The Parties With The Most Gain Never

People Without Memory Are Putty.

The Theory Of Economic Shock Therapy Relies In Part On The Roleof Expectations On Feeding An Inflationary Process. Reining In Inflation Requires Not Only Changing Monetary Policy But Also Changing The Behavior Of Consumers, Employers And Workers. The Role Of A Sudden, Jarring Policy Shift Is That It Quickly Alters Expectations, Signaling To The Public That The Rules Of The Game Have Changed Dramatically - Prices Will Not Keep Rising, Nor Will Wages.

The Widespread Abuse Of Prisoners Is A Virtually Foolproof Indication That Politicians Are Trying To Impose A System--whether Political, Religious Or Economic--that Is Rejected By Large Numbers Of The People They Are Ruling. Just As Ecologists Define Ecosystems By The Presence Of Certain "indicator Species" Of Plants And Birds, Torture Is An Indicator Species Of A Regime That Is Engaged In A Deeply Anti-democratic Project, Even If That Regime Happens To Have Come To Power Through Elections.

If You're Not Arguing, Your Coalition Isn't Wide Enough.

It Is Eminently Possible To Have A Market-based Economy That Requires No Such Brutality And Demands No Such Ideological Purity. A Free Market In Consumer Products Can Coexist With Free Public Health Care, With Public Schools, With A Large Segment Of The Economy -- Like A National Oil Company -- Held In State Hands. It's Equally Possible To Require Corporations To Pay Decent Wages, To Respect The Right Of Workers To Form Unions, And For Governments To Tax And Redistribute Wealth So That The Sharp Inequalities That Mark The Corporatist State Are Reduced. Markets Need Not Be Fundamentalist.