Decline in US economic freedom due to unregulated capitalism

Capitalism, as an economic system, has many virtues — except when employed in the interest of unrestricted greed. Then it does much harm. The appeal of trickle-down economics evaporates when it is realized that the “trickle” is more like a drip, depriving the working classes of most of the benefits of increased productivity.

Capitalism, in practice, works only when it is adequately regulated. In this country, that regulation is the responsibility of Congress. 

Unfortunately, elections are so dominated by money that capital interests are able to thwart regulation, especially since 2010 when the Supreme Court awarded personhood to corporations in the Citizens United case. Unions, which should be viewed as an integral part of capitalism, are so fully regulated that their ability to mitigate the excessive power of corporations is limited.

These unfortunate facts account for the decline in U.S. economic well-being over the past 45 years as outlined in the editorial of March 28. Thus it is not statism that is to blame, but the excessive power and greed of capitalistic interests.

— T. Guy Spencer, Sarasota