Reply #88: I just wish we practiced it.

[HughBeaumont]

Back before the Reaganite Greedmongers took over in the mid-to-late 70s, it was working just fine.

Of course, that was when we still made shit here. Since there are pretty much no blue-collar opportunities anymore, we all have to go back to college . . . again and again and again, whether we need to or not. Everyone has a degree; therefore, no one stands out. Free enterprise & entrepreneurship is a crapshoot that you cannot even begin to pay bills with unless you hit the jackpot and people actually buy what you sell. The operative word being "unless".

That was also when workers had a say in how business was conducted. Now, it doesn't really matter how much education and experience you have - we're all at the mercy of the Bottom Line & QUARTERLY PROFIT MARGIN and the handful of vastly overpaid rulers who dictate their acceptability.

That was when wages actually kept pace with the cost of living. The top marginal tax burden was on the rich instead of the regressive model we have now. People had money to spend and buy the products they made. They were able to go on vacations. They didn't get thrown out on their ass if they got sick. Homes were a 2:1 steal. Dual incomes were a luxury, not an absolute must.

"Capitalism" when regulated, policed, backed by a progressive tax structure and boring, can operate fairly and serve as a reliable growth engine.

It's when it turns into a house-always-wins casino (that uses tax dollars to bail out it's failures) that it goes to crap.

Funny thing about that there Unbridled Corporatism . . . Socialism always seems to be available to bail it out when it crashes and burns so spectacularly.

"Free Marketz" at work, indeed . . .