Do You Really Want Unfettered Capitalism?

From Paul Kedrosky's blog:
"Some interesting comments from Atlantic writer/editor James Fallows on his return from living in China. Here are his first impressions, which can be reduced to the two "C"s: cellphones and clean air.

Even in a downturn -- and, yes, in Washington, not Flint. Everything looks so comfortable and lush! The air is so clean! (Today's reading in Beijing: "Hazardous.") And the cell phone coverage is so crappy! I can barely recall a moment in China when I was out of signal range. Today alone in Washington, half a dozen dropped calls.

There it is, the China/U.S. trade-off in a nutshell."

TW: Wags like to say China is more capitalist than the U.S., they may be right. But is unfettered capitalism really a desirable outcome? Imagine no OSHA, no FDA, no EPA, no FTC etc. We have more regulations and a much more livable society. We also have tremendously entrenched legacy systems and powers (e.g. telecoms, health care providers, automotive industry), who really would prefer that the status quo be retained.

China (and India, Brazil etc.) are benefiting greatly from modernizing their societies without many of the entrenched technologies which burden our society. The U.S. benefited from the same dynamic 100-125 years ago as we overtook Europe. Food for thought.