Tuesday’s Big Idea
Today's Big Idea: Beyond Capitalism?
Since the 2008 economic crisis, everyone's got an opinion about what's wrong with Western capitalism. Proposed solutions range from heavy regulation of Wall Street to returning to a barter economy, but as the 2012 presidential race heats up, no single, systemic solution seems to have gained real political traction.
Meanwhile, the economic outlook is ambivalent at best, bipolar at worst. Cautious optimism about an upswing has been tempered by a grim, May 2012 jobs report and fears of the collapse of the Euro.
As some Western eyes turn with envy toward China's booming economy Big Think's chief economist Daniel Altman cautions that while democracies can be politically nearsighted, state-managed capitalism runs the far graver risk of revolution by the people it empowers, yet to whom it isn't accountable.
