"The cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone"
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Heilbroner captures a central dilemma of capitalist democracies: the institutions best placed to correct market failures are often tethered to the very class whose interests the market privileges. Capitalism excels at mobilizing production and innovation, but it also produces inequality, instability, and social costs that markets do not price well, from environmental damage to precarious work. Addressing those failings requires public action: regulation to curb abuses, redistribution to temper inequality, social insurance to spread risk, and long-horizon investments markets underprovide.
The obstacle is not merely bad actors or corrupt officials; it is structural. Governments in capitalist societies depend on business investment for growth, employment, and tax revenues. That dependence gives owners of capital veto power, the so-called confidence of investors that must be maintained. Add lobbying, campaign finance, and the ideological prestige of market solutions, and policy often skews toward the preferences of one class. To rise above that narrow interest means building a state that can define and pursue a broader public purpose, including the claims of labor, consumers, the poor, and future generations.
Heilbroner’s history-minded approach points to moments when such transcendence was partly achieved. The New Deal and postwar social democracies constrained capital, empowered labor, and expanded the welfare state, not through technocratic neutrality but through democratic mobilization and crisis-driven bargains. Even these gains proved fragile under neoliberal retrenchment, illustrating how quickly the balance tilts back when business reasserts its structural power.
The line is neither a call for classless politics nor a utopian erasure of conflict. It is a warning and a standard. Curing capitalism’s failings requires institutions insulated enough to act for the whole, yet responsive enough to retain legitimacy. Where that balance is struck, capitalism becomes more livable and sustainable; where it is not, its inherent inequalities and instabilities reassert themselves, and the promise of shared prosperity remains out of reach.
The obstacle is not merely bad actors or corrupt officials; it is structural. Governments in capitalist societies depend on business investment for growth, employment, and tax revenues. That dependence gives owners of capital veto power, the so-called confidence of investors that must be maintained. Add lobbying, campaign finance, and the ideological prestige of market solutions, and policy often skews toward the preferences of one class. To rise above that narrow interest means building a state that can define and pursue a broader public purpose, including the claims of labor, consumers, the poor, and future generations.
Heilbroner’s history-minded approach points to moments when such transcendence was partly achieved. The New Deal and postwar social democracies constrained capital, empowered labor, and expanded the welfare state, not through technocratic neutrality but through democratic mobilization and crisis-driven bargains. Even these gains proved fragile under neoliberal retrenchment, illustrating how quickly the balance tilts back when business reasserts its structural power.
The line is neither a call for classless politics nor a utopian erasure of conflict. It is a warning and a standard. Curing capitalism’s failings requires institutions insulated enough to act for the whole, yet responsive enough to retain legitimacy. Where that balance is struck, capitalism becomes more livable and sustainable; where it is not, its inherent inequalities and instabilities reassert themselves, and the promise of shared prosperity remains out of reach.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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