MARCH/APRIL 2010
‘Progressives undermine their cause by attributing free-market principles to their opponents’
This article is a response to The Rules, a forum on government’s proper role in the market.
Eliot Spitzer makes an effective argument against much of the corruption that has taken root in our economy and society over the last three decades. However, he makes a fundamental error in portraying his agenda as a case for government intervention. Attributing a belief in free-market principles to those who have been setting economic policy these 30 years is far too generous. During that period the role of the government in the economy has changed, and in some cases grown, just not in ways that protect ordinary workers and consumers.
This article has become a book!
Government’s Place In the Market
Eliot Spitzer
MIT Press / Cloth / $14.95 / April 2010
With all the technocratic talk about credit default swaps and bailouts, Americans still have not come to terms with what we really need: a market that delivers public benefit. Spitzer lays out a map of when and how government should intervene to ensure that the market works for everyone.
With responses from Dean Baker and Robert Johnson.
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Objectives.
You are looking at the free market system and saying it would be better off self-regulating but industry leaders lack the initiative, training, and infrastructure with which to compete internationally on an increasingly narrow playing field. There are accessible solutions, but there are a very small number of players who have the right combination of vision and skills to coordinate such a noble idea into an ongoing reality. The problem with our government is a lack of responsible, mature leadership and diplomacy. And it's not such a huge problem if the right people are given the reigns to fix it.
— posted 03/09/2010 at 00:07 by Halc
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About the Author
Dean Baker is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy. His new book, Taking Economics Seriously, is forthcoming in April.
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