Warren Buffett, the well-known financier has a message for America: cheating in American capitalism has been rampant. This is not news to the average American, but to hear it from such a wealthy individual is refreshingly bracing.
So, let's have the discussion that Buffet doesn't care to have. I whole-heartedly commend Buffett's honesty. At the same time I whole-heartedly disagree with the premise that capitalism is inherently just or "American."
The profit system has been terribly inefficient and unjust. It is not just "bad apples." This is the point of disagreement. But let's have the discussion. And let it be honest. The alternative to capitalism doesn't have to be Soviet-style communism! (I could put more exclamation marks there.) We can have what the Scandinavian countries have gone after so successfully in the post-war years -- a sensible, well-ordered, mixed economy.
That, in fact, is what we already have had in America ever since Teddy Roosevelt and Congress began putting restrictions on corporations early in the 20th Century. Social Security and Medicare were further incursions into the capital-generating capacity of big business.
So -- the time is now. We must have this discussion. And it must occur at once. Time is wasting.
MSN video
So, let's have the discussion that Buffet doesn't care to have. I whole-heartedly commend Buffett's honesty. At the same time I whole-heartedly disagree with the premise that capitalism is inherently just or "American."
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| Warren Buffett |
That, in fact, is what we already have had in America ever since Teddy Roosevelt and Congress began putting restrictions on corporations early in the 20th Century. Social Security and Medicare were further incursions into the capital-generating capacity of big business.
So -- the time is now. We must have this discussion. And it must occur at once. Time is wasting.
MSN video
To add a bit of clarity. The Scandinavian countries have indeed had a form of capitalism, technically speaking. But the social safety net had been so strong that most people had been satisfied to a fairly large extent.
ReplyDeleteThat is the thing about capitalism. In order to exist at all now, there must be a social safety net which is robust. When the social safety net is allowed to fray -- as we see now in the U.S., Britain, and other nations -- the true, brutal nature of capitalism is bared. Certainly state socialism does not have to be the alternative. So, the closest system to what I propose would be the Scandinavian countries, each proudly unique, but proudly joined by an economic arrangement which worked quite well for many years. More coming.