Mercantilism 2.0

[Jerome Scuggs]

http://www.aier.org/research/beyond-...-it-capitalism

and of course, the weekly "i told you so" link:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...027_860032.htm

[Nycle]

The more I read and hear about Sarkozy, the more I think he's a populist. It's not that hard to see that his plans for an "economic government" for the eurozone are largely intended to undermine the independence of the European Central Bank, which he has openly criticized more than once for "not facilitating economic growth" sufficiently. I'd be horrified if he managed to pull that one off. I doubt that will happen though since changes made to the ECB's structure require unanimous agreement among all member states, and countries like Germany and the Netherlands have long been against such changes.

Everyone knows France has lagged behind other European countries in implementing economic reforms to give it more flexibility for when the Euro arrived. France's failure to implement these reforms have turned against them in the form of sluggish economic growth and consistently high unemployment. France's relatively more "socialist" culture make it hard for its government to counter the (sometimes irrational) public opinion and do what's necessary. Sarkozy knows this, and he's currently abusing his presidency of the EU, which is giving him more diplomatic weight, to try and make up for his own government's fallacies by blaming it on the ECB and "American capitalism" while flying around the world and proposing ridiculous alternatives. That's not even realistic, it's hypocritical. He needs to clean up his own mess at home first before undertaking any steps that affect the world, especially the EU, eurozone and thus my country as well.

This is not to say that I completely disagree with him. I believe that the unfettered "American capitalism" is providing for some of the most resource-intensive and wasteful lifestyles on earth, and allows for the short-term satisfaction of a few greedy at the expense of the masses which has proven to be unsustainable. The financial system is in need of reform, but definitely not Sarkozy-style.

[DankNuggets]

right so we can go back to huge class divisions compared to today and allow for no centralized planning as far as governments go?

i'd rather you call it communism (which it isn't) than use the facade of capitalism to continue to draw wealth out of everyone's pockets and place it into those in charge of big businesses. I don't think it's prudent to put economy > state. Call it socialism to do the exact same thing, but in addition to filling the pockets of big business, you also fill the gov't coffers.

When capitalism benefited us, we took advantage of it. It's no longer beneficial to the extent that their "interventionist state" is. At some point, businesses (now viewed as individuals through the government) gain more power than the government in terms of capital and clout if you go strictly capitalist on us. Then we're at the mercy of those in charge of the businesses. i call that facism- they might not take my wages directly or take my front yard, but they're indirectly taking my earnings as well my property when i have to sell it to them to continue to benefit from their business. After all, we no longer live in a society that's capable of feeding itself, moving itself around or even taking care of itself without the help of businesses. I'd like to make sure that they're not in-it for the short run, fuck us over, and bail. It's not impossible to dupe the free market is it? I don't think you can rely on it alone.


While we'd like to preserve what we're founded on, we can see where even the founders allowed for the possibility that life wouldn't be the same and wouldn't need the same rules and regulations 100 or 1,000 yrs from then.

[Nycle]

While we'd like to preserve what we're founded on, we can see where even the founders allowed for the possibility that life wouldn't be the same and wouldn't need the same rules and regulations 100 or 1,000 yrs from then.

It's not even a question a question of if, but when we dump capitalism for another system. We like to believe that we can't live without it because none of us have ever known anything else, and our natural fear for the unknown is a major drive for upholding the status quo. The truth however is that man kind has seen dozens of "systems" throughout its existence, and capitalism is only one of those systems we're experiencing today. Like any human constructed system it has many flaws and it's only a matter of time before we move on to the next one.

I'm also a realist though and I know change doesn't happen overnight, and I like capitalism to the extent that it's a flexible system able to adapt and function in rapidly changing and complex environments/societies. It also provides people with an incentive to better themselves, thus contributing to our ever expanding knowledge and innovation. I'm just hoping the next step will be that people don't work purely for self-gain, but for the society as a whole. I know that sounds utopian, but not impossible. Until then, I feel like it's a government's responsibility to make sure that our current system doesn't exclude a disproportionate part of society from the wealth it can generate. Because although many people like to think that a market completely free of regulation will somehow provide a society with "social cohesion", I am convinced that it won't ever achieve this by itself.

It is never acceptable to allow a system to run a free course and trust it to magically solve all of our problems. People can and should be in control of their own fate (through a representative democracy, among other things), and that's why I'm always wary to leave or cede matters of public interest over to the intangible "force" we call the free market and/or capitalism. This isn't always a bad thing, but we often get stuck way too easily in a vision that just because it works for some or many things, it's the answer to everything. I think the credit crisis we're having right now serves more than anything as an example of what can happen when we succumb to this blurred vision too quickly.