Let's avoid the labels

To the editor:

In deciding the best way to handle a problem, those who govern should avoid getting hung up on “-ism” labels.

The question should not be, “Which approach is more capitalist/socialist?” but, “Which approach works best for this problem?”

There are many problems for which I, like most people, prefer a market-driven “capitalist” solution.

There are many others that I and most people believe are better addressed by government, using public funds and public employees.

There are no cities that contract out police work to a private company. And if there were, the result must be as disastrous as in “Robocop.”

And some people use “-ism” labels to cover up their own malfeasance.

When the stock markets collapsed in 1929, the people who ran the stock and commodities markets in America — like the president of the New York Stock Exchange — said there was no need for Congress to create the Securities and Exchange Commission because he and his cohorts would find the fraudsters.

That man later went to jail for his own stock fraud.

Alan Saks