“As capitalism approaches its bicentennial, it is beset by crisis. Increasingly, its supporters as well as its critics ask: Can capitalism survive?
“The question is all the more urgent because the U.S., by far the most powerful capitalist economy, is recovering from its recent debilitating bout of inflationary recession and faces a particularly uncertain economic future.
“…Within many a capitalist country, the free market is being steadily hemmed in by the power of omnipresent government regulators, mass unions and giant corporations. Meanwhile, many intellectuals—and young people—contend that capitalism at best can build only a rich, not a just society. In January seven Nobel prizewinners, including Economists Gunnar Myrdal and Kenneth J. Arrow, signed a declaration condemning Western capitalism for bringing on a crisis by producing ‘primarily for corporate profit.’ They called for an intensive search for ‘alternatives to the prevailing Western economic systems.
“…It is a little early to write off capitalism. The system has survived wars, depressions, the loss of colonial empires—even the accession to government power, in such countries as Britain, France and Germany, of parties that called themselves socialist but proved unable or unwilling to dismantle the system.” —Time, 7.14.75
Capitalism is far from perfect, but I know of no other economic system that can claim the title of perfection either. So we’re left to fix capitalism, to make it work better. Umair Haque calls it Capitalism 2.0. Maybe you have a different name for it, but ultimately, the goal is to be engaged in something of value.
So much of the recent economic crisis came from putting our faith in what amounted to a series of magic tricks—dazzling, yes, but lacking substance. It’s time to put the rabbit back in the hat. The goal isn’t to make things like they were before, but to learn from our mistakes so it doesn’t happen again and figure out a better way forward.
