US economic model broken, says survey
Source: Financial Times
Almost two-thirds of working-age adults believe the US economic model “no longer works for the majority of Americans” according to research.
Of those who thought the system no longer worked, 51 per cent said they were not prepared to take risks with savings, showing how concerns about economic fairness lead to caution about the risky investments that the system depends on.
Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fe692804-71d0-11e1-b853-00144feab49a.html#axzz1pd6xsnL3
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These jerks are the ones ripping off the stockholders, and the rest of us too. Stockholders take all the "risk" and are very, very lucky to earn a 3% dividend. All this is possible because banks pay almost 0% interest on savings. 
Last edited Tue Mar 20, 2012, 05:14 AM - Edit history (3)
It's just a perversion of classical laissez faire. vis Wiki,
"Vincent de Gournay, a French intendant of commerce in the 1750s. Gournay was an ardent proponent of the removal of restrictions on trade and the deregulation of industry in France. Gournay was delighted by the Colbert-LeGendre anecdote,[laissez faire] and forged it into a larger maxim all his own: "Laissez faire et laissez passer" ('Let do and let pass'). His motto has also been identified as the longer "Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!" ("Let do and let pass, the world goes on by itself!"
."
And in the same article in Wiki the American connection is made to Benjamin Franklin, who is the origin of Physiocratic ideas and how they formed the basis of anti government laissez-faire thinking that is found in the Constitution. vis,
"In England, a number of "free trade" and "non-interference" slogans had been coined already during the 17th century. But the French phrase laissez faire gained currency in English-speaking countries with the spread of Physiocratic literature in the late 18th century. The Colbert-LeGendre anecdote was relayed in George Whatley's 1774 Principles of Trade (co-authored with Benjamin Franklin)- which may be the first appearance of the phrase in an English language publication.[8]
Notably, classical economists, such as Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith[9] and David Ricardo, did not use the phrase. Jeremy Bentham used the term, but it was probably James Mill's reference to the "laissez-faire" maxim (together with "pas trop gouverner" in an 1824 entry for the Encyclopædia Britannica that really brought the term into wider English usage. With the advent of the Anti-Corn Law League, the term received much of its (English) meaning.[10]
"Adam Smith first used the metaphor of an "invisible hand" in his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments to describe the unintentional effects of economic self organization from economic self interest.[11] Some have characterized this metaphor as one for laissez-faire,[12] but Smith never actually used the term himself"
To sum up, Classical Laissez faire, was replaced in the very beginning, in so called American Conservative thought, (which was actually a product of 17th century radical right wing anarchist literature), by the actual doctrine of modern GOP politics and economic 'theory'. Again vis
"Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!" ("Let do and let pass, the world goes on by itself!" Together with the important addendum by James Mill, John Stuart Mill's father, "pas trop gouverner"
special emphasis, WITHOUT GOVERNMENT!!!!
John Mills addendum to the original Colbert-LeGendre, notion of Laissez Faire which was ignored by Economic Liberals such as JS Mill and Adam Smith, Ricardo et al. forms the basis of GOP Corporate/syndactylism. It is the worst form of right wing anarchism combined with economic oligarchy or as we say now. oligopoly. The GOP is propagating archaic and discredited ideas from the 18th century that ruined France during the Louisiana Bubble, the first and largest investor scam in history. And this is the foundation of so called conservative thought.
There is no thought to it. It is pure anarchy combined with oligopoly. Laissez faire led to, Laissez faire et alissez passer, le monde va de lui meme, pas trop gouvener.
In other words the law of the predator and hence no law at all. Laissez faire led to the Louisana Bubble and investor scam perpetrated by the Banker John Law that ruined France as an economic power.
So GOP, lets follow those guys !!!!!!!!111
I've taken enough economic courses to know that your analysis and quotations are true. I've always thought about it in simpler terms, though. vis - Is it the most efficient and fairest way to distribute scarce resources by putting them in a pile and fighting for them? I think not. That is the law of the Jungle which the GOP now wholeheartedly endorses. It's completely self defeating in the long term. Vote a straight democratic ballot and restore sanity to our nation. 
