carey_jim

Flying Bankers and the Economic Crisis: How Do We Make Banks Lend?

You said: "For all practical purposes we no longer live in a capitalist free market economy."

We're probably more free and equal than we've ever been, depressing as that thought is.

When a small minority of wealthy, landed aristocrats wanted to unite the 13 independent colonies into one country after the American Revolution, they called themselves Federalists but they were only a tiny minority who wanted to control everything with a powerful, centralized government.

The vast majority of Americans were small farmers and yeomen without means (95% ?) in the 1780s and most of them opposed the Federalists and their central government.

These anti-Federalists weren't even dignified with a name and so they became known as the anti-Federalists.

Obviously, the Federalists won which they almost always do, everywhere.

John Jay summed up the mood (and he was NOT speaking ironcally or trying to be funny) when he said:

"Those who own the country ought to govern it."

He and his cronies owned the country and they wanted to govern it too. They succeeded and have been in power ever since.

The only good thing you can say about it is that talented men and women can move into the ruling class either through marriage or achievement.

But fee enterprise capitalism? That is a fantasy of Adam Smith that America never tried.