The Economics and Political Science Room
Adam Smith vs. Crony Capitalism(Wish we had an economics room!)...Smith knew the difference between being sympathetic to the competitive economy—which he called the “system of natural liberty”—and being sympathetic to owners of capital.... He knew something about business lobbies.
...Government should do nothing to encourage or enable attempts to limit competition. But of course government does that all the time at the behest of business and to the detriment of consumers and workers. Hampering competition raises prices for the former and weakens bargaining power—and therefore lowers wages—for the latter. Those groups would be the prime beneficiaries of freed markets.
...Smith harbored no romanticism about those who have long seen rent-seeking as the path to wealth not available in the freed market.
...Smith grew up under mercantilism and knew well of what he wrote. America grew up largely under mercantilism and its cousin, Hamiltonian-Lincolnian corporatism....
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