Yesterday, I was watching John Allison on CSPAN discussing his book The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure. I am leery of people like Mr. Allison who speak of simple and too oblivious answers to complicated, multi-faceted, global causation factors resulting in the most recent financial crises. I also doubt that an entirely free market economy is in my, yours or your children and grand children's interest. We have seen this movie before. For example did you know that Henry Ford had to go to court to fight the ALAM (Association of Licensed Automotive Manufacturers). Never heard of ole George Selden huh? Mr. Selden was a free market kinda guy as long as he had no competition in the 'free market'.
I am a firm believer that greed drives success in business. I am also a firm believer that that greed is not a bad thing … it just needs adult supervision. Some greedy businessmen like John Allison, supervises himself. Would that all capitalists followed Mr. Allison's creed.
During his talk, Mr. Allison discusses the win-win in business success. Any relationship that is win-lose, in Mr. Allison's opinion, inevitably evolves into a lose-lose outcome. I got to thinking on this and wondered why we can't reach win-wins in the big social issues facing us today. A few of these issues are immigration, reducing gun violence, birth control, reducing the income gap, fear of a rising minority political power etc. That's what we need to work on … win-win solutions. Because I firmly believe with Mr. Allison that win-lose is eventually a lose-lose. For example do you really think the poor and dependent among us will disappear if you do away with social programs? Would you allow your children and grandchildren to die for lack of medical care, to be illiterate because they happen to live in a poor school district? Do you really think that moving people off welfare because they test positive for drugs will reduce their dependence and cure their addiction? I don't think Mr. Allison does and he heads up the Libertarian CATO Institute. He is no 'bleeding-heart'. Far from it. Read his biography. This is an Ayn Rand guy.
So Mr. Allison and I will go on tilting at windmills in the fervent and decreasing hope that empathy will eventually prevail among the citizens of this nation and the win-win model becomes the moral law of the land.
Yeah … right
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