Nathan Newman <nathan.newman at yale.edu> on Fri, 17 Sep 1999 01:54:43:
> One irony here is that the "stock-centered" system in the United
> States is due to much more extensive regulation of the stock markets
> here, notably the ban on banks holding stock. Our system is not the
> result of laissez-faire but a history of populist regulation that had
> unintended consequences or rather, unexpected consequences that
> certain interests nurtured as the advantages for certain parts of the
> elite became clear.)
The same thing seems to have been true of the post-Watergate campaign reforms. By dismantling the "cronyism" of party caucuses and big donations, and replacing them with primaries and small individual limits, we arguably ended up increasing the power of capital in campaigns by increasing the importance both of television commercials and and of PACs.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com