Friday, March 5, 2010

Economic Justice and the Spirit of Innovation | Edmund Phelps

I DVR and watch nearly every “Charlie Rose” interview.  I’m amazed at Elizabeth Warren’s courage in standing up to the likes of Geithner, Bernanke and Paulson, but they and their peers have way to much power for her to compete, I fear.  What actually happens to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency will speak volumes about regulation. 

In another sense, though, I’m not sure that the antidote to the predatory and corrupt financial system is government protection of consumers, many of who were greedy and dishonest themselves.  Both extremes: - on one hand, government bailouts of those who created the instruments causing the financial crisis and on the other hand,  regulation of consumers deemed not capable of making their own decisions – rely on government control and/or taxpayer dollars. I wish the regulatory mindset would be more in agreement with the attached piece by the economist Ned Phelps. This essay describes Capitalism at its best and would be the mantra of the Republican Party were it not hijacked by the religious right.

Economic Justice and the Spirit of Innovation First Things

No comments:

Post a Comment