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ecib  ·  4311 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Simon Johnson: The Market Has Spoken, and It Is Rigged
At the rate our radical, polarized electorate is going, I have to wonder how we get from here to increased socialism-ish ideas.

The right is extreme, and the left is to the right of were Reagan was on many issues.

>Capitalism is great, it just needs some more polishing.

I've always thought so. I'm progressive, and it shocks me the distortions the Right make about the views of people like me when the word 'regulation' is even whispered. I think capitalism is the best system on Earth because it is the only one that takes into account human nature (greed). It just can't be completely unregulated because it actually isn't the most efficient at creating prosperity for the majority of people if left unchecked. Monopolies cannot be avoided in some markets due to the structural barriers to enter, giving the monopolistic leaders the ability to crush or buy off any newcomers that make the attempt. It's not rocket science. I also think that our nations utilities and infrastructure should be subject to scrutiny and regulation, along with sectors that have to ability to destroy the life savings of our citizens through fraudulent gambling (I'm looking at you Wall Street). But on the whole, the free market should be mostly free, and we don't need to have the state owning the means of production as the Socialism calls for (most Tea Partiers have zero idea what socialism is).