RON HART: Replacing Capitalism with Crony Capitolism

“Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.” — Winston Churchill

Our economy will recover, it always does.

Every recession we have ever had in our 235-year history has resulted in an upturn. Obama has already started to crow about some signs business is picking up in a recession made worse by his opportunistic policies.

But the real damage done by his taking control of our major banks and car companies (and now 1/7th of the economy with his health care grab), is that one of the great drivers of our country’s abundance for all of us, private capitalism, has been damaged.

Because they have inserted themselves in business, more deals are having to go through the greasy fingers of Washington, D.C., to get done these days. I call it “Crony Capitolism, because unless you are connected politically, you can not achieve your business objectives.

While there are many examples of this, the most recent two tell the story.

The Obama administration, while opposing offshore drilling at home, found $2 billion of US Export Import Bank money to lend to a Brazilian oil company to drill off their coast. And here is why: Democrat leading donor George Soros and pseudo Bond villain, owned a large position in the Petrobras oil company.

Some say the $2 bil is only a “preliminary” investment by the Obama administration in this company. I can envision Soros stroking his hairless cat and saying “exxccceelant.” Only Fox reported on this.

Can you say payback?

Then there is Rahm Emanuel, who has set his brother Zeke up in a plum job to remake health care in Obama’s image. This hardly passes the smell test, but to paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke, the government gets more than thugs in the protection business, and it is less moral and harder to deal with.

And they are on the march.

Even when Wall Street wanted to pay back TARP money, the government sounded like a loan shark intimidating a customer. And even if they did pay it back, legislators would still tell them what to do and who can make what. All the while, Obama is jetting to Europe, Martha’s Vineyard, Hawaii and the like, renting estates, flying his wife to New York City for date night — conspicuously consuming without batting an eye while calling out executives on what they make.

Given this, my concern is that the most enduring damage Obama and the left are doing to our country is vilifying capitalism and chasing it away. Entrepreneurs and capitalism have never been so maligned.

After recovering from the last downturn in our economy, under the not-so-watchful eye of Jimmy Carter, Southwest Air, FedEx, Microsoft, Apple, Genetech, Charles Schwab, Oracle and Home Depot were founded by visionary entrepreneurs who made billions for themselves, made millionaires out of over 100,000 employees, employed millions and paid taxes in the billions.

I do not see that happening now with the Obama policies.

Everyone must come through the hands of his grubby politicians to make a go of it. He intimidates, called executives out in a populist manner and ruins people he does not like. Like they did with AARP, the AMA and drug companies with their ObamaCare bill, they either buy you off with taxpayer money, or threaten you if you oppose them.

It is Chicago politics at its finest. No wonder Oprah is moving from there.

As a result, per Forbes magazine, we are losing ground to foreign competitors because of this.
Korean automaker Hyundai recorded sales records in August, Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei might pass Cisco in sales soon, Brazil’s jet maker Embraer is, per Cessna’s CEO Jack Pelton “scaring us to death,” and more IPOs are getting done away with from America’s overly regulated capital markets. In addition, India has heart bypass surgery outcomes equal to the U.S. at half the cost and Singapore is willing to pay U.S. biotech research stars about $715,000 salaries.

In short, we do not have a monopoly on capitalism and risk losing out to a world market that moves faster and with more resolve. The political class does not seem to care that innovation and capitalism is fleeing the United States because of them.

At least a pimp protects its hookers. That is a lesson this administration needs to learn.

A syndicated libertarian op-ed humorist, Hart’s columns appear in 40 papers nationwide.  His book, No Such Thing as a Pretty Good Alligator Wrestler, is available at RonaldHart.com.