Lots of People Agree: Free Market Capitalism Sux
Posted by Mike E on November 12, 2009
Adrienne suggested we post the following piece. Her reasons are obvious. It appeared in BBC News.
Free market flawed, says survey
By James Robbins
Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism.
In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well.
Most thought regulation and reform of the capitalist system were necessary.
There were also sharp divisions around the world on whether the end of the Soviet Union was a good thing.
Economic regulation
In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, it was a victory for ordinary people across Eastern and Central Europe.
It also looked at the time like a crushing victory for free-market capitalism.
Twenty years on, this new global poll suggests confidence in free markets has taken heavy blows from the past 12 months of financial and economic crisis.
More than 29,000 people in 27 countries were questioned. In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands.
Almost a quarter – 23% of those who responded – feel it is fatally flawed. That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil.
And there is very strong support around the world for governments to distribute wealth more evenly. That is backed by majorities in 22 of the 27 countries.
If there is one issue where a global consensus seems to emerge from the survey it is this: there are majorities almost everywhere wanting government to be more active in regulating business.
It is only in Turkey that a majority want less government regulation.
Opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided.
Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way.
But outside the developed West it is a different picture. Almost seven in 10 Egyptians say the end of the Soviet Union was a bad thing and views are sharply divided in India, Kenya and Indonesia.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/8347409.stm
Published: 2009/11/09 00:00:07 GMT
© BBC MMIX
David_D said
Somehow I doubt the polling in Pakistan is representative. Polling in developing countries is notoriously inaccurate, skewed in the direction of the urban middle classes.
This is an interesting poll, but one can’t read much into it in terms of acceptance of rejection of exploiting class ideology. Nominal anti-capitalism can run high among left- and right-wing populist sectors that are really just aiming to create a new disguise for class dictatorship.
Mike E said
David_d: i agree on all the points you raise here. To be clear: i think polling in general is skewed in many ways (not just by the demographics but by the nature of the questions asked, and by the intimidation of class society.)
Maz said
I’m curious to know how people would answer the logical follow up: “Is a different, better system possible?”
Selucha said
Also keep in mind this just is people saying “free-market capitalism” is fatally flawed, not capitalism in general. I don’t think we should look too much into this; for all intents and purposes, the numbers should be significantly higher and I think the relatively low numbers demonstrate the impotence of the left throughout most of the world.
Adrienne said
I also question the accuracy and results of this poll, as well as who and what it is really supposed to be representative of.
Still, what I found most interesting about it was just the fact that these questions are actually being raised at all. After the economic events that affected the entire world over the past year, it seems clear that a whole lot of people are now very seriously questioning the capitalist system. Whether or not this single poll is accurate or representative of anything concrete or genuine, it still seems rather indicative of that doubtful mood overall. And, even if this survey is wildly inaccurate, it is gratifying to note that only eleven percent of the people they chose to poll across those 27 countries considered free market capitalism to be “working well”, and that 23 percent think the system is “fatally flawed.” Defenders of capitalism certainly can’t brag too loudly about these results, either. The fact that only 51 percent believe the problems can be solved with “more regulation and reform”, well that’s a pretty damn slim majority.
PS. to Maz, that is a very good question — one that would likely never be asked.