I am looking for specific examples of laws, regulations and pieces of history that illustrate a corporate and banking elite that have cheated and bribed their way around a free market.
I have a fabulous article written about the philosophical differences between capitalism and corporatism and how the mainstream left erronously blames capitalism for our problems while the mainstream right erronously blames government without looking at the special interests that do not change whether a republican or democrat is in office.
The conclusion that I make is that wall street, big business and the military industrial complex are absolutely the problem and are, in fact, some of the biggest enemies of free market capitalism. But the key is to recognize that it is the govnerment that they act through and the government that must be disassembled, not capitalism.
What my work needs are a collection of very specific examples from histroy to illustrate this.
I hear from small business owners that there are too many regulations that only make sense for big business to follow and that only they can afford. What are examples of this?
Lets collect as many examples of this happening in practice as we can. What are the elite doing to obstruct the free market and who is doing it? Thank you all.
http://www.cato.org/research/articles/cpr28n4-1.html
http://mises.org/daily/1950
Very good articles. One of the most massive and shocking examples is the 16 trillion dollars that the Fed gave out recently to businesses and banks from around the world. How on earth that is allowed to take place is unbelievable to me.
How about big agribusiness like Monsanto? I hear alot of griping about them. Have they not followed free market principles? Are they commiting crimes and getting away with it? Have they been granted any unfair monopoly powers through regulation and law?
Have they been granted any unfair monopoly powers through regulation and law?
Have you never heard of patents? http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/saved-seed-farmer-lawsuits.aspx
[QUOTE="James Greene"]The conclusion that I make is that wall-street, big business and the military industrial complex are absolutely the problem and are, in fact, some of the biggest enemies of free market capitalism. But the key is to recognize that it is the government that they act through and the government that must be disassembled, not capitalism.[/QUOTE]
Not only should we look at the government that they act through, but we also need to look at the businesses themselves. What it is about thier corporat structure that they act the way they do?
Would a free market remedy those defects, or just provide another venue for those corporate entities to act badly in different ways?
Also, in general:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-many-monopolies/
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-robber-barons-and-the-real-gilded-age/
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-gilded-age-a-modest-revision/
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/tgif/no-laissez-faire-there/
Stossel presents a lot on this...
Greed with John Stossel
Bailouts and Bull
Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics
You Can't Even Talk About It
Freedom and its Enemies
John Stossel - Speaker Franklin Awards Dinner (similar speech as above, but this one has video)
Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity
John Stossel Goes to Washington
You can also find plenty of examples from Thomas Sowell...
Thomas Sowell: Uncommon Knowledge interviews