Failure in implementation of initiatives at improving society is underrated as a cause of loss of confidence in the initiative even if the initiative if carried out in a more thoughtful manner would have had their intended effect.

Might our experience in Iraq after Saddam been significantly different if we had focused on post-invasion security, infrastructure protection, reassurance of the the Iraqi citizenry that Iraq is theirs to do what they wish with, our goal was strictly to unshackle them and treat everyone who might encounter our troops with respect, and most of all sending in many more troops to gain and maintain the upper hand? If we feel people sent to prison should have a chance of making it upon their release and not committing more crimes, wouldn't it behoove us to set up systems inside prisons to help inmates acclimate to the outside world, develop skills that will help them get jobs, and give incentives to employers to employ recently released inmates?

Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia University and Clinton Administration Nobel prize-winning economist points out in athat the trouble with "globalization" is that there are so many losers resulting from how we've dealt with it (while ironically making efforts to further reward the winners with tax breaks and other benefits).

Why not undertake more efforts to transition our workers from a largely domestically competitive world to a global marketplace. Why not make globalization "win-win" so that everyone who wants to work and earn a good living, pay their taxes like everyone else, and feel like they are still getting their fair share of the pie get so much closer to it?

Is there not a lesson here that, for example, captitalism does bring out some of the best products, services, and rewards many people who work hard and take sizable risks. But it probably doesn't do so indiscriminately and areas in which it doesn't work as well the problem is not capitalism but our lack of efforts to soften some of the inevitable results of a system that rewards some much more than others, much of which is not based strictly on merit but much of it on chance.

Thanks to Daniel Gross for alerting me to this piece.