For the past several years, a small group of companies has been playing an unscrupulous game impeding good public policy. Public choice theorists call it “rent-seeking.” In this game, investments in advocacy drive profitable policies favored by the members of a particular group, protecting market share and hurting competition.

The argument goes something like this: When the government is picking winners and losers, it pays to be one of the winners.

Recommended Stories

Michigan House legislators ponder business and personal tax exemptions for coronavirus PPE

Small retailers face compliance headache from explosion of internet sales taxes

US wealth gap putting the squeeze on state revenue