Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 8:56am

Klavan, Smith and Friedman On Crony Capitalism

Ah the next four years are going to be so enjoyable.  When it comes to crony capitalism Adam Smith said it well:

“The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [that is, ‘those who live by profit’], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.”

Milton Friedman was eloquent on the subject of government supporting private enterprises:

The current administration the nation is cursed with certainly did not invent crony capitalism but it has perfected it to an art form.  Using massive government spending, it has funded dubious green enterprises, bailed out GM and Chrysler and sent large sums to businesses with ties to the administration.  It has been aided in this by unpaid Obama press agents the Mainstream Media that, when it comes to the current administration, sees no evil, hears no evil and writes no evil.  The amount of corruption in the current administration, when it comes eventually to light, will be absolutely stunning.  This adminstration will serve as an example for generations to come of the havoc that can be wreaked on an economy through government folly.  We are not yet halfway through this painful, but perhaps necessary, lesson.

 

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Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, November 28, AD 2012 9:21am

This adminstration will serve as an example for generations to come of the havoc that can be wreaked on an economy through government folly.

Just to point out the principal promoters of crony capitalism (Barack Obama, James Johnson, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Steven Chu, and Timothy Geithner) include not one civil servant. The legal profession, academe, the PR biz, and that weird netherworld where everything seems to run on connections produced this crew.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, November 28, AD 2012 9:22am

Oh, cannot forget Barney Frank (who has not had a normal job since 1968) and his boi, Herb Moses.

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