“We’re becoming a country where we have more and more takers and less makers. We don’t want to turn the safety net into a hammock.” — Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisc.
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One of my favorite public intellectuals, Dr. Allan Carlson, does it again with this masterpiece:
Eighteen months of severe recession have brought to the surface old truths that many chose to forget when times seemed to be good: the business cycle has not been eliminated; finance capitalism is by its nature unstable; politically-connected corporations commonly escape market discipline; and there is nothing conservative about the “creative destruction” of a capitalist economy.
Indeed, a curious aspect of political labeling in America has been the conflation of the word “conservative” with the interests of the great corporations. The problem is an old one. As one commentator noted in the mid 1930’s, the label “conservative” had then been thoroughly “discredited,” twisted by the “apostles of plutocracy” into a defense of “gamblers and promoters.”
Read more about third ways and a family-centered economy here.
Hat tip: JR
One of the more popular religious games to play, for both the sectarian and the secular, is “What kind of politician would Jesus Be?” Would He be a Republican or a Democrat? Sometimes this branches out into more a economic realm with would He be a capitalist or a socialist? This former flavor of the discussion was recently brought op on twitter. Since 140 characters at a time is a tough format in which to have a serious discussion, I thought I’d try to share my thoughts in longer form here. Read the rest of this entry »
The New York Times offers a pro’s and con’s look at the new health care public policy on the table: co-ops.
“If a public insurance option were to be abandoned, it could be replaced by an alternative favored by some moderates like Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota: the health insurance cooperative.”
Read the rest here. I like what I hear so far.
First Things has an important read on how to create a family-center economy in America today. Let’s just say the Cato Institute would not agree with their touting the policy planks proposed by the likes of Ramesh Ponnuru, Ross Douthat, and Reihan Salamsuch.
Here was the crescendo moment of the piece:
The conservative movement today seems weaker than at any time since Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater. There are no free-marketeers in the foxholes, and it is hard to find an economist of any stripe who does not believe that the government must provide some kind of economic stimulus and rescue the financial system.
But the present crisis also might present the conservative movement with the greatest opportunity it has had since Ronald Reagan took office.