Group: alt.philosophy · Group Profile
Author: PubliusPublius Date: Sep 6, 2008 17:54
> Some years ago William F. Buckley remarked that capitalism in America
> privatized profits and socialized losses. At the time he was
> referring to the government bail out of Chrysler Corp. but the remark
> remains relevant.
>
> The new bail-out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is exactly that,
> profits were generous and welcome by investors in those firms during
> the housing bubble and now that the profits are turning to losses, why
> the government must make up the difference with money taken from
> taxpayers.
>
> Whatever happened to our belief in the market? The idea was some
> investors made money, some lost, that was the nature of Capitalism.
> It seems we need a new philosophy to describe the basic nature of the
> economic system in America. Phrases like Market Economy and private
> enterprise don't seem to describe what is actually taking place.
You are entirely correct. It is a mistake to identify "capitalism" or
"market economy" with any contemporary economies. They are all infested
with gummint parasites.
That has occurred because gummints constantly seek to enhance their power
and extend its reach. They do that mainly by granting favors and handouts
to politically influential interest groups; in exchange, the interest
groups support their bids for more power.
Of course, the more handouts the gummint grants, the more hands are thrust
out. For most large businesses today, cultivating gummint handouts, favors,
subsidies, cost-plus and no-bid contracts, protective tariffs, barriers to
entry of competitors, etc., etc., is at least as important as cultivating
new markets.
The managers and directors of these businesses have fiduciary duties to
their stockholders to exploit this gummint "market" like all other markets.
So the economy becomes ever less free, and the gummint ever more powerful.
Many larger businesses initially launched political departments for self-
protection. Microsoft, for example, employed no lobbyists and retained no
lobbying firm to represent them in DC until the gummint launched its
antitrust suit. They had no need, and no interest, in gummint handouts. Now
they have lobbyists, who will soon be exploring ways to influence the
gummint in their favor (and Microsoft can buy a lot of influence).
Once the barn door is opened, its tough to keep the horses inside,
especially the biggest and strongest ones.
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