was at least willing to put it all on the line, to use his considerable legislative and political skills to try to achieve what he believed in even if the long-term political ramifications would not be good for him or his party (which, as it turned out, they were not). Can you imagine Clinton trying to do the same thing?
One thing I would like to hear is the "Gilder answer" to the middle-aged steel worker or middle-manager whose job and skills just got hosed in the "creative destruction" caused by our capitalistic system that he and, evidently, all the other people on this thread, so eloquently praise. What do you say to the person who just got laid off but whose age makes it excruciatingly difficult for him or her to get rehired? Or, how about the uneducated, black, female unemployed? What are they supposed to do?
Yes, these people need to get trained or retrained in some high-tech specialty (assuming, of course, they have the mental capacity). But who is going to hire a 45 year old when a 25 year old will do the same job cheaper, and maybe faster? And who is going to pay for the retraining? And how is this man's family going to (a) eat while the retraining is going on, and (b) deal with the big drop in income which this theoretical man is likely to suffer if and when he gets rehired?
I think this is a serious problem, and it is one of the reasons labor unions, protectionists and other "luddites" have a constituency in this country. It's why we have the high-tax, high-regulation environment we have.
Are these people just out of luck in the "world according to Gilder?" |
