THE FALSE DICHOTOMY: BIG BUSINESS OR BIG GOVERNMENT

THE FALSE DICHOTOMY: BIG BUSINESS OR BIG GOVERNMENT

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

The democrats are noted for their belief in an all-encompassing government, a government that is supposed to meet the needs of all its citizens especially the poor. On the other hand the republicans are supporters of big business.  “When big business does well, the whole country prospers” is a Republican notion. These supposed specific party values have become the conventional wisdom passed down over the years from political leaders and pundits. 

“Too big to fail” is an anti capitalist policy of assisting large international corporations with billions of US dollars, easing of regulations and limiting competition for certain corporations and not others. Goldman Sacks was chosen while Lehman Brothers was not.  This protecting of certain international corporations was supposedly to prevent a Wall Street meltdown and global financial collapse, instead it was a reward to politically connected cronies.

Both presidents, George W. Bush (the Compassionate Conservative) and Barak Obama supported this policy. This exposes the fact that these supposedly diametrically opposed politicians both favored big business and big government. During his 8 years in office President Bush significantly increased the size of government while President Obama doubled down on assisting Wall Street and government bloating.  Obama established a close relationship with particular corporations by granting federal money and special regulation exemptions to keep them economically viable. General Motors became Government Motors for several years while the stockholders and dealerships were shortchanged and the unions were rewarded.

Both parties pick winners and losers to increase their power to receive political donations and future high-level positions for themselves and their cronies.  Big government and big business have gone hand in hand to develop a base of power for both. Yet both parties and commentators act as if the expressed differences were actually religiously practiced.

This false dichotomy has become more obvious to thoughtful independent voters. People on the left and the right of the political spectrum are realizing that campaigns are nothing more than kabuki dances. Each party uses its particular catch phrases to win allegiances and votes but once in power only rule to increase the bureaucracies in government and business to maintain their office.

Centralized power in business and government has lead to greater exploitation of citizens and workers. The Tea Party and young leftists are becoming more aware that decentralization of power going back to local communities is the best method of keeping independence, freedom and increasing economic opportunity for the people.

There has been a political enlightenment among many of the American voters. Centralized power in government encourages large corporations to join with big government to eliminate competition with smaller businesses. Government picks winners though passing specific laws and regulations. They insure an unfair playing field to prevent start-ups from ever stepping on the playing field. The winning corporations support the enlargement of the government bureaucracy. Everyone else, especially the people, lose in this charade.

The American people should demand capitalist principles be practiced in the USA. No longer should small business be burdened with ludicrous paperwork and unnecessary regulations. This does nothing to protect the public but does everything to create more government positions and stifle new business start-ups.

Government should remove its crushing boot on the throats of smaller companies and allow the free market invisible forces to operate. 

When companies regardless of their size become inefficient to operate at a profit, they should not be bailed out but be allowed to cease. This process cleanses the economic system of mismanagement. Other better managed businesses, although small, will fill the vacuum.

A major dividend of government keeping its hands off a free market naturally encourages more competition, which prevents large inefficient companies to perpetuate themselves. The increased competitive businesses will heighten accountability that sets a standard for government operations limiting the opportunity for blatant graft.

Both parties have played ball with their greedy hands held out for big business to fill. The only way to beat back and break up this fascist marriage between big government and big business is to vote for representatives from either party who are more concerned with citizen’s liberty than personal power and money.

This will curb the unholy alliance. Our freedom as a nation depends on it.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

ATTACKING CAPITALISM TO SELL CENTRALLY CONTROLLED ECONOMY

ATTACKING CAPITALISM TO SELL CENTRALLY CONTROLLED ECONOMY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Tradizionale Realista

In 2008 the slogan” Too Big to Fail” spoken by President Bush treasury secretary, Henry Paulson was a shocking acknowledgement that the federal elites no longer felt the need to pretend they believed in capitalism. The merging of central government and international corporations through the revolving door process has become undeniable.

A major tenant of capitalism is that any business no matter its size will fail when it is unable to pay back the business’s liabilities. This elimination of non-profitable enterprises cleanses the market of inefficient businesses. In its place other newer or smaller businesses will expand to more effectively serve the customers of the failed corporation.

“Too Big to Fail" is antithetical to capitalism and a gateway to a centrally controlled economy and repressive state. It is a corruption of capitalism.

Big Government like large corporations even with the economy of scale has a difficult time controlling the explosion of bureaucratic expansion and waste.  Bureaucrats are incentivized to build their kingdoms rather than be efficient.  By restricting capitalistic competition it will blur any strong contrast or highlight the government inefficiencies of inferior service and products.

Presently in America the laws of a free marketplace are not being allowed to prevail. Our bloated federal government has gained enormous control of the economy through laws and regulation. The government connected corporations are given special waivers to bypass regulations that other companies have to meet thus giving them an unfair advantage in the competition.  Bundled campaign donations earn ambassadorships or access to the oval office. The offering of top corporate paying positions to political operatives in exchange for preferential legislation is becoming common practice.

The smaller the business the easier it is to monitor and supervise its employees to insure maximum agility. The large international corporations are on the other side of this continuum and have the most difficulty supervising its complex structure.  The diversity of operations and multiple sites all over the world creates an incredible challenge to maintain a streamlined operation.

This same phenomenon takes place in government agencies. We have witnessed this first hand in Obamacare. Attempting to manage 1/6 of the nation's economy has been a disaster. Even with ordering private insurance companies to artificially lower their insurance rates to cushion their insurance policies, the price and co-pay have risen.

In this symbiotic relationship government winners are chosen by how much support they give the administration. This can be through campaign contributions and lucrative jobs they are offering government operatives.  Losers are those who do not pay to play.

This marriage between major corporations and the federal government has recently been called “crony capitalism” and during the WWII period, “fascism.” The National Socialistic German Worker's Party used corporations to solidify their power.  

Every law abiding patriotic citizen should protest the confiscation and mishandling of the people’s money. The fear mongering of a global economy collapse by our D.C. government should have been dismissed as propaganda to protect these corporate and government elites special financial and power interests.

Americans should not hand over to our central government the power to pretend to micromanage our economy. The picking of winners and losers and the printing of “stimulus money” by the Federal Reserve does nothing other than increase potential corruption. The devaluation of our currency by “Quantitative Easing” is robbing a percentage of our purchasing power.

Anytime we hear “Too Big to Fail” we should be aware our D.C. government is selling this phony rationale to justify its expansion into every aspect of our lives. We need to refuse to be robbed by power seeking politicians that are only concerned with their own self-interest rather than the people’s.

This game has become transparent. “Too Big to Fail” policy is an attempt to transform the USA from a constitutional republic to a political elite control of the economy and rejection of our Constitutional Republic.

Our founders brilliantly provided us with a constitutional blueprint to prevent us from going down the path of elites controlling the government instead of the people controlling it. As these great men understood, large government siphons off the treasury and the freedom of the people.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.