What do you think?
Rate this book
Moral Capitalism: Why Fairness Won't Make Us Poor
"If anyone can save capitalism from the capitalists, it’s Steven Pearlstein. This lucid, brilliant book refuses to abandon capitalism to those who believe morality and justice irrelevant to an economic system." ―Ezra Klein, founder and editor-at-large, Vox
Pulitzer Prize-winning economics journalist Steven Pearlstein argues that our thirty year experiment in unfettered markets has undermined core values required to make capitalism and democracy work.
Thirty years ago, “greed is good” and “maximizing shareholder value” became the new mantras woven into the fabric of our business culture, economy, and politics. Although, around the world, free market capitalism has lifted more than a billion people from poverty, in the United States most of the benefits of economic growth have been captured by the richest 10%, along with providing justification for squeezing workers, cheating customers, avoiding taxes, and leaving communities in the lurch. As a result, Americans are losing faith that a free market economy is the best system.
In Can American Capitalism Survive?, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steven Pearlstein chronicles our descent and challenges the theories being taught in business schools and exercised in boardrooms around the country. We’re missing a key tenet of Adam Smith’s wealth of nations: without trust and social capital, democratic capitalism cannot survive. Further, equality of incomes and opportunity need not come at the expense of economic growth.
Pearlstein lays out bold steps we can take as a country: a guaranteed minimum income paired with universal national service, tax incentives for companies to share profits with workers, ending class segregation in public education, and restoring competition to markets. He provides a path forward that will create the shared prosperity that will sustain capitalism over the long term.
Pulitzer Prize-winning economics journalist Steven Pearlstein argues that our thirty year experiment in unfettered markets has undermined core values required to make capitalism and democracy work.
Thirty years ago, “greed is good” and “maximizing shareholder value” became the new mantras woven into the fabric of our business culture, economy, and politics. Although, around the world, free market capitalism has lifted more than a billion people from poverty, in the United States most of the benefits of economic growth have been captured by the richest 10%, along with providing justification for squeezing workers, cheating customers, avoiding taxes, and leaving communities in the lurch. As a result, Americans are losing faith that a free market economy is the best system.
In Can American Capitalism Survive?, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steven Pearlstein chronicles our descent and challenges the theories being taught in business schools and exercised in boardrooms around the country. We’re missing a key tenet of Adam Smith’s wealth of nations: without trust and social capital, democratic capitalism cannot survive. Further, equality of incomes and opportunity need not come at the expense of economic growth.
Pearlstein lays out bold steps we can take as a country: a guaranteed minimum income paired with universal national service, tax incentives for companies to share profits with workers, ending class segregation in public education, and restoring competition to markets. He provides a path forward that will create the shared prosperity that will sustain capitalism over the long term.
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2020
8 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2024
Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Steven Pearlstein argues that our 30-year experiment in "markets know best" economy has undermined core values required to make capitalism and democracy work. He asserts that we are missing a key tenet of Adam Smith’s wealth of nations: Without trust and social capital, democratic capitalism cannot survive.
The recent decades’ prevailing mantras of "greed is good," "maximize shareholder value," "only fools pay taxes," and "trickle-down economy" have set back the American economy, benefitting only the super-rich, while around the world market capitalism has lifted more than a billion people out of poverty. The misguided mantras have been used as justification for squeezing workers, cheating customers, and leaving communities in the lurch.
As the French economist Thomas Piketty has argued, steady economic growth outpaced the rate of return on capital during capitalism’s post-World-War-II golden era, thereby delivering rising prosperity to millions and masking the ill effects of unfettered capitalism. Widening gaps in income and wealth were the predictable results, which we are left to deal with. Unfortunately, capitalism is not swayed by moral arguments and we need deliberate action to wipe out inequities.
Pearlstein lays out bold steps we can take as a country: A guaranteed minimum income paired with universal national service, tax incentives for companies to share profits with workers, ending class segregation in public education, and restoring competition to markets. He provides a path forward that will create the shared prosperity that will sustain capitalism over the long term.
The recent decades’ prevailing mantras of "greed is good," "maximize shareholder value," "only fools pay taxes," and "trickle-down economy" have set back the American economy, benefitting only the super-rich, while around the world market capitalism has lifted more than a billion people out of poverty. The misguided mantras have been used as justification for squeezing workers, cheating customers, and leaving communities in the lurch.
As the French economist Thomas Piketty has argued, steady economic growth outpaced the rate of return on capital during capitalism’s post-World-War-II golden era, thereby delivering rising prosperity to millions and masking the ill effects of unfettered capitalism. Widening gaps in income and wealth were the predictable results, which we are left to deal with. Unfortunately, capitalism is not swayed by moral arguments and we need deliberate action to wipe out inequities.
Pearlstein lays out bold steps we can take as a country: A guaranteed minimum income paired with universal national service, tax incentives for companies to share profits with workers, ending class segregation in public education, and restoring competition to markets. He provides a path forward that will create the shared prosperity that will sustain capitalism over the long term.
February 10, 2025
It would be tough to summarize this one, but it was really good. Capitalism itself isn't the problem; we benefit mightily from it. The problem is the way America has come to practice capitalism in the 21st century, where morals have fled the building, pushed out by policies and regulations (or lack there-of) that ensure the continued rapid growth of inequality. It doesn't have to be this way. There are many things we could do to get back on track that would restore some degree of sanity to the way resources are used and thought of. Lots of good data included in the book justify how we would ALL be better off if we reintroduced morals to the market.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews