WELL REGULATED CAPITALISM

Fareed Zakharia interviewed Senator Mark Warner on television last Sunday, and I was impressed with Senator Warner’s views. He seemed to favor a well regulated capitalism that works for all Americans. This differs from the views of the Tea Party Republicans who favor an unregulated capitalism that works for richest people at the top, the fast buck artists, and the financial predators. It also differs from the social bigots who believe Trump when he blames their failures on people other than themselves (like immigrants) and gives them false hope that he will return America backwards to a time that worked for them but no longer exists. But it also differs from the views of the far Left. He does not lay the blame for all of America’s ills on the large corporations.

My views on the economy which I think are similar to Senator Warner’s views (if I read them correctly) are that socialism has good intentions but does not necessarily produce the best results. Communism (which is socialism combined with authoritarianism) had a run during the end of World War I until almost the end of the 20^th Century when the Soviet Union collapsed. After a brief flirtation with democracy, Russia returned to authoritarianism under Putin with an extreme government controlled capitalism. China, the other huge communist country has evolved into a combination of residual authoritarian communism combined with capitalism (although softer, more responsible, and more successful than Russia). It seems that most of the communist countries have ultimately evolved into capitalist economies although often retaining the authoritarianism of communism. This speaks for the desirability of some sort of capitalism. On the other hand, capitalism left unchecked by regulation as desired by the Tea Party leads to a quick buck predatory capitalism in which wealth becomes concentrated into a small group of oligarchs who control the economy to create a kind of socialism for the very rich. A capitalism that works for everyone must be well regulated to keep it from running amuck. This well regulated capitalism must combine as much as possible the competition of capitalism with social justice for everyone.