Forbes: Bernie Sanders As Democratic Capitalist

[LongTomH]

Forbes magazine would seem to be the last place you would expect to see a pro-Bernie Sanders article; but, Forbes contributor John T. Harvey, Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University, thinks Bernie and Adam Smith, are in agreement on this basic issue:

I did not, however, say much about the third, which is in some ways even more fundamental and representative of Sanders’ general economic and political philosophy. The basic idea is this. If individuals or small groups are able to accumulate power, both the democratic and capitalist processes are short circuited. Consider this. Capitalism properly understood is an anti-business system. Adam Smith, the Father of Capitalism, wrote:

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."

............//snip

Smith thus wants a method of preventing firms from having the power to succeed in these endeavors. His answer: competition. Make sure there are enough businesses in a particular industry to not only make it difficult for them to collude (it’s harder to get 100 people to agree on something than two), but also to ensure that entrepreneurs have to assume that if they don’t make the best deal possible for their customers, someone else will. Then they are forced to please their clientele if they want to get rich. This is the Invisible Hand: entrepreneurs acting in their own self interest inadvertently promote the self interest of others. But only if there is sufficient competition.

............//snip

This appears to be a key issue for the Sanders campaign. He has said repeatedly that too big to fail is too big to exist (Too Big To Fail). And while he has been most vocal in this regard with respect to the financial sector, Sanders seems to also believe that this is a key problem in sectors like pharmaceuticals (Fighting to Lower Prescription Drug Prices), internet providers (Bernie Sanders Asks FCC to Investigate Cable and Broadband Prices), and the media (Bernie Sanders on why Big Media Shouldn’t Get Bigger). At least on the surface, Sanders’ policies appear to be closely in line with what was most important to Adam Smith!

Read the rest here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2016/04/01/bernie-sanders-as-democratic-capitalist/#784f4cd81951

[Cryptoad]

1. No surprise here

u dont know Bern like I know bern or it wouildnt surprise u that bern is a closet capitalist

just looke at all the lobbyist that he has taken money from!

[LongTomH]

3. I you had actually read the article, you would have seen this:

f course, what someone says and what they do aren’t necessarily the same thing. It is for that reason that the University of Chicago’s George J. Stigler Center created a capture index to show the source of contributions to each of the presidential hopefuls (Is Bernie Sanders the Most Pro-Market Candidate?). The basic idea is that individuals and groups donate to the candidate that they think will most benefit them. Thus, if someone is getting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, that is a better indicator of their likely policy choices than their position papers. Or, as Professor Guy Rolnik of the University of Chicago observes, “As an economist, I tend to believe in what we call ‘revealed preferences.’ Donations from industries are a better measure of their interest than the candidates promises and rhetoric.”

The comparison among the candidates is striking. Rolnik concludes,

…the rules of the game are determined by the sheer power of the vested interests. Energy, agriculture, healthcare, finance, insurance, defense—there is a reason why they spend billions of dollars on lobbying at the federal, state, and congress levels. They are the people influencing the rules of the game and shaping the discourse and narrative in these industries…If we want to move into a more competitive market system, we should support the political revolution of Bernie Sanders.

By the way, don't expect me to stick around and 'argue' with you, as you sling empty rhetoric after empty rhetoric; I'm putting you on ignore. Someone else can refute your posts.

[Cryptoad]

4. who ever made that graph was in a hurry

the numbers dont correspond with the graph bars......something stink in Denmark
yall need to got to opensecret.org and see how much Lobbyist Money Bern is really taking!

[concreteblue]

5. Oh Look! Another lying Shrillary who thinks nobody will check their claims!

https://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/lobby.php

Bernie is not even on the graph!
ROFLMFAO!!!!
I know ya got nuthin, but cheesus rice do you gotta be so belligerently PROUD of it???!!!!

[Chan790]

6. Why would I ever merit the opinion of someone that cannot read a bar-graph?

There is no lack of correspondence in the bars of that graph...perhaps it would be clearer in sentences though? The number underneath states the total donations to the candidate...the bar reflect what percentage of those donations are respectively in-excess of $5,000 and $100,000...where the latter is inclusive of the former.

Sanders has raised $72,800,000...of which 0.0% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and 0.1% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Trump has raised $6,600,000...of which 0.0% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~2.0% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Carson has raised $63,800,000...of which 0.0% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~10% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

O'Malley has raised $5,200,000...of which ~4% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~20% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Clinton has raised $155,000,000...of which ~27% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~30% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Cruz has raised $88,500,000...of which ~45% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~60% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Rubio has raised $59,400,000...of which ~45% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~60% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Bush has raised $149,600,000...of which ~55% has been in the form of donations over $100,000 and ~80% has been in the form of donations over $5000.

Now that I've explained something that even my 11 year old 2nd cousin understands, can we stick to the subject at-hand? Also, I don't need to go anywhere to know how bought-and-paid-for the two remaining Democratic primary candidates are.

[Hiraeth]

2. Thank you, John T. Harvey, Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University K&R

[RommelDAK]

8. You are welcome!

I actually just wrote it for myself and have been surprised that others find it helpful.

[Hiraeth]

9. welcome to DU !!

[appalachiablue]

7. K & R. Interesting.