The author wants you to wonder ' What kind of economic system is most conducive to human wellbeing? ' And the author's answer is ' progressive capitalism '. The ' progressive capitalism ' is premised on two fundamental tenets: (1) ' Governments have a duty to limit and shape markets through ... ' ; (2) ' It is also the government’s job to do what the market cannot or will not do, like ... ' The author hasn't explained the logical premise for these tenets. Nevertheless, they appear to confirm my thesis that capitalism is crippled permanently and unable to stand erect without crutches of welfarism.

' The second priority ' ( i.e. the 2nd of the four priorities the ' progressive capitalism ' is, according to the author, based on ) ' is to recognize that the “wealth of nations” is the result of scientific inquiry – learning about the world around us – and social organization that allows large groups of people to work together for the common good. ' But capitalism is the exploitation to the highest degree, just as it's aimed at yielding as much profit ( product of unpaid labour ) as possible for capitalists, of wage workers that produce all wealth & luxuries by the sweat of their brow but have to lead a hard and humble existence befitting beasts of burden throughout their life. Evidently, the capitalist mode of production is meant to enrich the capitalists alone. It's a fact that throughout the history of capitalism, it's the working multitude, producers of all wealth & luxuries, that have made up the huge army of the deprived. The situation was really not different during ' the quarter-century after World War II '. The author, a Nobelist economist, seems, to my astonishment, to be unaware of this point.



The author believes ' [m]arkets still have a crucial role to play in facilitating social cooperation, but they serve this purpose only if they are governed by the rule of law '. Nevertheless, he hasn't clarified what sort of ' social cooperation ' indispensably requires markets, and whether the ' rule of law ' he wants to govern markets is in keeping with the laws of markets ( i.e. the invincible laws of supply & demand ), the laws to blame for uneven distribution of wealth & income. Thus, the ' progressive capitalism ' has to reconcile, if it must achieve its ambitious goal, namely, an ' economic system [that] is most conducive to human wellbeing ', the evidently irreconcilable contradiction between the ' rule of law ' and the invincible laws of markets. The author seems to have missed this point too.



' Otherwise, individuals can get rich by exploiting others, extracting wealth through rent-seeking rather than creating wealth through genuine ingenuity, ' observes the learned author. The Nobelist economist's silliness seems to know no bounds. He is evidently unaware of the fact that the ' progressive capitalism ' is essentially capitalism, and so it has to be based on the exploitation of wage workers by capitalists and thus enrich the capitalist class and deprive the working class. As regards ' rent seeking ', I'd like him to awake to the fact that things like ' rent seeking ' have existed throughout the history of capitalism to contribute to the enrichment of capitalists. It's also evident that the Nobelist economist is not against your ' get[ting] rich by exploiting others ' if you create ' wealth through genuine ingenuity '. It's clear as day that ' progressive capitalism ' is NOT opposed to ' exploiting others '. It's also clear as day that according to the ' progressive capitalism ', wealth is NOT created by workers by the sweat of their brow ; wealth is created by the capitalist class ' through [their] genuine ingenuity '. This thesis should move every sensible guy to ask for examples in defence of it and how many capitalists known to the author have accumulated wealth ' through genuine ingenuity '. The term ' ingenuity ' is, as far as I know, synonymous with ' genius ', ' inventiveness ', ' skill ', etc. Thus, ' ingenuity ' seems to be a sort of calibre that belongs to scientists, researchers, technologists, economists, etc, all of whom are salaried people, hence belong to the BORN-poor working class. The scientific discoveries and technological inventions and innovations are the product of these people's ' ingenuity ' and hard labour. And the economic development of a country is the product of the ' genuine ingenuity ' and hard work of these people and numerous workers that sweat blood to produce all wealth & luxuries. But Joseph E. Stiglitz tells us that the ' genuine ingenuity ' is the property of capitalists who must exercise this faculty, under ' progressive capitalism , to create wealth. What then would scientists, technologists, so many other ingenious people do under the ' progressive capitalism ', I wonder.



' Many of today’s wealthy took the exploitation route to get where they are, ' further says the illustrious author. It's followed by this statement by him: ' Progressive capitalism seeks to do precisely the opposite. ' Does he really want us to believe that the ' progressive capitalism ' of his vision won't allow the exploitation of wage workers by capitalists ?



' Economic power and political influence are mutually reinforcing and self-perpetuating '— I wholeheartedly subscribe to this view of the author.



Very intriguing is this remark by the Nobelist author: ' economies with less inequality actually perform better. Progressive-capitalist reforms thus have to begin by curtailing the influence of money in politics and reducing wealth inequality. ' It's clear as day from this that ' progressive capitalism ' is aimed at just some reforms meant to reduce the ' wealth inequality ' to some extent, say, by a nanogramme or by a microgramme, because, the author believes, ' economies with less inequality actually perform better. ' Thus, ' progressive capitalism ' isn't aimed at ridding humanity of the evil of the exploitation of producers of all wealth & luxuries by some idlers called capitalists and the evil of widening wealth inequality and thus ridding humanity of the greatest and gravest social INJUSTICE , namely, the most disgusting and distressing fact that in a class-ridden society, the poor millions that sweat blood to produce all wealth & luxuries but have to lead a hard and humble existence befitting beasts of burden throughout their life were all BORN poor to be exploited by the BORN rich & the BORN super-rich, which fact is NOT attributable to any faults or failings of theirs while the fact that the rich & the super-rich were all BORN rich & BORN super-rich to exploit the BORN poor and grow richer and richer is NOT attributable to any noble or creditable acts or achievements of theirs. Would the author explain why this ' progressive capitalism ' is superior to communism that aims at ridding humanity of all these evils of capitalism ?