Viewpoints: Where now for capitalism? Noam Chomsky/BBC

[go west young man]

The threat became more severe when the Clinton administration repealed the Glass-Steagall act of 1933, thus freeing financial institutions "to innovate in the new economy," in Clinton's words - and also "to self-destruct, taking down with them the general economy and international confidence in the US banking system," financial analyst Nomi Prins adds.

The unprecedented intervention of the Fed may be justified or not in narrow terms, but it reveals, once again, the profoundly undemocratic character of state capitalist institutions, designed in large measure to socialise cost and risk and privatize profit, without a public voice.

That is, of course, not limited to financial markets. The advanced economy as a whole relies heavily on the dynamic state sector, with much the same consequences with regard to risk, cost, profit, and decisions, crucial features of the economy and political system.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7621771.stm#noam

[Cresent City Kid]

1. Back and forth

The pendulum has swung to and from limits on capitalism with repeated results. Periods of unfettered boom have led to bust and corrective legislation to deal with economic crises. The theory that unregulated capitalism is best still, and probably always will persist despite the repeated crashes it has led to.