Capitalism is Freedom

Want to end corruption in politics? Remove the economy from the of list issues about which politicians should concern themselves.

When people attack capitalism in America today, accusing government of being in bed with certain industries, they are not wrong. Government is in bed with agriculture, energy, transportation, media, insurance, pharmaceutical, and every other aspect of the health care industry. What these critics fail to understand is that what they are attacking is not capitalism. What they attack is what has become of capitalism in American.

Republicans [and Democrats] since the 1890 Sherman Anti-trust Act have been using government to destroy free-market capitalism in favor of [what Thomas J. DiLorenzo, How Capitalism Saved America calls] neomercantilism [or what Noam Chomsky calls] state capitalism, an economic system wherein most property is still privately owned but economic opportunity is doled out by politicians.

Why else would 30,000 lobbyists be working Capital Hill?

For over a hundred years Republicans, the self-proclaimed champions of the entrepreneurial spirit—have been undermining capitalism, free-enterprise, in this country by force. Their weapons? Anti-trust laws, regulatory agencies [FTC, FDA, EPA], and corporate subsidies to name three. There are dozens. Each with the power to prevent market entrepreneurs from competing in free markets, while the politicians give passes to their rent-seeking cronies, the political entrepreneurs, their patrons. [And the Democrats are even worse.]

In a true capitalist state politicians, who produce nothing, are not even at the table. All transactions in a capitalist economy are made freely by individuals exercising choice. If an airlines fails to operate profitably, the airlines goes out of business and sells off its assets. That is justice. There is no tax-payer funded bailout in the name of what’s best for consumers. Nothing a politician can think up can improve upon just, free markets. What is best for consumers is efficiently run airlines. Government bailouts do not promote efficiency in business anymore than welfare checks promote industry and enterprise among the poor. Businesses that fail should be allowed to fail. When a poorly run airline goes out of business, its assets [planes, hangers, pilots, crews, and maintenance personnel] don’t disappear. The assets of the bankrupt company are sold. Perhaps the entrepreneurs who purchase the defunct airlines [with their own money] can turn a profit. Trained pilots, crews, and maintenance personnel may have to change uniforms, but if there is a demand for people with their skills they will not be unemployed for long.

The same is true for any and every other business.

Whether or not a good or service is available for sale is determined by supply and demand. Government has no right to ban a product. Government has no right to tax business transactions, imports or exports. The government has no business interfering in the relationship between an employer and an employee. The government may charge a fee only for some service it has rendered. For example: Government has a responsibility to protect Americans from terrorists. Our government, in order to intercept plotting terrorists or enriched plutonium trying to enter the county illegally, must inspect ships arriving at ports across the country. Government may tax to cover the cost of those inspections.

Except for the courts to settle contractual disputes or to punish criminal behavior, the government has no place in the economy.

If a business fails, it fails. If a farm fails, it fails. If an individual fails, he fails. All kinds of insurance [safety nets] should be owned privately. Businesses, farms, and individuals may choose to manage risk by purchasing insurance. To ask government to stop change in the economy—manufacturers moving overseas, outsourcing, off-shore banking—is to ask the impossible if you cherish freedom.