Advocates of free-market, limited-government policies often hear complaints that they?re stooges for big business interests.
Those who hurl that accusation don?t realize ? or fail to admit ? that a free market offers no special protection to existing businesses. Those businesses thrive to the extent that they continue to provide products and services people want to buy more than other products and services.
That?s hard work. And it?s no surprise that many businesses ? especially the big businesses ? would rather rely on the government to help them secure their dominance within their fields.
You see evidence of this position in a new Bloomberg Business Week article that explains how ?a wild political season leaves CEOs bewildered.?
The primaries, run-offs, and special elections held in 12 states on June 8 provided fresh evidence that this is going to be a raucous, rebellious political season. Neither party is in control, given the level of public disenchantment over the economy and the Washington Establishment. Veteran lawmakers, the recipients of long-running investments by lobbyists and business leaders, have been swept out of office at a dizzying pace.
For business leaders, the result is a climate of chaos that denies them the certainty they crave.
Want more evidence that the ?big business? view is not synonymous with the free-market, limited-government view?
Some of the June 8 wins make business leaders nervous, for fear that both parties are moving to ideological extremes. [Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron] Angle, for example, opposes funding for Obama’s health-care law, wants the Education Dept. eliminated, and has called for the current tax code to be scrapped?views shared by many Tea Party activists. “This kind of extremism makes it much harder to plan from a business perspective,” says John Castellani, chief executive officer of the Business Roundtable.
There?s a name for the type of business arrangement people like Mr. Castellani prefer, in which business owners and government leaders work together to preserve the status quo. It?s called crony capitalism.
