Showing posts with label crony capitalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crony capitalism. Show all posts

427 Former Congress Members Are Lobbyists Or Advisors

by Joe Schoffstall.       Why cronyism is so entrenched. More than 400 former members of Congress have passed through the revolving door by making the move to K Street as lobbyists or as senior advisers performing similar work, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. The trend of former members, congressional staffers, and federal ... MORE

VIDEO: A Banned Segment From Saturday Night Live



The 1998 Robert Smigel animated short film "Conspiracy Theory Rock", part of a March 1998 "TV Funhouse" segment, has been removed from all subsequent airings of the Saturday Night Live episode where it originally appeared. NBC claimed the edit (critical of their parent company) was done because it "wasn't funny". NBC is owned by General Electric/Westinghouse.

Guy Bentley: Good News For Cronies: Study Shows Regulations Are Strangling New Businesses At Birth

Protecting incumbent businesses from competition. Businesses are being strangled at birth and prevented from hiring workers, according to a new study looking at regulations across 215 industries. Using data on the extent of federal regulations, the Mercatus Center finds that a 10 percent increase in regulation leads to 0.5 percent fewer firm   ... MORE

Regulation Nation: New York City's Licensing Scheme Can Rake In Over $200,000 For One Hot Dog Vending Permit

by Kiri Tannenbaum. Greedy gov't policy restricts competition. While the typical New York City hot dog costs about the same ($2-$3) at every street cart, the fees the vendor pays can vary wildly. Some pay just a few thousand a year, while other vendors pay the city more than $200,000 just to have their carts in the right spots. According to the New York  ... MORE

Jack Curtis: The Government Vs. Uber

Bad economics is often good politics.       Capitalist cronies in government, old-model cab companies, and their unions have been attacking Uber, Lyft, and their ‘ride sharing’ business model since the Internet gave them birth, in hopes of squelching the new competition. It’s a lot easier when government heads off your new, high-tech    ... MORE

Green Energy Only Exists Thanks To Government Subsidies

by Jeffrey Dorfman.   The solar industry admits it. For at least the last thirty years the alternative energy industry has been claiming they are almost ready to be economically competitive with fossil fuel. Wind, solar, geothermal, and others keep begging for government subsidies to help them stay afloat until they can reach a size at which economies  ... MORE

Why Libertarians Should Oppose Gov't Vaccine Program

by D. Saul Weiner.       There is a lot of controversy in society today surrounding vaccines. As with the larger society, there is significant disagreement among libertarians on the topic. In this article, I lay out the many solid reasons why libertarians should oppose the government vaccine program. Just to be clear upfront, this is a different issue from   ... MORE

VIDEO: Football Law - Changing The Rules Of The Game

Fiscally Responsible Republican? Scott Walker To Commit $400 Million In Taxpayer Dollars For New NBA Stadium Deal

by Nick Gillespie.      While ongoing reportage of the Donald Trump Traveling Tijuana Donkey Show crashes into the latest revelations from Hillary Clinton's Personal Email Server Fun Times Revue, there's a more pedestrian scandal taking place in plain sight. This one involves Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who's running on his tough-as-nails budget  ... MORE

John Stossel - The War On Uber

Hillary attacks Uber to protect taxi cartels.    Hillary Clinton gave a speech warning that the new "sharing economy" of businesses such as the ride-hailing company Uber is "raising hard questions about workplace protections." Democrats hate what labor unions hate, and a taxi drivers' union hates Uber, too. Its NYC website proclaims, "Uber  ... MORE

American Small Business Struggles Under Heavy Regulation

by Paul Ebeling.    What big business pays politicians to do. Heavy US regulation putting a damper on American small businesses, but larger businesses are able to surmount regulatory burdens and might even thrive from them, a new American Action Forum (AAF) study released indicates. The survey was conducted by a policy analyst for AAF, a center- ... MORE

The Scorpion And The Frog: A Tale Of Modern Capitalism

“A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river.   The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog then agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is    ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Fairness And Justice

What you need to know about them.     Oxfam reports that the richest 1 percent of people in the world own 48 percent of the world's wealth. Many claim that we should be alarmed by income inequality because it hampers upward mobility. Others argue that because income is distributed so unevenly, justice and fairness require income     ... MORE

Ira Stoll: Government-Backed Green Energy Goes Bust

What the Xunlight bankruptcy reveals about cronyism.  The recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation filing of the Toledo, Ohio-based solar-panel manufacturer Xunlight Corp. has attracted barely any national attention. Maybe it’s gotten to the point—after Solyndra, Evergreen, Abound, and Satcon—that the failure of another    ... MORE