William Dale Barber
Why are some people so rich and some people so poor? Why do some have so much and others have so little? What, if anything can, or should, be done about it? In many ways, these are the most important questions confronting us as a nation. Capitalism, Socialism, and the Promise of Democracy examines the different ways that advocates of Capitalism and advocates of Socialism answer these crucial questions. It begins by exploring the history of economic systems and how they developed into the Capitalist and Socialist systems. The history of Capitalism and Socialism are compared and the competition between the two systems is discussed. There is an emphasis on how Free Market Capitalism evolved into Oligarchic Captialism, how the Oligarchic Capitalist system collapased with the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression, and how the Democratic Capitalist developed out of the Great Depression through Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The expansion of Democratic Capitalism during the post-war period and duirng the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson is then discussed. It examines how the economic and political problems of the 1970's led to the collapse of the Democratic Capitalist system and its replacement with a second era of Oligarchic Capitalism when Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980. We have been living in an Oligarchic Capitalist system ever since. The Financial Crisis of 2008 and the resulting Great Recession were essentially a repeat of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and Great Depression. As a nation we are currently struggling with how to move forward and reform our economic system. Capitalism, Socialism, and the Promise of Democracy examines the choices before us, how we can move forward in restoring our Democratic system, and the policies necessary to accomplish it.
