Dean in 2004: "Capitalism without rules is like playing ice hockey without referees. Nobody benefits

[madfloridian]

We forget too soon those who spoke out for us on this issue of regulation during the last primaries.

During Howard Dean's campaign in 2003 and 2004, he was very outspoken about the need for rules and regulations on the corporate word. I think it is one of the things that hurt his campaign.

He spoke against Bush's corporate tax cuts frequently while many of the Democratic candidates promised to honor them.

There was an article in the The New Statesman in 2004 covering this issue.

Media screw a social democrat

The article points out the ridiculous nature of how the media played the "scream."

The shame is that Dean waged a formidable campaign in New Hampshire. His stump speech, delivered on 25 January at Plymouth State College, was a tour de force: heavy on policy, rich in historical detail and delivered with
professorial authority. It was also grounded in his achievements during a Vermont governorship that delivered the country's most comprehensive and accessible healthcare, same-sex civil unions and a balanced budget. Dean pushed the state as far towards European-style social democracy as anyone in the US has dared.

..."While his rivals have promised to honour the Bush administration's tax cuts for the well off, Dean has pulled no punches about the cost of progressive government. "Here's the bad news," Dean told a crowd when asked about the outsourcing of American jobs to China. "If you want to create and keep jobs in this country, you're going to have to pay a bit more in Wal-Mart. Capitalism is the most productive system that has ever existed, but capitalism without rules is like playing ice hockey without referees. Nobody benefits."

This candour gave Dean the early momentum. But the issues he brought to the debate - such as an unambiguously anti-war critique and his attacks on the lobbying power of corporate interests - have been appropriated by other candidates and repackaged and neutralised as TV soundbites. The thinker's
best lines have been stolen by salesmen.

In an interview with the Boston Globe editors in 2003, he further pushed that topic.

Globe interview with Howard Dean

About a year and a half, almost two years ago, I was in Iowa. First trip to Iowa I went to the back of a coffee shop with twenty Iowans, sober-minded people who don't rant and rave and jump up and down about issues. And basically, what they told me was they didn't think their employers valued them anymore. They didn't think anybody cared about them. They didn't think American companies were really American anymore because they'd moved their jobs, their assets any place in the world and to maximize their bottom line, and there wasn't any human connection. That's what the campaign is about, is restoring the human connection, really. Distill it to -- I mean, I don't talk about it very much because it's not the kind of thing you talk about in rallies, although I'm starting to some. But what's happening in this country under this President is, I think, a slavish devotion to whatever large corporations and wealthy individuals want and need, and a complete absence of real concern about ordinary Americans.

Amen, a slavish devotion to large corporations...nail on head.

One more statement he made, and I don't have the link anymore.

From the NH Union Leader in January 2004

"Unfortunately, as we have been learning in almost daily revelations, some of the people who were entrusted with protecting the security of Americans' savings were exploiting their power for personal gain while the authorities were asleep at the wheel. We need to restore balance to our system so that unchecked corporate power is not allowed to run roughshod over ordinary people. This President routinely appoints people from industry after industry to oversee their industry."

He had a Wall Street background before he became a doctor...he spoke of things that are coming to full fruition now.

Unfortunately he and his supporters were called fringe activists....and all the while the real "fringe" was tearing our country down.

[Larkspur]

1. Yep, Howard Dean was ahead of the curve

[madfloridian]

2. Yes, he was.

He was on the outside looking in at the mess that had been made.

[slay]

3. So true..

Howard was the real deal back then and the media assassinated him over a "yee-ha!"?!?! Hope they are happy with the result. :sarcasm:

[madfloridian]

4. Maybe the media will change their tune when they start losing their shirts

because they humiliated those who had the nerve to speak up when others were not.

[joeunderdog]

9. Will he ever get back in the hunt?

This guy deserves a bigger platform to speak from.

[madfloridian]

10. Doubtful he will ever run again....and as long as he's chair..

he can't speak out that much.

[madfloridian]

11. And we hear all media just so so surprised at the crisis.

I believe people should have paid attention in 2004 and we would not be here now.

It angers me so.

[eridani]

5. It is the 50 state strategy that can really change all that. n/t

[madfloridian]

6. Just might make a difference.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

7. I was just thinking it likely that strategy will not remain.

when he leaves. Not as easy to get concensus of opinion when so many are involved.

[eridani]

14. There is huge support for it among my state's DNC members

Remember, they elected Dean in 2005, and if we push them in 2009, we keep the strategy.

[madfloridian]

8. The Business Pundit from 2003...says only "small percentage of workers who are "getting screwed."

http://www.businesspundit.com/howard-dean-on-re-regulation/

He was hitting Dean on his words about re-regulation.

He quoted an interview by Dean.

THE FORMER Vermont governor said he would reverse the trend toward deregulation pursued by recent presidents — including, in some respects, Bill Clinton — to help restore faith in scandal-plagued U.S. corporations and better protect U.S. workers.
In an interview around midnight Monday on his campaign plane with a small group of reporters, Dean listed likely targets for what he dubbed as his "re-regulation" campaign: utilities, large media companies and any business that offers stock options. Dean did not rule out "re-regulating" the telecommunications industry, too.

He also said a Dean administration would mandate new workers' standards, a much broader right to unionize and new "transparency" requirements for corporations that go beyond the recently enacted Oxley-Sarbanes law.

"In order to make capitalism work for ordinary human beings, you have to have regulation," Dean said. "Right now, workers are getting screwed."

Oh,no, says the Pundit..

I think it is a very small percentage of workers who are "getting screwed." Most people do pretty well compared to the rest of the world. How else to you explain the various articles I have linked to about how easy it is to command a premium price if you distinguish your product? These same people Dean things are "getting screwed" by companies are the same people who have stock in their 401Ks that will enable them to retire on corporate profits.

Re-regulation. Good grief. Could there be a worse idea? There are two purposes for government regulation of business. The first is to address negative externalities that aren't reflected in market prices. The second is to enhance the transfer of information to all parties involved in economic transactions, so that capitalism can function more effectively. Dean thinks deregulation is to blame for California's energy crisis, but I think fraud and market manipulation are the real culprits.

Fast forward to 2008 and guess whose words were truer.

:shrug:

[defendandprotect]

12. Capitalism is a ridiculous "King of the Hill System" intended to

move a naton's wealth intended to move a nation's assets, wealth

from the many to the few --

UNREGULATED CAPITALISM IS MERELY ORGANIZED CRIME ---

[PVnRT]

13. Well....it does make cross-checking more fun....

/joke dammit

[Forkboy]

15. My left knee agrees.