> From: Nathan Newman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [PEN-L:11865] Re: Risk and Unequal Opportunity under cap > > Social policy debates have gotten so stupid it is > > hard to see them as informed by any kind of > > theory, liberal or conservative, much less anything > > as high-falutin as risk theory. > > . . . > If risk is seen as a friend and an equal opportunity for entrepreneurship, > then inequality becomes just a reward system for those willing to take the > risks that drive wealth creation. . . . This is interesting but perhaps a little too ingenious to attribute to popular debate. There is an individualist ideology which holds that people choose their risks and ought then to take the consequences of their choices, just as they are entitled to the rewards of a fortuitous choice. If your point is that the way this is viewed is politically important, I agree. It's a little more mundane than what I would think of as risk theory, however. > . . . > up the messiest aspects of poverty, but there really is no solid left > position on how we would ideally balance risk and security, while making > both equitable. In the broadest speculations of socialist theory, have > market socialists grappled with that balance? The market socialists devolve to welfare statism in this circumstance, which is perfectly well-taken in the context of that system. I would say you have to be a rather extreme leveller to argue against any scope for voluntary individual risk-taking, with its attendant rewards and losses, but I don't doubt that the more left among us would take exception since in their vision capital is more-or-less completely socialized. Max =================================================== Max B. Sawicky Economic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax) Washington, DC 20036 http://epn.org/sawicky Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute other than this writer. ===================================================
