If one bothers to read the book, one would see that Stiglitz would totally agree that we DON'T have working free markets. He enumerates the myriad ways in which they failed and elaborates remedies in some detail. Among other things, he states (in a reasoned way) that the power of the financial sector has totally perverted capitalism - what we have developed over the last decades is a Corporate Welfare State ("privatized profits and socialized risk"), which is a FAR CRY from free markets. Stiglitz, being a sensible and responsible person who wants to be heard by those in power, knows this in every detail and strongly but respectfully condemns those who have failed us so dismally. His role does not allow him to fully express the outrage any sane person should have towards the "powers that be" as they have wrecked and ravaged the lives of so many millions. But it hardly takes reading between his lines to find the basis for such outrage.
It used to be (into the 1800's) that petty theft by the wretched poor was a hanging offense. What of the grandest of larcenies that we have seen coming form the wealthy idiots in the financial sector? Is there any justice in the 21st Century?
Stiglitz is trying to expose the problem and propose remedies. Perhaps it's for the rest of us to express the moral outrage that is so very, very richly deserved.
But any anger or outrage needs be informed and fueled by facts and reasoning, which Stiglitz does provide.Get more detail about Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.
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