Nice radical centrist take... http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/the_two_faces_of_american_capi.html?utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website
HBR Blog Network "Steve Jobs Put a Ding in the Universe" "Obama: Wall Street Protests Show Frustration" When I logged on to CNN.com yesterday, these were the top two headlines. As I flipped through the television news channels, these two stories were touted side by side. As I digested these two stories — America's heartbreak upon learning of Steve Jobs's death and the protests of Wall Street that are sweeping the country — I could not help but be struck by the irony they represent. These two stories embody the two faces of American capitalism. I learned of Steve Jobs' death in a text message from my mother that simply read, "Steve Jobs died." The fact that my mom can even send a text message is a testament to Jobs's impact on the world. She learned to text on the iPhone 4 that we purchased for her. And this, writ large, was the man's legacy. Steve Jobs and Apple dreamed, developed, and created products that changed the world. Jobs made technology fun, accessible, and powerful and in so doing he reimagined the ways we could live our lives. To do this, Steve Jobs built a business. And not just any business, but one that on any given day may be the biggest business by market capitalization in the world. Jobs built a big business, but he also built what everyone recognizes as a good business. Apple creates amazing products that make life better. It reaps huge profits that are viewed by the public as a just reward for the contribution that the company makes to society. Steve Jobs died a multibillionaire. At the same time, I would wager that he died the most revered American of our time. And it was the American capitalist system that made this possible. But the American system also made possible the protests we see rippling from Wall Street to cities across the country. While the Occupy Wall Street protestors appear to be a motley crew, demonstrating against everything from Wall Street excess to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, what they represent is frustration with a system that they see as rewarding people out of proportion to the value that they create. And a system that may grant outsized rewards whether the recipient actually creates any value at all. This is why Wall Street and, to some extent, big business in general have earned the ire of a cross section of Americans. Gobs of money have been paid to those who many see as creating no value for society, and who in many cases actually destroyed it. This is why hedge funds that profit while 401Ks crumble and the creation of exotic derivative instruments incite many on Main Street. This is why Bernanke's loose money policies and the Detroit bailouts incense lots of folks. While Americans may recognize the necessity of certain policies (the Wall Street bailout, for instance) such policies still offend their sense of fairness and their conception of America as a meritocracy by essentially rewarding destructive activities. Moreover, the Wall Street protests are about the fact that the rules are not the same for those at the top and those at the bottom. When they fail, we tell those at the top that we will help you fix the mess that you've created. And when they fail, we tell those at the bottom that they must face the consequences of their decisions. While exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures, people are concerned that an aristocracy is slowly replacing a meritocracy in America. They see evidence of it in the influence that money and lobbying have on politics. They see evidence of it in the influence that Washington has over picking winners and losers in business. And we see evidence of it in the protests spreading across the country. I'll remember October 6 as the day that American capitalism's two faces were juxtaposed for the world to see. And therein lays the nature of the political gridlock we see in Washington. Too often, those on the right seem to believe that American capitalism is perfect, rewarding entrepreneurs, businessmen, and all Americans in proportion to the value they create. In short, they believe that America is all Steve Jobs and no Occupy Wall Street. On the other side of the aisle, the left often appears to espouse the position that all that is earned must have been earned illicitly, by taking advantage of someone else. They advance the notion that America is all Occupy Wall Street and no Steve Jobs. The lesson our society and our politicians need to take from yesterday's news is that American capitalism is both Steve Jobs and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Business, big business, and capitalism are good to the extent that they function in a system that doles out rewards for the creation of value. And they fail when rewards are given independent of the value that institutions create. Policy makers on both sides of the aisle would be wise to recognize this and craft policy that will allow rewards to flow where value is created. If they do that, America will be both a more prosperous and a more harmonious place. The solution to our country's current problems is for America to address the grievances at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street protests by channeling the spirit of Steve Jobs. I can think of no more fitting tribute to the man who changed the world than to allow him to change our country as well. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
