Libertarian 101: What is the Libertarian position on 'corporate greed'?

The capital of Capitalism: New York City

A big argument I hear against the libertarian cause pertains to the previously unfathomable growth of private corporations. People fear the Wal-Marts, Comcasts, and GEs of the world growing and influencing 'too much.' But, the same people that fear omnipotent private corporations don't have corresponding worries of the Central government, which makes combating the perception of 'corporate evil' doubly difficult. But that isn't going to stop me from giving you the facts. Libertarians feel it makes more sense to fear the people with the most guns, not the ones with the most money.

The fact is, the Federal government creates these seemingly insurmountable entities. Mainly through military contracts and government subsidized industries (including healthcare, education, charities, and housing) . But the majority of the 'gigantism' happens because of the taxing and regulatory stifling of the market. Higher taxes (punitive and otherwise) actually encourage the domination of a market by a select few companies who are able to absorb short term losses and willing and able to accept more taxpayer monies and regulation to 'bail them out' in the future, further stifling their competition. All at the expense of you and your family's budget. Keep in mind, even with these draconian measures, it is extremely rare for a company to remain in the biggest 500 companies for more than twenty years. Which is why libertarians largely don't understand the beef against free-market answers from the political left.

Libertarians would make it impossible for corporations to grow fat on those 'sweetheart deals' paid for by you and me by lowering the cost of capital by dramatically cutting taxes and government-regulation. We understand the need to encourage entrepreneurship and market fluidity by letting the market and consumers determine the size of a company, not the 'czar' in Washington. In short, if your company isn't sound, don't come to taxpayers saying you're 'too big to fail'. Libertarians understand there is an American out there that has the idea and the will to implement it. More red-tape for him to cut through isn't going to get his innovation to the consumer any sooner, it'll only make it a less cost effective alternative before he even starts.

Enforcing regulation, licensure, and punitive taxes against that individual isn't going to encourage his free-market answer for the consumer and his risk of opportunity. It will only keep in place the original failing and irresponsible company, thereby creating that omnipotent force the environmentalists, politicians, communists, and socialists so often point to as evil; and frankly, sometimes are.

But understand, the most irresponsible and downright dangerous companies to the well-being of Americans and our environment are always subsidized, at least partly, by government. Large corporations are eager to take your rights away and roll in the sheets with the Feds because it ensures their immunity from mistakes. If they truly had to pay for errors out of their own pockets instead of ours, their only answer is accountability to the consumer, therefore making a safer, more effective product as well as having to protect their resources from degradation.

The examples are endless; Microsoft spent millions and failed at the Microsoft Network, Coca~Cola spent $250 million to convince us 'New Coke' was better than 'Coke Classic', Ford spent over $1.5 billion on the Edsel. Harry Browne gave us these examples in The Great Libertarian Offer to illustrate the ultimate corporate regulation; the will of the consumer to buy it. Knowing the greatest changes in Washington have come from the boycotting of companies, the consumer still has the ultimate control in our country; unfortunately we see it constantly being leveraged by both Democrats and Republicans for political gain.

Consider the government-run failures the Post Office, War on Drugs, foreign aid, healthcare, welfare, Fannie and Freddie; the list goes on and on. These were created mostly by well-meaning, though ideologically erroneous politicians. Keep in mind that they take you and your neighbor's money; you have no choice whether to pay for their service. If you don't pay, you will be imprisoned, regardless of whether you use it or agree with its function or not. Why would we expect anything better out of an entity run by those rules, than of a private enterprise?

That is not the America libertarians understand to have made us the most powerful economic engine the world has ever known and providing much more than mere subsistence, but quite literally luxuries even for the poorest among us (ie. A/C, cars, cooked and served food, etc.)

But, the true measure of government intrusion's effects aren't easily quantifiable. One would have to measure their current situation against what it could be had half of your family's earnings not been confiscated by government for at least the last 3 generations. And how many innovations and improvements have they destroyed by propping up failing industries?

Imagine if the Fed made 8-track cartridges the "industry standard" in the 60's, or announced MS-DOS as the operating system for all computers to be built around in the 80's. Luckily they didn't, look how far we've come in such a short time without the heavy hand of regulation in these technologies, yet.

Libertarians have more faith in our neighbors than that. We know individual freedoms, rights to personal property and profits, and decreased government intrusion into business is how to attain that 'greater good' referenced so much by misguided nincompoops singing the praises of the nanny state.

We truly want you to have the freedom to work, earn, and buy without checking with the Fed first.

For more info: http://www.harrybrowne.org/GLO/FreeTrade.htm