Assignment task:
Read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire.
Professor Henderson outlines a disturbing set of conditions for the world today, which form the basis for her argument that a fundamental rethinking of how we do things is not only needed, but required. Were you surprised by anything in these sections?
On page 19 she says, "In a nutshell, markets require adult supervision. They only lead to prosperity and freedom when they are genuinely free and fair, and in the last seventy years the world has changed almost beyond recognition. Global capitalism looks less and less like the textbook model of free and fair markets on which the injunction to focus solely on profit maximization is based."
What is your reaction to this statement? There has been a very strong push for free markets, reduced regulation and smaller government over the last 40 years. Does that not conflict with Henderson's claim that markets are 'less free and fair?'
On page 26, she goes on to claim that "...the alternative to strong democratically controlled government is not the free market triumphant. [It] is crony capitalism...a political system in which the rich and powerful...run the state...and the market...for their own benefit." What is the tradeoff that Henderson describes in this section? What evidence is there that this tradeoff exists?
Finally consider this question: Why are strong government and civil society fundamental for healthy capitalism to exist?