Bismarck and Roosevelt?

Jack Goldstone:

The successful capitalism of Bismarck and Roosevelt remembered that it had to provide for workers too, and limit the excessive accumulation of the rich; they therefore engaged in building social support, unions, and enough regulation to ensure vigorous competition but without companies overrunning workers.

Today, it seems that capitalists have forgotten that they cannot extract unlimited wealth from economies whose ordinary workers are suffering long-term stagnation, unemployment, and loss of their savings and assets, and expect the workers to accept it for very long.

With house values, salary, and unemployment now ticking along at recession-levels for the fifth year in most countries, patience with austerity programs or giving more to the rich in the hope that they would lift others is running out.

Watch out, conservative parties and wealthy elites:  far right wing populists as well as left-socialists are out to bring you down to earth.  Either support policies that quickly give some benefits and relief to ordinary workers, or they will turn on you and the capitalist system that they believe is benefiting you, and only you.

Three points: first, this is the good old center-left argument-from-threat-of-radicalism. This is going to convince no "conservative parties and wealthy elites," because they've learned to call the bluff. Second, "successful capitalism of Bismarck and Roosevelt"? Ok, New Deal, fine, but paternalistic welfare programs and repression of the Social Democrats, even if ultimately futile? Also, Roosevelt didn't so much "remember" this as have it forced upon him by probably the largest wave of mobilization in U.S. history. Third, are "far right wing populists" really out to bring capital down to earth? Last time around, they adopted some anti-capitalist rhetoric while out in the wilderness but dropped it post-haste when they had a shot at power. On a much smaller scale the whole Tea Party thing showed a similar pattern.