The Challenge of Supercapitalism

Published: January 6, 2008, 7:10 pm

Tags: economic policy, inequality, capitalism, democracy, robert reich, supercapitalism

By Robert B. Reich Capitalism and democracy were supposed to be the twin ideological pillars capable of bringing unprecedented prosperity and freedom to the world. Conventional wisdom holds that where either capitalism or democracy flourishes, the other must soon follow. Yet today, the two are diverging. By almost any measure, global capitalism is triumphant. Most nations around the world are today part of a single, integrated, and turbo-charged global market. At first glance, democracy appears to have enjoyed a similar success. Three decades ago, a third of the world’s nations held free elections; today, nearly two thirds do. But look more closely and democracy has not necessarily followed in the wake of global capitalism’s triumph. China, poised to become the world’s third largest capitalist nation this year after the United States and Japan, has embraced market freedom, but not political freedom. Singapore, another success story of modern capitalism, is hardly a

[ Full article ]

Blog link

Rating: 0

Comments