Conservatism or Corporatism?

[bord-du-rasoir.livejournal.com]

What accounts for the spikes in these graphs? Conservative (free market) policy or corporatist (government intervention) policy?









Why'd average Wall St. bonus pay recently quadruple average annual salaries? Why'd the financial sector recently triple the nonfinancial sector? Why'd the highest incomes recently increase 36 times faster than median family income?

Provide concrete explanations as to how X (policy) caused Y (economic indicator). Point to specific legislation or executive orders.

The liberal position is predictable: The unprecedented extreme growth in the financial sector and increased inequality is bad. Free market policy (deregulation of banks --> derivatives market expansion --> collapse) is to blame.

I'm more interested in the conservative position: How do you explain the unprecedented growth in the financial sector and the increased income inequality? What're the causes? Is corporatism (government interventionism) responsible? If so, how? Do you draw a connection between the above figures and the financial collapse?

I honestly don't understand the conservative position.

Comments

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but this is an interesting video that explains why the financial industry grew as much as it did, both because of corporate greed and lack of ethics, and government incentives for people to invest in the stock market. The anchor man could probably do a bit better on his delivery, but the substance is excellent:

[bord-du-rasoir.livejournal.com]

I'm overwhelmed by the number of comments as well as the subject matter, but this video is definitely an extremely informative first comment. The most significant fact for me is the growth of 401(k) plans from $105 billion (1995) to $14 trillion (2005).

But this, of course, raises all sorts of questions I'll have to research...

How does the money from 401(k) plans compare to the total stock trading volume? I see the graph at around the 4 min. mark illustrates that stock trading volume jumped in the 1990s and 200s from well under 100% of GDP to well over 300%. And I know that the figure given for 401(k) investment of $14 trillion (2005) would have exceed GDP for that year.

I'll have to watch the video a second time for it to sink it.