Robb's editorial 8/23, decrying the 181 corporate chieftains calling for "An Economy That serves All Americans" tries once again to convince us all that the American Capitalist system is superior to the European model and that democrats advocating it ignore the vigor and vitality of the laissz-faire American system. And Robb is right. Laisser-faire economics does work. In the pursuit of progress and profit, the powerful, the rich and the innovative rise to the surface and create wealth. That wealth is then hopefully invested to create even more wealth. It worked in Florence in the 16th century and worked in London throughout the 18th and 19th. It worked in the US.

What Robb ignores, however, is that the success always has winners and losers. The long-term success of the American economy was built on slavery and exploiting the agricultural and mineral resources of a vast continent. The success of the British Empire was built on the exploitation of working people and the riches of the overseas dominions, which were plundered for raw materials. Investing that wealth created the system where we are now.

Instead of indulging in out worn clichés about the benefits of the capitalist system as opposed to the horrors of socialism, we need to look at the winners and losers and how the system works to the benefit of everyone, not just the few. We know from history that great disparities of wealth and opportunity breed discontent and revolution. The guiding principal has to answer the question, "Are we better off as a society" and that is what the corporate Chieftains are referring to. At present what is happening is that the present system is benefitting the top 10%. The incomes of the middle class in the US have stagnated. Opportunities for the bottom twenty per cent have diminished and their frustrations welled to the surface in the last election. Are we better off having a large underprivileged working class whose only way of earning a living is to make life better for the rich? To produce a fairer society, governments nationally and internationally have to regulate the market place to make it fair. Big monopolies may make great profits but stifle the competition, which can bring about change. We already have the structures and dialogue in place, which can regulate and nurture that fairness.

Recently there has been debate about the value of immigration but immigration is one of the driving forces in the system and should be welcomed not shunned. Few Americans would put up with the working conditions in a Chinese factory. Our hotels, our farms, our factories need workers if we are to grow. We need controlled immigration and we need an education system, which develops the talents and aptitudes of all people and gives hope to all. We need investment as much as we need people who can see that through hard work they can have a better future for themselves and their children. Immigration means a wealthier country. As a major investor Government must be that driving force, as it was in the space race to encourage the risk and the technology, which brought about the digital era and the new opportunities.

In 1941 the US set about the task of defeating German fascism and Japanese imperialism. The country offered a vision of a better more prosperous, fairer world. Half a million Americans were willing to die for that vision. For a vast majority including my generation that vision has become a reality. Now, with the threat of global warming and climate change, we need to pick up the baton again. It will require vision and determination from our leaders and a shared effort from everyone as well as sacrifice. The present system making 10% of the population richer than they are now is not going to solve the problem but will make it worse. What good is an uninhabitable world? Investing in the future either privately or publicly, investing in education, in sustainable lifestyles, in our environment will make for a better world. Yes, Robb is right, capitalism wants to appear "less grubby." But capitalists have to be one of the instruments in the making of a fairer, better society. We have a choice. We can leave our children a charred desolate, landscape with its cities half underwater, with a barely breathable atmosphere and land and water polluted with chemicals, with a shrinking biosphere. What we need is for our banking system, our industries, and our government to all show the way towards a better society. If we are to survive, we need an economy that serves all Americans and most importantly serves the planet.