Christine Lagarde, France’s Minister of Finance, recently sounded a LOT more like Ronald Reagan than Jaques Chirac.
Last week, when addressing a Council on Foreign Relations gathering in New York City, she was asked, by an American, if the current global credit crisis “indicates a failure of Capitalism so deep, that even in its current regulated form, it cannot work,” she responded with, “Well, there are really only two economic models, Capitalism (the market-based economy) and Communism (the command economy) and history has proven that one of those, Communism (the command economy), cannot work. It fails in regard to undervaluing capital investment, underestimating and misunderstanding consumer demand and ultimately, it does a very poor job of making people happy, which is government’s primary function – the well-being of the people.”
WoW! While I disagree with Ms. Lagarde's "only two economic models," given that between the free market and the command economy is the regulated market economy, which has become the standard for Western industrial nations today. Still, it seems that at least SOME French are more economically literate than far too MANY Americans!
Last week, when addressing a Council on Foreign Relations gathering in New York City, she was asked, by an American, if the current global credit crisis “indicates a failure of Capitalism so deep, that even in its current regulated form, it cannot work,” she responded with, “Well, there are really only two economic models, Capitalism (the market-based economy) and Communism (the command economy) and history has proven that one of those, Communism (the command economy), cannot work. It fails in regard to undervaluing capital investment, underestimating and misunderstanding consumer demand and ultimately, it does a very poor job of making people happy, which is government’s primary function – the well-being of the people.”
WoW! While I disagree with Ms. Lagarde's "only two economic models," given that between the free market and the command economy is the regulated market economy, which has become the standard for Western industrial nations today. Still, it seems that at least SOME French are more economically literate than far too MANY Americans!
