Ian Bremmer, The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? New York: Portfolio, 2010, 230 pages, $26.95.
After reviewing Roger Lowenstein’s book The End of Wall Street (June CJ), the book The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?, by Ian Bremmer, caught my eye. If the free market fails, then Wall Street will indeed be at risk.
Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group, the world’s leading global political risk research firm. He was inspired to write this book after a meeting with China’s Vice Foreign Minister He Yafie. Referring to the Wall Street crash, He asked, “Now that the free market has failed, what do you think is the proper role of the state is in this economy?”
Bremmer responded, “Banks have clearly failed to regulate themselves, but that doesn’t demand that government permanently dominate the economy.” This statement led Brimmer to write an interesting book about the global economy.
His book is both historical and geographical. Historically, Bremmer offers a history of free-market capitalism, tracing its evolution from the 17th century to today. Bremmer presents a multitude of facts about the use of free market principles in communist countries, including China.
Geographically, he looks at various countries, addressing their political policies and how their natural resources affect the global marketplace. Bremmer notes that of the world’s 100 largest economies, a mere 49 are countries. The rest are corporations. He then provides a list of companies with economies that are larger than some countries.
Bremmer uses an interesting graphic that ranges from Utopian communism on the left to Utopian libertarianism on the right, allowing him to show the extremes at both ends of the spectrum.
Still, I found many aspects of the book confusing, among them Bremmer’s contentions that President “Obama’s record suggests he is a believer in free market trade and free enterprise — though he ran for president at a moment when neither would win him many votes.” I believe few conservative economists would agree with this statement.
He does not consider Obama is a socialist, but even if he is, Bremmer writes, “no president of the United States has the power to fundamentally change his country’s economy.” Once again, I think that many close observers of this president would disagree.
At times, it appears that Bremmer supports state capitalism — which he describes as “a system in which the state dominates markets for political gain” — but by the end of the book it is clear that he does not. State capitalism, he notes, provides wealth for countries, but it is intended mainly to keep powerful political leaders in office.
“Events sometimes overtake a book,” Bremmer states in his acknowledgments. This is certainly true of Bremmer’s book. With the recent revelations that scientists falsified global warming data, his section on global warming and green jobs completely seems irrelevant.
Written well before the Gulf oil spill, his information on the world’s oil reserves and oil production is more pertinent. After reading the section on oil production and the countries that own reserves, I found Obama’s rash decision to place a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling frightening. With the state of our economy, the United States could be in economic trouble if this ban on drilling remains in effect. I was left wondering what Bremmer would say about the moratorium.
The book is an easy read, but once again, I found myself in a maze of acronyms. Bremmer is concerned that the recent events on Wall Street may increase the move towards state capitalism, so he provides step-by-step ways to prevent that and enhance the free market.
Ian Bremmer has written a book that will appeal to the noneconomist and readers who want to see America’s return to a vibrant economy and one not controlled by the government.