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Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism

To dissolve, submerge, and cause to disappear the political or governmental system in the economic system by reducing, simplifying, decentralizing and suppressing, one after another, all the wheels of this great machine, which is called the Government or the State. --Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution

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Thursday, June 09, 2005

MaxSpeak on the Myth of Small Government Conservatism

I've written quite a bit here (and here, and here, and here, and here, and here) about faux privatization and faux deregulation, and the role they play in real corporatism. I've also quoted a lot of good stuff by Nicholas Hildyard, Sean Gabb, Brad Spangler and Claire Wolfe. Now Max Sawicky jumps on the dogpile:

Paul Light of Brookings has shown that the Feds indirectly employ millions more through the letting of contracts, imposition of regulations that oblige somebody to hire people, and grants to state and local governments. We could add tax subsidies to assorted more-and-less questionable private endeavors.

The funny part, as in funny peculiar as opposed to funny ha-ha, is that in the so-called competitions there is usually only one private sector bidder contending with public employees. Once the work is awarded to a private operator and the public agency contender is eliminated, competition is just a memory.

The drift broadly speaking is part of our evolving corporatist system -- tax subsidies to industry and to capital in general, non-competitive contracts for public work, and trade obstruction for narrow political purposes.

Call it really-existing capitalism.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have no particular comment on this post, but I wanted to throw up a flag to Kev and my fellow readers that ancap Greg Swann has been raking corporations over the coals at PresenceOfMind.net. It's good stuff.

- Josh

June 10, 2005 2:07 PM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

Thanks for passing it on. He's got some good stuff on limited liability.

June 11, 2005 4:07 AM  

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