Opinions

Larson misses point in column

In print | September 3, 2009

To the Editor:

Soren Larson makes a humorous comparison, but in the process misses an essential difference between the college environment and the capitalist system. College is a cooperative experience where professors and students work together to enhance the understanding and quality of work produced by all. Everyone strives for excellence in their work, and no one’s success comes at the expense of another. The capital markets are a zero-sum game. Financial instruments produce profit from costs paid by others. Every dollar a trader extracts from the market was contributed by someone else. In such an environment, brutal, exploitative competition is the rule, and regulation is an answer to that environment.

Larson does a disservice to our understanding of both markets and college by confusing the two. Freshmen need to learn that we are in a cooperative endeavor, not a competitive one, and the sooner they learn this lesson, the more productive and less painful their time at Swarthmore will be.

Max Parke ’10