Greenspan is Right - Capitalism Does it Better
By David
I am currently halfway through former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan’s new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. It’s a good read, far from the dusty tome of economic theory you might expect to come from that source. He admits to being a lifelong Republican, but makes little secret of his dislike for the current President or his admiration for the manner in which Bill Clinton ran the country. It appears Bill Clinton may have been a stauncher supporter of Republican values than his successor. Controlled spending, budget surpluses, getting out of regional wars and possibly even his Monica moments all have a Republican ring to them. Greenspan acknowledges that in Bill’s years Democrats did it better; Monica included, I’m guessing.
A central assertion in the book is that the contest between capitalism and communism has been resolved. Capitalism has triumphed. With very few exceptions, nations who once conducted their affairs along communist lines have turned to capitalism to improve the lot of their people. And it’s worked. In some countries capitalism got off to a rocky start as people struggled to get the hang of the having little state control. But today the standard of living behind what was once the iron curtain has risen dramatically. The application of capitalism may vary among nations but, Greenspan says, its acceptance as the paramount method of organizing economic affairs and ensuring prosperity is unchallenged.
Greenspan argues that the motivations for capitalism’s superior performance have been human nature and the market. Humans respond best when the have the freedom to take up new challenges, to improve their lives. Performance, he says, is best controlled by the wishes of the market place. The good and popular get accepted and prosper, the redundant disappear. And this, he says, is good. I’m pleased he stops short of proposing that the US Capitol, the City of Venice or, I would suggest, the New Zealand Government Beehive building, should be demolished just because they are old and inefficient. Even Greenspan, it appears, has his limits.
This week free enterprise and capitalism won another round against the excesses and inefficiency of the old state controlled regimes. It is official: private enterprise sport in the United States is now as good at taking drugs as any earlier state controlled administration. Athletes motivated by capitalist individual enterprise are injecting and sucking down testosterone, HGH and amphetamines at a rate the old communist regimes could only dream about.
No one should attempt to excuse the excesses of US drug abuse by saying, “At least it’s not state motivated and controlled. It’s just the excesses of a few individuals.” That does not work. The state was East Germany. Individual private enterprise is the United States. Of course the state is going to run drug abuse in a communist regime. That’s what central control is all about. Of course individuals are going to run drug abuse in the United States. That’s what capitalism is all about. The difference most certainly does not condemn one or excuse the other.
So, what are the drug abuse achievements that have launched the US into the forefront of drugged sport? Last week Marion Jones burst into tears and turned in a handful of her Olympic medals. Her apology was the best I’ve heard but could not hide an unbroken litany of lies and deception. Many say that it’s Jones’ relay teammates they feel sorry for. What if they too have to give their medals back? Fear not. You see, two of Jones’ teammates (Torrie Edwards and Chryste Gaines) in the 400 relay have also had to serve doping suspensions since the 2000 Games. That’s three of the four relay runners, juiced to their eyeballs. Do you recall what we said about East German teams caught with just one cheat?
Baseball, it’s called “America’s pastime”. Arguably, the sport’s most famous record is the homerun total. The current holder with 762 runs is San Francisco player Barry Bonds. To say he’s a bloody good baseball player is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, it appears pretty certain he had chemical assistance earlier in his career.
World cycling’s most famous race is the Tour de France. In 2006 the race was won by the American, Floyd Landis. However his victory is no more. A test taken during the event has turned up positive for synthetic testosterone.
On September 24 2007, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency was reported as saying how pleased he was that the BALCO scandal had resulted in the suspension of 14 Olympic athletes. He was sure the fear this installed would curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Fourteen Olympic athletes suspended! That’s truly world class. Here’s to private enterprise.
To an outsider beginning work in US sport the scene is saddening and chaotic. Middleweight boxer Joey Gilbert, sprinter Justin Gatlin, sprinter and football player John Capel, 1999 shot put world champion C.J Hunter, world 400 meter champion Jerome Young and an endless list of others; the moral obvious. People in the US glass house should not throw stones.
I am currently halfway through former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan’s new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. It’s a good read, far from the dusty tome of economic theory you might expect to come from that source. He admits to being a lifelong Republican, but makes little secret of his dislike for the current President or his admiration for the manner in which Bill Clinton ran the country. It appears Bill Clinton may have been a stauncher supporter of Republican values than his successor. Controlled spending, budget surpluses, getting out of regional wars and possibly even his Monica moments all have a Republican ring to them. Greenspan acknowledges that in Bill’s years Democrats did it better; Monica included, I’m guessing.
A central assertion in the book is that the contest between capitalism and communism has been resolved. Capitalism has triumphed. With very few exceptions, nations who once conducted their affairs along communist lines have turned to capitalism to improve the lot of their people. And it’s worked. In some countries capitalism got off to a rocky start as people struggled to get the hang of the having little state control. But today the standard of living behind what was once the iron curtain has risen dramatically. The application of capitalism may vary among nations but, Greenspan says, its acceptance as the paramount method of organizing economic affairs and ensuring prosperity is unchallenged.
Greenspan argues that the motivations for capitalism’s superior performance have been human nature and the market. Humans respond best when the have the freedom to take up new challenges, to improve their lives. Performance, he says, is best controlled by the wishes of the market place. The good and popular get accepted and prosper, the redundant disappear. And this, he says, is good. I’m pleased he stops short of proposing that the US Capitol, the City of Venice or, I would suggest, the New Zealand Government Beehive building, should be demolished just because they are old and inefficient. Even Greenspan, it appears, has his limits.
