The Issues, No. 59 - Unregulated Capitalism Doesn't Work

It should be very obvious to all of us that our capitalist economy, unregulated and/or deregulated, didn't work. I'm all for capitalism. I think capitalism the very best motivator for individual and corporate progress and wealth. But it obviously falls apart when left unattended due primarily to greed which encourages corporations and the men and women who run them to gamble recklessly and ruin it for the entire country.

We all know by now that the credit practices of the mortgage lenders and our banks and credit card companies are what has caused our economy to collapse. Also, we all should know by now that the only way to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future is for our government to proactively provide oversight into business and financial practices and,where there are signs of possible trouble, stop whatever it is that's going on before it gets out of hand. The bottom line is that our economy needs government oversight. Too bad if that is socialistic. It simply needs oversight regardless of what it's called.

One area that needs a whole lot of new regulation is the stock market. It is just appalling to me that individuals and institutions are allowed to do short selling. It is also appalling that hedge funds are legal. Then there is after market trading which is another practice that should be illegal. It is one thing for individuals to buy shares in companies they believe are going to be successful which should be the basic activity of the stock market. When it turns into a high finance gambling casino, very much slanted in favor of the institutional investors and the wealthy, it then becomes what should be considered criminal. So government needs to clean up the stock market while it's overhauling the financial industry.

We've simply got to have our government deeply involved in watching and regulating what's going on in our economy. If we don't, we'll continue to have problems like we are currently experiencing. I don't care whether you are a conservative Republican or a liberal Democrat and I don't care either whether government oversight and regulation are socialist or capitalist. What I care about is a sound and prosperous America and I think, from our recent experience, that our government needs to step up and take control.