We must stop protecting the rich from market forces

The 'American' global economy punishes the poor while giving handouts to failing banks. It's time for some balance

Ha-Joon Chang

The Guardian, Wednesday 24 October 2012 16.30 EDT


Gore Vidal, the recently demised American writer, once famously quipped that the US economic system is "free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich".

Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, not only has the US lived up to Vidal's caricature but the whole of the rich capitalist world has become more "American". The poor are increasingly exposed to market forces, with tougher conditions on the diminishing state protection they get, while the rich have unprecedented levels of protection from the state, with virtually no strings attached.

The poor are told that their states are bankrupt because their previous governments splashed out on welfare payments for them.