This week free enterprise and capitalism won another round against the excesses and inefficiency of the old state controlled regimes. It is official: private enterprise sport in the United States is now as good at taking drugs as any earlier state controlled administration. Athletes motivated by capitalist individual enterprise are injecting and sucking down testosterone, HGH and amphetamines at a rate the old communist regimes could only dream about.
No one should attempt to excuse the excesses of US drug abuse by saying, “At least it’s not state motivated and controlled. It’s just the excesses of a few individuals.” That does not work. The state was East Germany. Individual private enterprise is the United States. Of course the state is going to run drug abuse in a communist regime. That’s what central control is all about. Of course individuals are going to run drug abuse in the United States. That’s what capitalism is all about. The difference most certainly does not condemn one or excuse the other.
So, what are the drug abuse achievements that have launched the US into the forefront of drugged sport? Last week Marion Jones burst into tears and turned in a handful of her Olympic medals. Her apology was the best I’ve heard but could not hide an unbroken litany of lies and deception. Many say that it’s Jones’ relay teammates they feel sorry for. What if they too have to give their medals back? Fear not. You see, two of Jones’ teammates (Torrie Edwards and Chryste Gaines) in the 400 relay have also had to serve doping suspensions since the 2000 Games. That’s three of the four relay runners, juiced to their eyeballs. Do you recall what we said about East German teams caught with just one cheat?
Baseball, it’s called “America’s pastime”. Arguably, the sport’s most famous record is the homerun total. The current holder with 762 runs is San Francisco player Barry Bonds. To say he’s a bloody good baseball player is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, it appears pretty certain he had chemical assistance earlier in his career.
World cycling’s most famous race is the Tour de France. In 2006 the race was won by the American, Floyd Landis. However his victory is no more. A test taken during the event has turned up positive for synthetic testosterone.
On September 24 2007, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency was reported as saying how pleased he was that the BALCO scandal had resulted in the suspension of 14 Olympic athletes. He was sure the fear this installed would curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Fourteen Olympic athletes suspended! That’s truly world class. Here’s to private enterprise.
To an outsider beginning work in US sport the scene is saddening and chaotic. Middleweight boxer Joey Gilbert, sprinter Justin Gatlin, sprinter and football player John Capel, 1999 shot put world champion C.J Hunter, world 400 meter champion Jerome Young and an endless list of others; the moral obvious. People in the US glass house should not throw stones.
8 Comments:
This was so damn disappointing. It sucks big time when sports heroes turn out to be cheats. I hope no recent prominent swimmers turn out to have been cheats :(
One thing capitalism (for all it's excesses) does give us is the CBA ... the Cost Benefit Analysis. If a stock is risky you don't invest in it unless you want egg on your face. The goal needs to be to make the risks of shame, punishment, and getting discovered too great to make cheating profitable. Being able to use more than just drug tests to uncloak the cheats can help us get to that point. Marion never tested positive but was forced to confess after aggressive investigations into leads from BALCO produced compelling evidence.
True, Woodward. Right now, the cost of cheating is often not particularly great. People who are caught and banned end up competing and winning again in just a few years.
Someone who doesn't care about public humiliation, guilt or shame isn't going to care particularly about cheating, making good money, getting caught, not competing for two years and then going right back to it once their ban is over.
Bernstein said:
Woodward is right, the risks of cheating outweighs the benefits of cheating. Remember the good ole days when men played for the sake of playing and not multi zillion dollar contracts. With the allure of big bucks in competitive swimming, track, etc. (i.e. endorsements and financial incentives for coaches and athletes) the risk in some athletes eyes may be worth it as they confess all the way to the bank.
I too think Woodward is right. However I believe there is a fundamental contradiction in Greenspan's book that he fails to explain; apart from infering that we in the west are better people that those Russians or Chinese.
He says ex-totalitarian state inhabitants do not respond well to democratic freedoms. Deception and dishonesty are rampant. In the west however we do respond well. Capatalists understand the risk of being caught and don't do it, whatever it is.
The contradiction in all this is when Greenspan then tells us that the commonality of mankind is what makes capitalism attractive to everybody.
In other words he justifies the valitity of the worth of capitalism with man's similarities and the the variance in performance with man's differances. He can not have it both ways.
Greenspan also brushes over the deceptions of Enron, Adelphia and others, the point I was trying to make re Jones et al.
David
Without having read Greenspan's book we need to ask the question:
What were the motivations of the totalitarian regimes for cheating in the 70s versus today's cheats in a more capitalistic nation/world?
Bernstein
For three years I employed one of the East German National Coaches. Mike coached the East German women's team to the Seoul Olympic Games. He escaped from East Germany, at some risk, just before the Wall came down. Working with him provided an interesting insight into the excesses of that period. I'm just doing a post on employing him and will put it up in a couple of days.
David
Bernstein, that is an excellent question. One would assume that previous epidemics of drug-taking were spurred by the pursuit of state grandeur, whereas nowadays, individuals cheat for personal financial gain.
How ironic that the two political and ideological mindsets are so completely different, yet the practices are exactly the same.
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