The American Spectator

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Berlau: Hooray for Failure!

By Robert Stacy McCain on 9.15.08 @ 5:54PM

OK, that's not exactly what John Berlau's saying, but . . .

Business failure is not only a permissible outcome of capitalism, it's a necessary one. As the great economist Joseph Schumpeter has written, the process of "creative destruction" is essential for the market to function. For innovation to flourish and the standard of living of the populace to improve, the market must be free to reward success and punish failure.

He's talking about Lehman Brothers, of course, and who can argue? Subsidies, bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare are not "free enterprise," and conservatives ought to oppose such measures.

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Business