John Cassidy, an economics journalist known for his work at The New Yorker, spent nearly nine years working on a book now published under the title “Capitalism and Its Critics.” The trigger was the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, when Bernie Sanders fought for the Democratic nomination. Sanders’ campaign gave Cassidy the idea of examining capitalism consistently from the perspective of its critics – across 250 years of economic intellectual history.
Cassidy describes how the rich and super-rich have hijacked politics, making policy solely in the interest of their own greed. He asks: Is it inevitable that the profiteers of capitalism also hijack democracy and establish an oligarchy? Is that inherent in the fundamental laws of capitalism? Economists do not ask this question; they believe they can describe economic cycles with formulas and curves. Yet despite their advice to think tanks and governments, one crisis rolls in after another.
The consequences of unfettered capitalism are evident worldwide: the gap between rich and poor is widening dramatically, resources are being plundered, livelihoods destroyed. The much-vaunted market does not fix it. At the same time, no other economic system can produce as much prosperity. Since its beginnings in England, capitalism has not only revolutionized technology but also created the financial basis for modern welfare states.
In his book, Cassidy profiles numerous critical economists who build on Marx and Engels but reach their own conclusions. He himself arrives at an optimistic verdict: capitalism can be reformed – if society is willing to set the right political course. The book is an invitation to understand how capitalism works anew, rather than merely lamenting it or blindly defending it.
Source: www.sueddeutsche.de
