Stiglitz said the protest movement that swept his institution and many others “really hit home,” recalling his own history as a civil rights protester in the 1960s. “This may sound unbelievable,” he said, “but I marched on Washington with Martin Luther King in August 1963. I was there when he gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.” , which influenced his thinking as a young man and “had a huge impact on the direction of our country, at least for a time. ”
This sad tone suited Stiglitz’s career well, as the left-leaning economist and writer found himself in the company of an increasingly lonely crowd: pro-capitalist progressives. Polls broadly show that some Millennials and more Gen Z are dissatisfied with capitalism, something so-called democratic socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have done over the past decade. The surprising electoral success exemplifies this. But Stiglitz always insisted that socialism was not the answer; Instead, we desperately need a well-regulated capitalism. At the same time, he denounced the far-right turn in American political and business culture and even questioned the impact of Reverend King’s famous speech.
“Neoliberal capitalism is eating itself,” Stiglitz said wealth, arguing that it rewards dishonest people and leads to a lack of trust. In his view, this is unsustainable as it puts self-interest ahead of any sense of community and wider social interests. “We’re now seeing it start to wear down,” he added.
He believes that countries around the world have done too little to guard against the neoliberal turn, and that those countries that have done too little to protect their citizens from the influence of the market have witnessed the rise of populism and authoritarianism. Apparently, he’s worried about Trump’s return in November. “I think it’s going to be terrible for the economy. Worse, for our basic rights. But he also said Americans underestimated the international response. He said overseas businessmen expressed concern about Trump’s re-election. “Some kind of tension.” “The closer it gets to the election, the more nervous they become.”
freedom of wolves
The title of Stiglitz’s book is an allusion to one of Reagan’s favorite thought leaders, the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek, who wrote in his landmark book “The Passage to Serfdom.” “The Road” first promoted the efficiency of the free market. As Stiglitz wrote, freedom has more than one meaning. In the United States in the 21st century, “wolves have freedom and sheep have death.” (Stiglitz noted that this was the interpretation of Isaiah Berlin, the anti-communist, pro-capitalist liberal intellectual of the Cold War.)
Stiglitz argues in the book that the neoliberal turn in America since the days of Ronald Reagan has made it harder for everyone, especially Generation Z, to achieve the American dream. wealth The media loves to tell “good stories” like those of the 19th-century YA novelist Horatio Alger: upward mobility is rewarded, reinforcing the idea that anyone can succeed if they work hard. “But from a social science perspective, the question is, how likely is that to happen, and it’s very rare,” he added, citing data showing the U.S. has worse outcomes than any other developed economy. “I would say it’s a myth.”
But the American Dream is also about freedom, including freedom from harm and freedom to reach your potential. “Again, America is doing worse,” he said, specifically citing the epidemic of gun violence sweeping the country. “An important freedom is the freedom from fear. From a young age, we tell our children to be afraid.
We should listen to our children, he adds: “The gap between what they hear and reality is very large.” When they enter the workforce, raised on notions of the American Dream, he adds, “They Knowing that it’s really hard to own a home… they know that the average college graduate has about $30,000, $40,000 in student debt, so that’s going to be a noose around their neck for a long time.
Stiglitz declined to address the issue of excessive police violence in breaking up protests in Colombia, citing a long tradition of peaceful protest from Martin Luther King to Mahatma Gandhi, but also cited the possible causes of civil disobedience. The tension of obedience. “I am Be aware of the tensions between various freedoms,” he said, adding that he generally hoped for civil dialogue to resolve problems peacefully.
Traffic light compulsory
As for a solution, Stiglitz uses the word “force” in his book, but he offers a metaphor that may be instructive: a traffic light. “You can’t go through an intersection when the light is red. If you do that, you’re going to see all sorts of consequences. You’re going to get arrested. So there’s no question that it’s mandatory. But in New York or London, if there’s no traffic light, you There’s no way to move at all and you’re stuck.
when wealth Stiglitz mentioned the biggest current economic impasse – the housing market – and looked back on his previous work.
While he cautions that he hasn’t looked closely at the current housing market, he has looked at mortgage financing, a “peculiar system” in which the government assumes about 90% of the risk through underwriting, which has existed since the 2008 crash There has been no change since. [is that] In the 16 years since then, we haven’t really solved the financial problem. We still have a system where a lot of profits flow to the financial sector, but governments continue to bear most of the risk. In other words, if this were a traffic light, it might flash yellow and not be effective at directing traffic at all.
