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Berlau: Hooray for Failure!

By 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.

topics:
Business

About the Author

Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.

http://spectator.org/blog/2008/09/15/berlau-hooray-for-failure
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