A recent VN Viewpoint on capitalism, which asked whether it could be modified to become a less harmful economic system, received significant attention from VN readers. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Debates still spring up over Nanaimo’s adoption of the doughnut economic model, with some continuing to worry it means abandoning our capitalistic tradition. So adding another perspective to the discussion might be useful.

In a July 2021 article, The Guardian’s economics editor, Larry Elliot, argues that the form of capitalism western economies now embrace has already changed from what is often thought of as being the received model. Tracking the system’s forms from the Keynesian model at the beginning of the last century through to present day, Elliot observes that “since the start of 2020, both at a domestic and global level, governments of left, right and centre have intervened in their economies in ways that would have been unthinkable two years ago: paying wages for furloughed workers; keeping businesses afloat through grants and loans; preventing landlords from evicting tenants; and generally throwing financial caution to the wind.”

It would seem that some of the problematic aspects of the form of capitalism being used immediately preceding the pandemic have, at least temporarily, been moderated. If Elliot is right, many of those questionable practices developed post 1970 and were enshrined in Reaganomics and Thatcherism, in what Elliot describes as “the small state, non-interventionist, trickle-down, free-trade, low-tax model.” But because of the pandemic, nations have moved quite quickly back to something closer to the Keynesian model of the early 20th century. This implies that Nanaimo’s doughnut economic model could be accommodated as well.

And that begs a larger question: Why cannot capitalism continue to be modified not only to fit the doughnut model, but also to create a more sustainable, equitable economy that better addresses climate change, resource limitations and inequities?

During the pandemic, a new variant of capitalism has emerged. The Guardian. July 30, 2021. “Spending is up. The world has been fighting a war against Covid, and in wartime the power of the state always increases. … The new variant of capitalism may prove to be a dud, but for now it has things going for it.”