I have a title for an article if some knowledgeable DUer wants to undertake the endeavor.

[Skidmore]

I'm no expert and don't feel that I could discuss the topic with alacrity. The title I propose is "How Republicans killed the free market"...because it is barely on life support now. Hear me out. This party that has uttered "free market" like a mantra at every turn does not actually practice what it preaches. Free marketry to them means rigging the rules or eliminating the rules but not losing the real "market"--the consumer. In fact, they have done two things in regard to the consumer. First, they have sought to create captive consumers, and now, with the advant of healthcare reform, they are seeking to kill the market. I do not mean the latter as hyperbole, because given today's story about Big Pharma seeking to manipulate prices upward in anticipation of reform and the manner in which the banks have gambled monies and "killed" off people financially to reap profits, there is literal truth to it. I'm just thinking aloud here. I may not know the technical arguments that need to go into this, but I would be interested to hear if there is merit to this line of thinking and if it can be packaged in such a way for distribution right now. People understand that they are getting screwed over. Sometimes the forms this assault is taking feels confusing because the jargon and the actions are at lagerheads with one another.

Any takers? If not, explain where my thinking is wrong.

[daleanime]

1. When you destroy the 'middle class'...

you have no consumer.

[havocmom]

3. Basic lesson missed all those who got MBAs in the 'Greed is Good' 80s

Did the colleges not teach that basic principle or did the majority of MBA students just belong to some dumb cult? So many let themselves be used by the uber-rich, doing the dirty work of setting the working class free from any participation in the economy.

They helped the own everything class kill the goose and now can't figure out why the golden egg production is down. Seems many are finding out doing the dirty work of leading the charges toward serfdom did not buy them the security they figured on.

[daleanime]

8. Very true...

short term bottom line instead of long heath of the business/society.

[guitar man]

7. That's basically it

You just pretty much wrote the whole article in one sentence. When the symbiotic relationship became a parasitic one, the clock started ticking on how long before all the blood was drained from the host....game over.

[supernova]

2. There is something to your premise

I've thought similar for a while.

I think their thinking sort of goes like this:

Whatever the banksters and corporate owners think will benefit them in terms of tax breaks, lax regulations, and where regulated, overlooked, will automatically be good for their customers. "Customers" here can be anyone from John Q Public on the street with his 401K account hoping to retire at a relatively healthy age, to a trust fund baby who just happened to trust Bernie Madoff.

They can't see that taking care of their customers by treating them fairly, offering fair service for a fair price over the long term, means in the interim settling for less profits in return for a longer period of profit. There is a real disconnect there. It's an extreme form of human myopia.

[havocmom]

4. PM H2O Man with the project.

Perhaps he might want to tackle it when he is mending. He could do the topic justice, tho I think you are on the right track yourself.

[izzybeans]

5. James Galbraith sort of beat you to it. Though slightly different.

The Predator State: How Conservative Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too

http://www.amazon.com/Predator-State-Conservatives-Abandoned-Liberals/dp/141656683X

Not a bad book.

[safeinOhio]

6. "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us"

Ok Ralph Nader wrote it and not many like him, but, a great work of fiction about the subject and how I wish it would all turn out.