Economics
The death of Milton Friedman has created a lot of conversation about free market economics over the various news and blog sources that I read. He was a genious, and he shaped the modern American economic system- good and bad- from the 1940's onward. His work is so influential that it doesn't even seem radical anymore. We take many of his ideas for granted. They are merely "the way things are". That's pretty amazing.
In any basic economics course, students are indoctrinated into his work. I use the word "indoctrinated" intentionally. It's not the Friedman's ideas are wrong, but the values underneath them need to be challenged.
Friedman and the economists created under his auspices are interested in market efficiency, and, in fact, Economics has become the study of how to make a market efficient. It seems to me that no one is really asking a more complicated, underlying question. Given that, according to our prevailing market theory, there is always a trade off between efficiency and equity, is making the market more efficient the ethical choice? Is it even the best choice for our society?
Capitalism as a philosophy insists that we have an obligation to the free market. The free market has no room for worker protections, for equality in hiring, for anti-trust legislation. It has no room for the government to step in and protect the individual from industry. It encourages consumerism as morality- we buy things to define our values- things for ourselves, things for our homes, things for other people. It supports work ethic as the only ethic- and it implies insidiously that wealth comes to those who deserve it as a reward for an ethical life.
It is, at its core, a morally bankrupt system where wealth is the defining measure of moral goodness and the accumulation of wealth is a valid ethical choice regardless of the consequences to our society, environement, or psyche.
We need a new model for our society.
In any basic economics course, students are indoctrinated into his work. I use the word "indoctrinated" intentionally. It's not the Friedman's ideas are wrong, but the values underneath them need to be challenged.
Friedman and the economists created under his auspices are interested in market efficiency, and, in fact, Economics has become the study of how to make a market efficient. It seems to me that no one is really asking a more complicated, underlying question. Given that, according to our prevailing market theory, there is always a trade off between efficiency and equity, is making the market more efficient the ethical choice? Is it even the best choice for our society?
Capitalism as a philosophy insists that we have an obligation to the free market. The free market has no room for worker protections, for equality in hiring, for anti-trust legislation. It has no room for the government to step in and protect the individual from industry. It encourages consumerism as morality- we buy things to define our values- things for ourselves, things for our homes, things for other people. It supports work ethic as the only ethic- and it implies insidiously that wealth comes to those who deserve it as a reward for an ethical life.
It is, at its core, a morally bankrupt system where wealth is the defining measure of moral goodness and the accumulation of wealth is a valid ethical choice regardless of the consequences to our society, environement, or psyche.
We need a new model for our society.
posted by Terri | 10:26 AM
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