It's often claimed that liberals don't like markets. They are " antibusiness. " Some go as far to equate liberals with socialists. None of this is true. While liberals recognize the importance of private property, market forces, and commerce they know that capitalism doesn't always work well for everyone. Oftentimes the pursuit of profit leads to all kinds of harm and abuse. Faulty products that hurt people. Fraud too. Companies sometimes fix prices or collude. Some mergers and acquisitions lead to monopolies. This undermines competition which benefits all producers and consumers. Markets are not natural or mysterious they are social creations. What someone does impacts others, so rules are needed. Freedom to profit shouldn't harm others. This is what liberals think.
When there are no rules, or no enforcement people get hurt in pursuit of profit. In April 2010 an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine near Mont Coal West Virginia killed 29 miners. The mine owner Massey Energy did not maintain safety equipment and discouraged compliance with safety measures among management and employees at the mine. This allowed a buildup combustible coal dust and methane gas leading to the deadly explosion. What happens when you deregulate? The implications can be disastrous. Back in 1999 Congress repealed a law that separated commercial and investment banking. This allowed banks, investment firms, and insurance companies to merge. They could buy and sell stocks and securities which they did. Over the next several years big banks made huge subprime interest mortgage loans to people who couldn't afford them. The loans were then rolled into securities and traded in the stock market. By 2007 the resulting bubble burst bringing down the financial markets and causing a major recession that lasted almost three years. Millions of Americans lost their homes and jobs while poverty and unemployment increased. In 2008 Congress voted to bail out the industry for $ 700 billion dollars. Deregulation to benefit the wealthy and Wall Street hurt the people and the economy, and it costs taxpayers. That's the problem with untamed capitalism.
Consider health insurance. Our market driven system doesn't insure everyone because it's not profitable to cover lots of poor or disabled people or those with preexisting conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. Government insures many of these people through Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. However, millions of poor or people with preexisting were left out. The Affordable Care Act passed in 2009 was designed to remedy this situation and move us towards universal healthcare coverage. Conservatives called this a big government expansion that would make undermine freedom and prosperity. From the time they gained control of Congress in 2010 to now they have tried to repeal the ACA. The political Right believes the market will solve the problem of affordable healthcare. Yet they don't think it's necessary for everyone to have insurance to access care. They're wrong. Americans spend more on healthcare than any other developed country and we are sicker and have shorter life spans. Moreover, people fall through the cracks. Government action is needed because the market doesn't work.
The success of capitalism isn't natural or inevitable. It is not due entirely to rational actors in the marketplace motivated by enlightened self-interest either. Capitalism works because of rules imposed by the government that prevent harm, abuse, and market failure. At the same time safety nets help those in need relieving misery and quelling unrest that could lead to violent revolution. Liberals need to make this point when conservatives call for less regulation, replacing welfare with charity, and narrowly define freedom as the absence of constraint. Liberals should talk about a positive, reformed, capitalism.
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