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Sell capitalism

Someone alert the Economist. Support for the free market is dropping.

And these numbers were taken before last year’s credit crunch and associated misery. Imagine what next year’s readings by GlobeScan might look like.

Overall support for the free market fell in 10 of the 18 countries regularly polled, including sharp falls in Turkey, South Korea, and Chile. More moderate declines were recorded in China, Britain, Brazil, Mexico and Kenya.

Contrary as ever, France (excluded, for some reason, from the GlobeScan graph) was the only country to exhibit increased affection for the free market and all that it stands for.

But before we get over-excited about M and Mme Sarkozy’s transformational effect on the French psyche and old Europe meeting new Europe in a free-market nirvana, our near neighbours were starting from a very low base.

Two years ago France was the only country to have more respondents disagreeing than agreeing with the statement: “The free enterprise system and free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world.”

With 45 per cent outvoting 41 per cent of participants, France remains in the ‘No’ camp. But it now has been joined (and overtaken in the free market negativity stakes) by Turkey.

HT: Crossing Wall Street

This entry was posted by Helen Thomas on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 9:01 and is filed under Capital markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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Comments

  1. Apr 23   12:57 Posted by audry wright [report]

    Evan Andersen is way off base here but he illustrates something about the way the questions in the poles may have been asked. If the question was put to the pollster how the economy is going and they respond that it is poor due to the ‘credit crunch’, then it would logically follow that they feel as though capitalism is failing them. Evan Andersen thinks this is an all out war between causes but I think all the poll is trying to say here is that people have become skiddish of the capitalist system and that maybe there is a balance that will be accepted by ‘the people’.

  2. Apr 16   20:31 Posted by e andersen [report]

    evan andersen

    I just don’t get it. Here China is over-heating at its first taste of capitalism, we would not have any of the modern technologies if you left it up to the government, certainly the government needs a role in all of this but think about how inefficient they are, they hire numpties who did poorly on their exams and now they should tell ‘we the people’ how to run our shops? It is funny that when times are good people would want more regulatory or more rightest policies and when times are bad, they might was well do it themselves because they realize, as always, we create the government, the government does not create us. Evan Andersen thinks that it is our own responsibility to work for our own achievements and let the government to do what they should do best, govern.

    evan andersen

  3. Apr 16   18:35 Posted by Deal Journal - WSJ.com : Afternoon Reading: Taking Sides Over Delta-Northwest [report]

    […] Save & Share: Share on Facebook | Del.icio.us | Digg this| […]

  4. Apr 16   10:03 Posted by Helen Thomas [report]

    I don’t believe they specified in the “best system” question. But in addition to the question above, there was also one which read “the free enterprise system and free market economy work best in society’s interests when accompanied by strong government regulations.”

    Details of responses at the bottom of this page
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/471.php?lb=hmpg1&pnt=471&nid=&id=

  5. Apr 16   9:44 Posted by G Cox [report]

    What exactly did the pollsters out up as the alternative? Is bank regulation counted as capitalism or not??

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