Day: June 4, 2012

Capitalism is Not Self-Regulating; Needs Work

Buck Banks

Greenspan and other like-minded economists and political leaders were wrong to think capitalism self-regulating; they neglected the need for an institutional structure, and a culture, that differentiate successful from unsuccessful capitalist economies. The institutional structure of the United States is under stress… We have a huge public debt, dangerously neglected infrastructure, a greatly overextended system of criminal punishment, a seeming inability to come to grips with grave environmental problems such as global warming, a very costly but inadequate educational system, unsound immigration policies, an embarrassing obesity epidemic, an excessively costly health care system, a possible rise in structural unemployment, fiscal crises in state and local governments, a screwed-up tax system, a dysfunctional patent system, and growing economic inequality that may soon create serious social tensions. Our capitalist system needs a lot of work to achieve proper capitalist goals.

— Richard Posner, writing on the Becker-Posner Blog.

Neither Political Party Changing for the Better

Buck Banks

8%

Of Americans think the Republican Party has changed for the better over recent decades, while the Democratic Party fares slightly better with 12%, according to a new CBS News/Vanity Fair poll. Overall, though, the vast majority of those polled think both parties are either changing for the worse (44% Republican, 37% Democratic) or haven’t really changed much at all (43% Republican, 45% Democratic).