Erskine Bowles and Henry Paulson: How to Get Americans to Love Capitalism Again
Erskine Bowles served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1998 and is a member of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He recently co-wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times with Henry M. Paulson Jr., former Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush. It is excerpted below.
American capitalism is at a serious inflection point. Many Americans, including the two of us, are alarmed by enormous levels of inequality and by declining economic mobility. We are concerned that in many cases American markets are no longer the most competitive in the world. And, we worry that our country’s long-term economic strength will slowly deteriorate because of an unsustainable fiscal trajectory that leaves future generations worse off.
The solution is not to upend the system. A market-based economy, for all its flaws, is still the best way to achieve broad economic prosperity and to ensure that living standards continue to rise over time. But the answer is not to maintain the status quo, either.
Read the entire piece here.
"My Views" are works published by members of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, but they do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of the Committee.
