Over at the Zblog, the Z man has a few thoughts on what happens when you combine the worst aspects of capitalism and socialism. The result is that the business is forced to hire people it may not wish to hire, but the state also dictates to labor how and when they can sell their labor. Put another way, the poor are forced to serve the rich, but the rich are forced to be generous to the poor, looking out for their welfare. It is a social contract enforced at the barrel of a gun. It has the inequality of…
All posts in crony capitalism
OK – so due to the interview between Scott Adams and Stefan Molyneux, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about habits, patterns of thought, free will, and tools to reprogram ourselves. So now – government. The constitution, the original document as written, is a system. A tool. Like all tools, it is morally neutral, and it is actually the Bill of Rights that provides moral boundaries, or guiding principles to it, while the earlier Declaration in a way provides aspirational inspiration. Even in it’s time the framers of the Constitution believed that their system of government would not last…
While I often disagree to one degree or another with various articles over at Slate Star Codex, they at least are in search of the truth, and the latest, in a response to an article over at vox.com, is a very good explanation of both why “crony” capitalism is bad, and why calls to further regulate, say, pharmaceuticals, are disingenuous. Let me ask Vox a question: when was the last time that America’s chair industry hiked the price of chairs 400% and suddenly nobody in the country could afford to sit down? When was the last time that…