A note by Zach Foster
There are times when pure theory becomes
too abstract for a student of the Austrian School, and concrete examples are
needed to solidify understanding of the stupid greed or false philanthropy of
policy makers who seek to "protect" the American people. Well, see the info-graphic to the left!
Here’s a graph showing just a taste of
the overlap between Goldman Sachs corporate lobbyists/officials and federal
government officials. Remember folks,
these are the people writing regulations to reign in those “greedy
capitalists”—i.e., their competitors.
Instead of competing to produce the best
goods or services to win over consumers, they’re using the law in an
unconstitutional manner to give themselves an artificial advantage and fat
profits and slant the playing field for everyone else.
Under a truly free market, they would
have to compete honestly. The naturally
occurring phenomenon of the free market would require them to offer goods
or services of the highest quality—with a correspondingly high price—or of the
lowest price—with correspondingly low quality—or find a healthy balance between
quality and low price that makes goods and services universally affordable and
with good utility.
One economic insight to keep in mind this
election cycle is that both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are in the pockets of
Goldman Sachs, both having received substantial donations from members of the
Goldman Sachs executive board. Ron Paul
is not in anyone's pocket, disavows crony capitalism, and is Washington D.C.'s
greatest advocate of the free market.
One of the problems in the common
mindset is that people see crony capitalism and grievously mistake it for the
free market. Clearly there is a
difference; the former, wedded to interventionism and eventually socialism, causes
society and economy to decay, while the latter enables them to thrive.
Graphic courtesy of
AgainstCronyCapitalism.org.
