Summary |
In the cost of capitalism, Robert Barbera provides compelling answers to all these questions. In the process, he offers the most cogent analysis yet of today’s crisis and explains how to manage the ever present potential for mayhem intrinsic to free market economies without stunting innovation and growth.
At the core of Barbera’s thinking are three assumptions: first, boom and bust cycles have been stoked since 1985 by finance, not inflation; second, main street stability paradoxically invites excessive risk taking on Wall Street; and last, these things set the stage for small setbacks to deliver cataclysmic consequences.
Barbera applauds current efforts to unabashedly infuse public money into the global economy. It’s the only way, he says, to prevent another great depression. And, looking beyond the crisis of the moment, Barbera contends that mainstream thinkers need to form a new economic paradigm by embracing the insights of free market champions like Joseph Schumpeter and the cautionary wisdom of Hyman Minsky.
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