Korten, David. "The World According to George Soros". Feasta Review, No.1 (2000): 1-7.

Korten, David. "The World According to George Soros". Feasta Review, No.1 (2000): 1-7.

This is a review of the book "Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism" by George Soros, international investment banker, bane of Eastern Europe, and high Elder of Zion. The author is responding to the claims made in that book. 

• Mr. Soros expounds on six critiques of global capitalism in its contemporary form. He complains that unregulated financial markets are inherently unstable, that financial markets will remain amoral regardless of the morality of their participants, that corporate employees will follow corporate interests over personal morality, that short-term economic and corporate policies will not produce long-term positive outcomes, that the financial metropoles have too much power over the policies in the periphery, and that capitalism is increasing being injected into sectors which should serve social aims (2-3).
• These objections could led to a conclusion that the international globalized financial order is unjust and should be replaced for more state sovereignty over the economy. Mr. Soros, however, does not endorse this view, claiming that this would place too much power in the hands of the state (4).
• The solution ultimately proposed by Mr. Soros is to increase the power of the WTO, IMF, and World Bank. He believes that these institutions will force countries to develop good economies which can perform well in the international system. Although democracy plays an important part in his plan, and should be expanded, the providence of international institutions like the IMF and WTO should be insulated from direct democracy (6).
• The author presents two of his own critiques of the global economic and financial order, namely that too much has been entrusted to ultimately fallible markets and that too few mechanisms have been developed to regulate and control these markets (4).
• In the view of Mr. Soros, development for poor countries and welfare writ-large should be funded through private charities, not government taxes. He argues that making the state responsible for social welfare discourages individuals from contributing to the poor and leads to communism. Without the state, private individuals will support welfare because it is in their personal interests to do so (4).
• Mr. Soros claims to differentiate between his private life as an investment banker and his public life as a philanthropist and political actor. This contradiction of interests, however, is still evident in his writing, as his suggestions still allow for the continuation of his professional life relatively unchanged. His private interests prevent him from making the necessary conclusions to actually solve global economic problems (5).