Right-wing conservatives' ideology is even worse than mercantilism because it gives the impression to Americans that their policy actions, aimed at corporations and wealthy, will ultimately benefit low and middle income Americans. It is high time to bury the idea that making rich richer and wealthy wealthier through government policy will generate more opportunity for non-rich. What the political establishment has to do is to open up more avenues of opportunity aimed directly at non-rich, so that they can acquire more human capital and become successful entrepreneurs. I hope that conservative politicians' alliance with business and wealthy is a temporary phenomenon, because otherwise it will take the country's progress back to the mercantilist era and dismantle the middle class -- the fountain of entrepreneurship. It will have a deleterious effect on democracy, free competitive markets and growth.
Standard-Examiner Guest Commentary
A revival of mercantilist thought among conservatives
November 6, 2011
Fantastic Standard-Examiner Op-ed piece this morning, folks.
Although we sometimes disagree with Prof. Mathur's analyses, he definitely nails it this time, wethinks:
The merger of state and corporate interests in America is one of the greatest threats to individual liberty existent in the current national and local political environment, as we see it.
Of course we don't necessarily have to reach clear back to the "mercantilist era" for historical precedent, when 20th Century European "fascism" also serves as a more recent manifestation of the "corporatist" politico-economic phenomena which Mathur describes.
We hope you'll all read and comprehend the message that the good professor delivers this morning, without letting your eyes glaze over, even though it does deal with the sometimes-turgid topic of political economics.
So who'd like to throw in their own 2¢?
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