Voices
However, the alternatives to
capitalism have all been tried and
all been found wanting — some, like
communism, catastrophically so.
So capitalism, with all its
faults, is the only game in town.
The task confronting the present
generation of leaders is to improve
on it, to build on its strengths and
eradicate its weaknesses.
The challenge is to hold on to
the energy, enterprise and creativity that characterize capitalism at
its best, while doing away with its
destructive elements. If too many
people feel excluded from the system and cannot access its benefits,
they will ultimately rebel against
it. It was sentiments like this that
motivated the understandable but
incoherent anger of global movements like the Arab Spring, Madrid’s Los Indignados and Occupy
Wall Street. Unfortunately the
Ginni index of wealth disparity
is in many places still increasing,
with China now exceeding the US.
I believe that the financial crisis
of 2008/9 exposed more a lack of
ethics and morality — especially
by the financial sector — rather
than a problem of regulation or
criminality. There were, of course,
regulatory lessons to be learned,
but at heart there was a collective
PAUL
POLMAN
HUFFINGTON
10.20.13
loss of our moral compass. Too
many put self-interest ahead of
the interest of the greater good.
]