Questions

Why is it that so-called conservatives always talk about the good old days, and want to return the country to the puritanical culture of the 1950s...but when it comes to OTHER things, moving backwards is anti-American and smells of Communism? An example, a good one I think, is the growing disparity between executive pay and workers pay. To quote Paul Krugman:

In 1968, the head of General Motors received about $4 million in today's dollars - and that was considered extravagant. But last year Scott Lee Jr., Wal-Mart's chief executive, was paid $17.5 million. That is, every two weeks Mr. Lee was paid about as much as his average employee will earn in a lifetime.

That's just not right - and it's led to a lot of other associated problems. Disparity in education, disparity in healthcare (and the associated things that come from not having adequate healthcare).

Look, I am a graduate of one of the most conservative business schools in the world, and my life is fantastically better than it would otherwise be because of capitalism. But it doesn't mean that it's a perfect set-up, and that left to its own devices, some things have gone quite wrong in the past 50 years or so. Does it mean there has to be government regulation in order to quell this? I'd love to say no - I'm no fan of government intervention when it's not necessary, and lord knows the government is bloated enough. But I can't see how this tide turns on its own without someone stepping in.