Tom Friedman Reviews A Good Book On The Future Of American Capitalism

Tom Friedman summarizes the messages in recent book by David Rothkopf who writes that we are engaged in a contest between different versions of capitalism. The American version of the mixed economy has been the dominant version of capitalism but it is in competition with other versions. On the one hand, the American version is being threatened by internal factors that weaken the successful relationship we had between business and government. It is also being threatened by other forms of capitalism, where government and business have been working together to develop strong economies. In order to win the contest between different versions of capitalism, America must rebuild its successful version of the mixed economy. We can't win if the internal contest is between those who want a free market economy, with a limited role for government, and those who cannot agree upon the structure of he mixed economy.

After stating the problem raised in Rothkopf's book, Friedman ticks off a list of things that require our attention. It is hard to argue against most of things on his list. In fact, they seem a lot like the policies that our current president ran his campaign on in 2008. Friedman argues that we need to have an informed debate on these issues so that we can get to work on the things that need to be done. That brings us to the real problem in America that is raised by Rothkopf. Our political debates look more like a TV reality show. We have an uniformed public, and a set of problems that can't be effectively addressed by an electoral system in which one of our major parties is dependent upon misleading the public over the issues that should be on the table. In other words, the issue should be over the future of democratic capitalism and not about contraception. That is not likely to happen in an America in which the selection of our leaders depends upon their ability to raise almost unlimited amounts of money in order to run effective marketing campaigns. Democracy is not supposed to be about selling soap.