Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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David Gelles’ recent book, “The Man Who Broke Capitalism,” about Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, is a must-read for anyone interested in what went wrong with American capitalism at the turn of this century.
Welch was until recently considered the best American CEO of the 20th century. This book chronicles how he made GE the most valuable company in the world but along the way planted the seeds of ruin that became apparent not long after his retirement.
The book does veer off course toward the end when it injects politics and begins to suggest remedies to our capitalist system. For example, it compares the persona and the politics of Welch with that of former President Donald Trump, suggesting Trump’s elevation to the presidency was facilitated by his relationship with Welch.
There’s enough blame for both political parties for the failures of capitalism. Gelles suggests that our government should try to fix our corporations, which is ridiculous when we realize that Congress broke our government decades ago and that government grows more dysfunctional each year.
Pure capitalism, which probably never existed, needs an environment of unfettered economic freedom and fair competition in order to exist and a profit motive to propel it forward. Interjecting more government and more regulations will only worsen the problem.
