The genius of capitalism is also its peril: Adaptable and self-correcting over time, capitalism’s wealth-generating machinery constantly adjusts to meet the changing demands of the marketplace and the law. Yet society can pay a drastic price for that adaptability: Wrenching change occurs at history’s critical transition-points, as the machinery abruptly shifts gears. 
As the economy struggles to recover after its latest trauma, 2008’s bursting of the credit bubble, a timely and incisive new book – “Power Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government, and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead” – offers a deep historical perspective on today’s transition toward some new, still-evolving variant of capitalism. Author David Rothkopf, the Editor-at-Large of Foreign Policy magazine, explored capitalism’s dynamism and dangers as a panel of scholars helped launch the book last week at a Washington think tank.
