“
No state-run enterprise can ever compete to solve the abundance of fast-evolving human problems as well or as fast as millions of individuals trying to solve these problems in competition and in real time. The key here is the diversity of approaches taken. Ten people trying to solve a particular problem in ten entirely different ways will always solve it faster and better than ten people trying to solve it in one way, and the modern study of complex systems proves this.
The crony capitalism that we have allowed to infect the U.S. economic system shares weaknesses with communism. A tax system that amplifies compounding advantages for business-people and corporations the higher up the food chain they go and compounds disadvantages for people at the bottom is bad for business. It slows the rate at which ideas are generated and problems are solved. The healthiest ecosystem or economy is one with the most diverse, able competitors, not one overrun with one or two dominant species.
[…]
The diversity of our citizens and the dynamism of our markets is America’s “secret sauce.” Insuring that the kind of capitalism we embrace is structured to maximize the greatest number of diverse, able competitors, and that those competitors focus on America’s greatest challenges, should be the central role of government. If we get that right, no country on Earth can best us.”
The crony capitalism that we have allowed to infect the U.S. economic system shares weaknesses with communism. A tax system that amplifies compounding advantages for business-people and corporations the higher up the food chain they go and compounds disadvantages for people at the bottom is bad for business. It slows the rate at which ideas are generated and problems are solved. The healthiest ecosystem or economy is one with the most diverse, able competitors, not one overrun with one or two dominant species.
[…]
The diversity of our citizens and the dynamism of our markets is America’s “secret sauce.” Insuring that the kind of capitalism we embrace is structured to maximize the greatest number of diverse, able competitors, and that those competitors focus on America’s greatest challenges, should be the central role of government. If we get that right, no country on Earth can best us.”
—
Rich Americans Aren’t the Real Job Creators - Nick Hanauer - The Atlantic
This is a difficult article to try and reduce to a few paragraphs, so I’d recommend reading the whole thing.
I also note it’s from Nick Hanauer who cried “censorship” and retained a PR firm when TED didn’t find his talk worthy of putting online. Which is what it is. I’m interested in these ideas, and wish I had the requisite economics background to investigate them further.
