Not Enough Blame to Go Around

By: Teddy
Published On: 9/29/2008 1:12:05 PM

I have heard several times that "there's plenty of blame to go round" every time the Republicans come a cropper. We heard this when Iraq went obviously sour ("bad intelligence," "Democrats voted for it, too" blah, blah). And also, we hear "We are in this lousy position, and we must do something, not play the blame game." The hell with it. The kernal of truth therein is vanishingly small.

The thing is, I do not believe it's entirely  
evil lobbyists, money-grubbing Congressional Virgil Goodes, illegal immigrants, or even greed personified. The blame lies squarely on the foolish but seductive 'Free Market' religion which has been swallowed whole by the ruling classes. Until we wipe out that sounds-good-but-never-works ideology we cannot and will not have the nuts to make significant reforms. "The market solves everything" if only we let it work its magic unhindered, because "the economic man" makes choices in the market that add to his economic riches. Bull: Looks good on paper, makes sense if you think it through without challenging its premises, but in real life it never, ever works. Human nature is not pure economic man. The wealth and position of the participants in the bargaining in a supposedly free market always influences the results of the bargaining, therefore, there is not and cannot be a "free market."

The entire Friedman ideology (i.e., "Free Market") sanctifies greed, a natural human characteristic, but elevating greed and the demand for short-term quarterly increase in the bottom line in every transaction has totally corrupted whatever market we do have. No decision made by a human being is ever made totally on improving his economic position. There is always a thumb on the scale. Free Market must be modified, reined in, adjusted to the real world. We must stop ruining the lives of ordinary people world-wide (not to mention here at home) by trying to impose an ideology.  We are like Cinderella's step sisters, cutting off important body parts to make us fit into this absurd ideological slipper. Yet still we hear Free Market acolytes in Congress, and folks like Newt Gingrich, proposing that the bailout is wrong, we need more free market de-regulation to solve the problem.  

When I argued for a new philosophy earlier this year, I was told "Maybe so, but you can't make that change in the middle of an election." Heh. Okay, but soon, sooner, soonest, or the rascals will rally and prevent any true reform while we stumble through this "rescue."  

Comments



Absolutely Right (BP - 9/29/2008 1:55:03 PM)
What we are seeing is a symptom of a much larger systemic problem, with its roots in flawed fundamental assumptions.  Here are some of them:

1.  An unregulated "Free Market" will maximize our collective welfare;

2.  Our economic system is a freely competitive meritocracy.  Therefore, if someone "makes" fifty million dollars in one year, it must be because they "earned" it;

3.  The pursuit of selfish, individual interests will result in the maximization of our collective well being; and

4.  We are each rugged, self-sufficient individuals who can maximize our own welfare no matter what foolish choices are made by others.

If this crisis serves to highlight the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of conservatism's flawed assumptions, it may be worth the $700 billion or more it will cost us.



The Establishment (Teddy - 9/29/2008 2:04:07 PM)
gurus inhabit both parties and both campaigns, redoubts of Free Market---- it is, after all, the conventional wisdom. There is a nervous feeling that only those with "experience" in the complicated machinations of high finance can guide any new president. Yielding to this perception gave Bill Clinton pause, and he went from his populist anti-NAFTA stance to endorsing it once elected. Let's not let that happen to the current candidate, no matter how much urgency for doing something is claimed to exist.