Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich: on Government Reform

Robert Reich: There can be no "free market" without government

But the prevailing view, as well as the debate it had spawned, is utterly false. There can be no "free market" without government. The "free market" does not exist in the wilds beyond the reach of civilization. Competition in the wild is a contest for survival in which the largest and strongest typically win. Civilization, by contrast, is defined by rules; rules create markets, and governments generate the rules.

A market-- any market--requires that government make & enforce the rules of the game. In most modern democracies, such rules emanate from legislatures, administrative agencies, and courts. Government doesn't "intrude" on the "free market." It creates the market.

Robert Reich: There can be no "free market" without government

But the prevailing view, as well as the debate it spawned, is utterly false. There can be no "free market" without government. The "free market" does not exist in the wilds beyond the reach of civilization. Competition in the wild is a contest for survival in which the largest and strongest typically win. Civilization, by contrast, is defined by rules: rules create markets, and governments generate the rules.

A market--any market--requires that government make and enforce the rules of the game. In most modern democracies, such rules emanate from legislatures, administrative agencies, and courts. Government doesn't "intrude" on the "free market." It creates the market.

Robert Reich: Citizens United means deepest pockets get the loudest voices

Yet as a practical matter, freedom of speech is the freedom to be heard, and most citizens' freedom to be heard is reduced when those who have the deepest pockets get the loudest voice. Nowhere did the five members acknowledge the imbalance of power between big corporations increasingly willing to finance vast political advertising campaigns and ordinary citizens. In practice, therefore, the freedom of speech granted by the court to corporations would drown out the speech of regular people without those resources.

Robert Reich: Citizens United means deepest pockets get the loudest voices

Yet as a practical matter, freedom of speech is the freedom to be heard, and most citizens' freedom to be heard is reduced when those who have the deepest pockets get the loudest voice. Nowhere did the five members acknowledge the imbalance of power between big corporations increasingly willing to finance vast political advertising campaigns and ordinary citizens. In practice. Therefore, the freedom of speech granted by the cort to corporations would drown out the speech of regular people without those resources.

Robert Reich: End revolving door between regulators and companies

Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior had not adequately overseen the oil and oil-service companies under its watch because it had developed cozy relationships with them. The revolving door between the regulator and the companies it was responsible for overseeing was well oiled.

In 2013, Halliburton pleaded guilty to a criminal charge in which it had admitted destroying evidence in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. But the fine it paid was a mere $200,000, the maximum allowed under the law for such a misdemeanor. Halliburton's revenues in 2013 totaled $29 billion. And no Halliburton official went to jail.