Large excerpt republished from Chuck Collins in On the Commons:

“In the fight over the bailout, the rhetoric of Main St. vs. Wall Street is politically important in contrasting the real economy with the speculative casino economy. But we should also embrace all financial markets as part of the commons that sustains healthy communities.

Our sophisticated financial markets have been built over several generations and are regulated at taxpayer expense through oversight institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This “free marketplace” is often regarded as a private sector, detached from government. But these market mechanisms are part of the social commons. The stock market and the banking system are human-created societal assets, with rules and systems that ideally provide a credible and secure way to transact business. No one owns the “banking regulatory system.” We all own it. This market provides liquidity and credit, necessary ingredients to healthy commerce and life.

The stock market is just one of the ways in which a private enterprise benefits from society’s investment and infrastructure. An entire system of commons institutions foster trust and faith in the marketplace. This commons includes oversight by government and private trade associations, accounting practices, legal remedies to resolve conflict and punish wrong-doers, and patenting offices to protect inventions.

Government and the nonprofit sector have an important role in ensuring that the financial markets are not turned into a speculative casino. Government oversight is how we protect this commons —and it is obvious that the speculators won the upper hand for the last decades. We should reclaim our financial market commons.”