Interesting selection of viewpoints on the BBC website from various talking-heads, in response to the question “Where now for capitalism?”
Noam Chomsky (who I don’t always see eye-to-eye with) nails it:
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’s exactly what we see happening in the financial sector at the moment: after years of huge private profit, it’s the taxpayer who is called upon to bear the losses.
And as Chomsky goes on to point out, this is not unique to the 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.
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