Free Market and Capitalism

Robert Reich's "Saving Capitalism" For the Many, Not the Few Robert Reich would be an unexpected ally for the movement on the Left, or the more liberal members of the American society. Reich is a classically trained economist that has actually won a Nobel Prize in economics for some of his work. Such awards and achievements would typically be associated with an individual that was more economically conservative than what Reich is arguing.

However, the economic conditions that have provided decades of economic growth for many of the advanced nations are changing quickly and the standard economic perspectives are no longer creating the results that they did in previous circumstances. Reich makes many claims that might seem counterintuitive to many people who believe that the free market operates best when it is left to its own devices and not subject to government regulation.

However, the concept that hard work will allow you succeed and make a better life for you and your family does not apply to the new generation to the extent it did in previous years. For example, middle-income children are half as likely to climb to the top quintile compared to previous generations, while those who are already at the top are more likely to stay there. Trends such as these create conditions in which inequality is rampant and provide the foundation for Reich's arguments.

This analysis will review the work Reich presents and his ideas restoring economic mobility in the United States. Saving Capitalism Many of the arguments that Reich is tackling are a direct response to the notion that free markets are worthy of some ideological status that beyond any criticism.

People in the United States often feel that capitalism and the free market is a system that has proven itself to be the best system that has ever been tried and have consequently developed an obsession with the free market and the basic rules of capitalism that represents such a closely held belief that it could be perceived as approaching more of a religious sentiment than anything related to a public policy.

At the same time, there is also mounting evidence provided by other countries that illustrate alternatives to strict free market adherence that have shown to be effective in many regards, especially relative to policy outcomes. The main idea that Reich rallies around is that inequality is producing social results that are inconsistent with effective public policies and possible (or probably) democracy in general.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine about the book Reich has stated that he has received two basic categories of responses to his proposals, which he describes as (Konczal, 2015): "You called your book Saving Capitalism. Why does capitalism need saving, and why is it worth saving? Those are the two questions I've been getting on the book tour.

One group of people says, "Why do you suppose it needs saving? It's perfect." And another group says, "Why do you want to save it? It's so rotten." The responses to his book actually help to further illustrate some of his claims about inequality and the political polarization that can be viewed in so many different areas of American society. Reich argues that there are actually many different forms of capitalism that are possible, and the real question is who is the system designed to help.

The American form of capitalism is producing conditions in which it is consolidating wealth and supporting the people who are currently at the highest income levels. However, by contrast, other capitalistic systems are supporting the public in general, such as illustrated by the Scandinavian countries. These countries, as well as countries that use vastly different forms of capitalism such as China, help to illustrate the spectrum of capitalistic systems that are possible for use in any nation.

"The real issue isn't capitalism versus some other "ism." The real issue is whether capitalism is organized for the benefit of the society as a whole or for the benefit of a small group at the top. That's really what we ought to be debating," Reich describes in the interview (Konczal, 2015). Conclusion From my personal perspective, I think Reich does a better job of illustrating some of the challenges that countries such as the U.S. face than he does in his proposals to combat some of the ill effects.