New mantra to support reregualting the proven failure of the unfettered capitalism approach...

[WCGreen]

Trust, but verify...

Trust the bastards to do the right thing but verify that they are doing so...

Throw that hoary old canard of Reagan's right back at the ass holes on the right

[happychatter]

1. This melt down is the final verdict on Friedmanesque Economics

Obama can't go too far because he has to deal with conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans to get a damn thing done

but you KNOW, he KNOWS

he knows

[John Q. Citizen]

2. Let's see, Dickensonian Capitalism failed, Hoover Capitalism failed, and now Friedmanesque

capitalism has failed.

What kind of capitalism should we try next?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. Regulated capitalism with some nationalized industries and a healthy social safety net.

I don't want the government making shoes and DVD players but I do think it should be in charge of things like energy and health care.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Some things are natural monopolies. Energy, communications,

rail, etc. These should be government owned. I think health care financing should be single-payer (gov't or genuinely non-profit corporation), while at least some providers can remain private and compete on the basis of quality. Hospitals actually become inefficient when they compete (too many MRI's 'cause every hospital thinks they need one, etc.), but small providers like outpatient mental health clinics, dentists, solo or small-group family practices, etc. could do just fine remaining in private hands.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. I agree.

Whether health care is nationalized or single payer, it should function essentially like the schools. You have the option of private instruction but public education is available for all. If we were building it from scratch a socialized health system would be efficient but the existing structure better lends itself to a single payer or Medicare type situation.

[John Q. Citizen]

8. Global budgetingf would go a long way toward maximising utilization and lowering costs for

hospitals under a single payer regimen. Less cost higher utilization should be good for most larger scale care providers, but it will be frowned upon by the equipment manufacturers and there distributors.

But it has to be done.

[John Q. Citizen]

7. I think it's important to discredit both communism and capitalism to get to a healthy

blend of democratic socialism and constitutional free enterprise.

A mixed market works pretty well, as opposed to large scale communism or run away capitalism.

I like the actual delivery side of health care to be private contractors mostly, but the insurance side of health care to be socialized. Insurance is a socialistic concept, after all. It's group economic protection for the individual.

But I think individuals, care providers and society are served well by care providers being mostly private entities. I know there is certainly a place and will always be a place for salaried care providers to serve chronically undeserved populations and geographically isolated areas.

I also believe that any social mandates like basic liability auto insurance, education, corrections, etc, needs a social solution. So I would point out the efficiency of collecting insurance taxes at the gas pump and insuring everyone with gas in their tank for basic state required coverage. No more uninsured drivers and no more taxes for police and courts to enforce basic liability mandates.

But to put things back in balance and repair the damage to the public sector of the mixed market is going to take real time and effort, and we need to start from the presumption that capitalism is radical and harmful and only useful theoretically or in specific limited cases. Just like we look at communism.

Free enterprise on the other hand needs to be embraced as an engine of new ideas. And socialism needs to be embraced as the responsible way to organize human societies.

[BeFree]

9. Well now

Its good to read that someone has a grasp on the different parameters of our present day systems.

I think what we need to do is clearly spell out what has failed, why it failed, and what system can best replace each failed system.

And do it to each individual system... break it down.

If we could do that in simple terms we may just get a movement going.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I think so!

Funny that it would take someone like Reagan to give us the canard needed to control folk like himself!


K&R

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Now, there you go again!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. LOL!

:rofl:

[gravity]

11. There is no reason not to do the right thing

Before 2008, there were rational reasons for deregulation, but this crisis proved that idea wrong. Even big financial institutions support more regulation now.

[IMPERIUM V]

12. Enough of the goldilocks politics.

"This system is too anarchic... this system is too strict... this system is ju-u-ust ri-i-ight"

Social-democracy is what's really utopian, not communism.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Communism as we understand the term was a bad first approximation.

People like the Scandinavians have gotten a lot smarter about which things should be private and which should be socialized.

[IMPERIUM V]

15. Yes, the social-democratic line is basically what I mean by goldilocks politics.