Sigh. Your post is so wrong. I don't know where to begin. I do understand that the GOP has used Free Markets so much in their ideological hate speech that the use of this phrase is now considered a dirty word to Liberals. It's very similar to how the word Liberal has become a hated epithet. I'm called Liberal every time I post on the Politics of Energy thread. It's actually very amusing.
Free markets are anathema to me not because I am a liberal but because they don't work well for everyone. First of all, there is no such thing as a true free market..........its a theoretical concept that is not practical in its pure state. If you wanted a true free market, you would build your own roads to your home and business, provide your own security and provide your employees transport. How long do you think you would last in business under those terms? I suspect not long.
Secondly, free markets tend to work best for the well off and tend to hurt the lesser of us. The CEOs, actors and athletes in this country are all wealthy beyond measure because of the concept of free markets. The rest of us......not so much.
Nonetheless, thanks to the mythology promoted by the right in this country for the past 40 years, the US has one of the most free market economies of the western world. And it shows in many of the metrics that measure quality of life........lifespan, education, poverty, natal health care, etc........the US doesn't rank with the other western democracies. Instead it can be found among third world countries. Where we do well is per capita income because our form of capitalism insures that a few of us will become very, very rich.
Did you know that in Germany, when a woman becomes pregnant and has a kid, it is commonplace for her to stay at home and raise those kids? How can German families afford that 'luxury' and American families can not? Its because there is enough of a safety net in Germany that makes it possible.
And yet, Germany has one of the best economies in the world. Until last year, they were the number one exporter of goods. They were bumped off by China which is a much bigger country with a much larger economy. Where is the US.......the largest economy in the world.........in 5th or 6th place.
Well, I'm here to tell you that in my book "Free Markets" and "Liberal" are both GOOD. They are not dirty words. They are the salvation of this country. When the going gets tough, we need to double down on our beliefs about what works, not turn our noses up at them. Free markets always work to curb excesses, if the government sets the rules and then EXECUTES them. Free markets don't work very well to do their job, though, when the government sets the rules and then exempts everyone from those rules when the going gets tough.
I don't consider free markets an evil thing. I just don't think its a practical concept for the common good. Its a reactionary concept that plays to the personal greed many people feel. That's not the way I think. I think about what's good for the community as well as myself.
Its why I live in Seattle. You would consider it a socialist haven.....but in reality, its an incredible capitalist society that cranks out successful companies like they are candy..........Boeing, AMZN, FFIV, Starbux, Expedia, MSFT, Alaska Airlines, etc. However, it takes care of its own in ways that you would probably find repugnant and definitely socialist.
For example, how could the Free Market smack the banks down for their stupid risk taking, when the government worked in collusion with those banks to create a law forcing FASB to allow the banks to suspend "Mark to Market" and instead use "Mark to Fantasy" to measure the value of their toxic assets for their Financial Statements?
The Free Market always wins in the end, though. For two years after Mark to Market was suspended, it did manage to fool people into believing the big banks would be ok. But most recently, investors started to understand that the toxic assets aren't worth shit and market caps of the big banks have plummeted as a result. That market action may force those banks into bankruptcy, unless our government bails them out again, through actions like ZIRP and bond purchases.
Our government and that of Europe needs to let the free market work. If they did, then all of these constant alarms from all over the world would go away. The bond holders would take a severe haircut, the debt would be marked down, Greece would get kicked out of the EU and the Euro, several of our own banks would go under, and new banks would rise to take their place, with prudent Executives who aren't so stupidly risk-prone.
Our government should do what we elect them to do, which is to prosecute the bankster criminals and put them in jail for creating all this mess and committing fraud and other crimes along the way.
But instead we have crony capitalism and largesse for the top 1% and austerity for the masses. Great economic plan you have there.
You cover so many good issues for which I don't have the time to respond....but let me comment on one of them.Why the bankers did not go to jail is the fault of the American judicial system. Over the decades through concepts like the corp. umbrella, the courts have taken away personal responsibility and culpability, and instead, shifted the blame to the corp.as a whole; not the individuals who work in those corps. Its frustrating but that's the way it is. That's why Obama has exacted large financial penalties from the banks and wall street firms that helped precipitate the crisis in 2008 and pretty much given up on bringing the individuals responsible to trial. |
