I previously worked on the issue of political reform which was rooted in my belief that crony capitalism served to protect the past and its first victim was capitalism. I felt this way after the financial crisis in 2008 but quickly realized that the issue was co-opted by those of a certain left-leaning bend who could only see the issue as big money vs everyone else or rich vs poor. With the COVID-19 virus the same sentiment is once again coming up and with it, we have an opportunity to protect and defend real capitalism which ultimately works better than any other system for everyone.
Two great articles which express the sentiment perfectly were published this weekend.
The first. Capitalists Or Cronyists? A few highlights:
A pillar of capitalism is you can’t reward the winners without punishing the losers. I worry our government has been co-opted by the wealthy and is focused on protecting the previous generation of winners, even if it means reducing future generations’ ability to win.
The second. It’s Time To Build. A few highlights:
The right starts out in a more natural, albeit compromised, place. The right is generally pro production, but is too often corrupted by forces that hold back market-based competition and the building of things. The right must fight hard against crony capitalism, regulatory capture, ossified oligopolies, risk-inducing offshoring, and investor-friendly buybacks in lieu of customer-friendly (and, over a longer period of time, even more investor-friendly) innovation.
It’s time for full-throated, unapologetic, uncompromised political support from the right for aggressive investment in new products, in new industries, in new factories, in new science, in big leaps forward.
The left starts out with a stronger bias toward the public sector in many of these areas. To which I say, prove the superior model! Demonstrate that the public sector can build better hospitals, better schools, better transportation, better cities, better housing. Stop trying to protect the old, the entrenched, the irrelevant; commit the public sector fully to the future. Milton Friedman once said the great public sector mistake is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results. Instead of taking that as an insult, take it as a challenge — build new things and show the results!