November 26, 2013

Good-bye Milton Friedman, Hello Joseph Stiglitz! Progressive Economists Can Help Save Working America | Alternet

Good-bye Milton Friedman, Hello Joseph Stiglitz! Progressive Economists Can Help Save Working America | Alternet

"For more than four decades the debate on economic policy has been dominated by an ideologically driven theory originating in economics departments of several major universities, most notably the University of Chicago. This simplistic neoliberal economic philosophy relentlessly taught that there was no problem that could not be solved by a reliance on market forces. All that was needed was for the government to get out of the way. President Reagan summed it up with the mantra: "government is not the solution; government is the problem."
This neoliberal economic philosophy has dominated the debate on economic policy. It has limited the very language in which our political debates have been conducted. The simplistic model of the perfectly competitive market has been the standard against which all public policies have been measured."