CHÁ DAS CINCO #108

Gene Sperling desenvolve no seu The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity a seguinte tese:
Too many on the right side of the political spectrum approach these challenges of the dynamism economy with an unhelpful ideological presumption that less government always leads to higher economic growth. And too many on the left start with the presumption that restricting competition to protect jobs or ensure wages and benefits can be counted on to help working families in the long term. We are left with a deficit of serious discussion on policies that both respect and even embrace the power of markets while ensuring that growth does not come at the expense of our progressive values.
O progressismo americano ou o "progressismo para o desenvolvimento" nas palavras de Peter Berkowitz assenta nas seguintes constatações:
"...with partisan rage exploding all around, too few conservatives and too few progressives today appreciate that the economic policy of both should be informed by two broad principles which provide a common ground for debating their differences. First, the free market must be firmly supported, both by upholding the rule of law — enforcement of contracts and of liability for accidents, the protection of private property, the maintenance of freedom of communication and movement — and through the restraint of zealous regulators. Second, an affluent, postindustrial, liberal democracy must provide a minimum level of care for those who, owing to poverty, age, illness, or misfortune, are unable to provide for themselves.
It is to be expected that in a free society these two principles will be in more or less constant tension. And it is to be expected that Republicans will tend to be more solicitous of the claims of the market — the individual virtues that it elicits and the benefits that it confers upon society as a whole — and Democrats will tend to be more solicitous of the claims of government’s obligation to provide relief from the market’s excesses, blind spots, and breakdowns. But it’s no longer enough to have a party of capitalism representing the one principle and a party of the welfare state representing the other and to hope that the political process will yield a viable compromise. What Republicans and Democrats need to quarrel about is not the validity of one or the other economic principle, but their proper mix..."
Ora, em que é que isso nos importa? perguntam vocês, se calhar em nada respondo eu, até porque na Região não existe um confronto esquerda/direita. E nem é por falta de comparência da esquerda, como diz Manuel Melo Bento, é porque da direita até o Nuno Barata se envergonha (ver Factos de Abril).