James McCusker’s Feb. 10 column, “Capitalism critics help us understand politics,” starts out using his rational side to lure you into believing there is something wrong with the “free-market capitalism” model, but falls short in the second half of his article.
He tries to take you (using the free-market capitalist narrative) to a group of critics (of his choosing) to convince you that the only alternative model is socialism. He tries to make the subject extremely difficult. You couldn’t possibly understand. You need to leave it to us economists. That’s the standard narrative used by the ‘Greed is Good’ crowd.
What he doesn’t mention is that socialism and capitalism are the two sides of the same coin. They go hand in hand. You cannot have capitalism without socialism. Capitalism has to be regulated in order to work. (Imagine a professional football game without referees) We have to protect the greedy from themselves. They appear to have no self-control. The regulations have to come through a democratic process, outside the control of the capitalist. (We, the people)
Alan Greenspan’s theory of “a self regulated market will correct itself” didn’t happen. Had it worked, the entire world economy would have been in jeopardy.
Free-market capitalism failed in 2008. We’re left with “crony capitalism,” still unregulated.
We need to start by changing the narrative of “free-market capitalism” to a democratically regulated capitalism. It won’t be easy. The greedy have all the money, but we have the votes.
Pat Rainsberger
Snohomish
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