The long weekend gave me plenty of time to actually read a newspaper – a physical, send-your-kids-out-to-pick-it-up-off-the-yard, get-ink-on-your-hands, newspaper. I dove into the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post business sections, and, man, was I depressed.
A theme that ran through the background of every story was the increasing degree to which companies seeking to profit, rather than seeking to satisfy consumer demand, seek to pocket government subsidies.
The Post had this story on Apple, a very profitable company:
North Carolina legislators, after debating for less than a minute, amended the state’s corporate income tax law to win Apple $46 million in tax breaks, according to published reports.
Then there was this Wall Street Journal piece about Osage Indians battling Wind Capital Group for the use of land Oklahoma where the Indians have long had drilling rights, but where Wind Capital is setting up its massive turbines.
Wind Capital, which boasts politically connected Obama fundraiser Tom Carnahan as chairman of the board, says the Osage Nation’s lawsuit could derail the whole project:
The Journal also carried a piece on Dairy farmers trying to rejigger their subsidy program:
To keep the government costs of the new subsidy lower than those of the current program, the U.S. would have to get in the business of managing the nation’s milk supply. The proposed overhaul would force dairy farmers to cut production when milk prices fall toward unprofitable levels—a throwback to the way some crop-subsidy programs worked before the 1990s.
This is what happens when government gets bigger. Instead of seeking to please consumers, business seeks to satisfy, follow, and influence politicians. This leads to more corruption, and it also makes society poorer, as political desires are satisfied while public desires are ignored.
