Somewhere in the Middle

Economy: "Not Capitalist, Not Socialist," by E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 31 March 2009

Socialism - A broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation.

Capitalism - An economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are privately owned and controlled rather than commonly, publicly, or state-owned and controlled.

The Dionne article helped crystallize a number of thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head for some time.

This article made me ask the question: Are we becoming a socialist society? After all, the government is "taking over" banks and "running" large automotive manufacturers.

One thing is for certain, the days of letting the market self-regulate itself are over. Why?

Because the free wheeling capitalist dream we have been living has provided a cover for legalized dishonesty. We have been lying to ourselves. Capitalist business practices have effectively fleeced the U.S. economy -- the world economy -- of its soul.

The financial mess has shown that, when left minimally regulated, many businesses and individuals are incapable of doing the right thing. They are incapable of doing the right thing because the system rewards profit. If the means of achieving that profit are not sufficiently defined or regulated, the process becomes a free for all, and the means to the profit is up to the individual. That is how we arrived where we are today.

Unfortunately, many of these businesses are now propped up by the government with tax payer dollars. And many of the individuals who used to run them have walked away with countless millions of dollars in their pockets.

The funny thing is these businesses and individuals are you and I. We have worked into positions of power within the capitalist model, thought we were doing the right thing, but we were duped by the legalized dishonesty of our financial system. Can we blame ourselves for being successful in an economic system that rewarded dishonesty?

You may say, "That is not me." I disagree, because we have all lived beyond our means for far too long. We spend money we don't have and save little to nothing of what we earn. The overwhelming majority of Americans carry a sizable credit card debt and have very little, if any, savings.

Our financial system can no longer be what it used to be. Does that mean we have to turn to socialism? I don't think so. As always, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I also found these articles to be interesting:
Rolling Out Obamanomics
The Price Is Not Right