Joseph Stiglitz Calls to Abolish the Capitalist Church of Self-Interest

Can the ideology of capitalism bend to a stronger ideology of justice and love?

Lately Stiglitz has focused on the alarming gap in the U.S. between those at the top and everyone else, an interest which led to a prescient Vanity Fair article on the dominance of the 1 percent in May 2011, and most recently to a new book, The Price of Inequality . Commenting on Mitt Romney’s declaration that 47 percent of the nation was nothing more than freeloaders, Stiglitz said, “the real divide is between those who see the country as a ... Full Story »

Posted by Tanya J. Maurer

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Tanya J. Maurer
3.9
by Tanya J. Maurer - Sep. 21, 2012

while the same economic forces operate around the world, the U.S. stands out for our lack of social mobility and economic injustice. What makes the difference between a more equitable country like Sweden and America? Rules and regulations that favor the wealthy, said Stiglitz. He pointed out that such a trend is not only economically destructive, but morally indefensible.

The idea that human beings are better off acting selfishly would have been laughable to Shakespeare, anathema to Jesus, absurd to Darwin and insane to Freud. Even Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, would have recoiled from the crass self-interest philosophy promoted by Ayn Rand and preached by acolytes like vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan.

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